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LONDON
Over in East Asia, the Pan Pacific group is already something of a legendary luxury hospitality player with an impressive variety of properties already established throughout Singapore, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. It's renowned for its undeniable upper hand in crafting the ultimate immersive luxury hotel experience delivering fine Singaporean hospitality in sophisticated, contemporary spaces.
Finally in 2021, after long-awaited anticipation, the Pan Pacific Hotel opened its doors right in the heart of the vibrant City of London, namely on Liverpool Street, placing it in a prime location accessible to reach via the brand new Elizabeth line and in close proximity to landmark British capital's buildings like Tower Bridge and The Gherkin as well as being right in the centre of London's commercial, financial and historical district and just around the corner from the trendy neighbourhood of Shoreditch.
The interior design of the hotel is executed by Yabu Pushelberg, which has a design portfolio including Park Lane New York, The Miami Beach Edition and The London Edition under its belt. It is no surprise then that the striking design characteristics of the Pan Pacific Hotel are the sleek, understated, refined interiors in a light-filled, open lobby that manages to seamlessly incorporate both the polish of the surrounding area's upscale, commercial atmosphere and the unique essence of the Orient's serene splendour.
Whether you fancy taking dinner in Straits Kitchen, the hotel's Singaporean fine dining restaurant to sample a broad selection of Pan-Asian culinary delights and finishing your evening with a couple of Singapore Slings at the glamorous Ginger Lily bar or indulging in the Pan Pacific's innovative health and wellness programme at the hotel's brand new, luxurious spa and gym, the choices are endless and completely yours to make.
Executive Room:
The Pan Pacific's executive room is a cosmopolitan oasis of contemporary luxury with expansive, generous wrap-around views of the City of London's breathtaking skyline. Though you will find yourself right in the middle of London's financial hub, the room feels like a blissful retreat removed from the bustling city below. Light, neutral tones of beige, grey and white make up the overarching colour palette of the room coupled with warm lighting and endless daylight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows creating a sense of tranquillity in these quarters. A personalised art piece stretches out above the bed in muted watercolour washes of beautiful oriental-style flowers or plants, in our room, it was a simple Kumquat plant.
The Pan Pacific signature touch of immaculate attention to detail is present all around the room, from the little touches of design-forward upholstery and decor to a sumptuous array of minibar selections and versatile amenities from USB cables to books and scented candles; every item and factor of the guestrooms is a considered choice geared towards fully enhancing the optimal guest experience. A special detail we especially appreciated, as ladies from the far East ourselves, was the elegant fine bone china teapots and traditional Chinese teacups set, as well as the impressive variety of teas there were on offer!
The bathroom is a white, grey and black marbled sanctuary with warm, effulgent lighting and a separate spacious rainfall shower area and a luxurious marble bathtub with a convenient wooden bath tray offering bath salts and a scrubbing sponge. You'll find this resplendent bathroom stocked with luxury bath products from Diptyque, a Dyson hair dryer and a generous assortment of vanity tools and products. You will find a plush bathrobe and slippers available inside the wardrobe should you be interested in paying the spa downstairs a visit.
Spa and Wellness:
The Pan Pacific London's wellbeing floor is dedicated to their exceptional spa and wellness facilities catering to guests of all ages featuring state-of-the-art, technologically advanced gym equipment, a beautiful 18.5m infinity pool and holistic, mindful spa treatments infusing Western science with South-East Asian clinical research on the tradition of clean beauty focusing on result-driven relaxation techniques. The infinity pool is a stylish, tranquil retreat with such inviting, glistening, turquoise water beckoning you for a leisurely swim with an unobstructed view out into the city through the full-sized windows bordering the pool.
With plenty of sofas, loungers and tables positioned around the room, we recommend you kick back after your dip and enjoy a glass of citrus and cucumber-infused, detoxifying water with whichever book you'd been meaning to finish on your days off.
Inside the changing room, you'll find both a sauna room and a steam room, a delightful facility available for any wellness lover looking to truly sweat out and expel any tension or ailments. If guests would like to go the extra mile for their health and wellbeing, perhaps they may make good use of the gym with the latest equipment from TecnoBody®, including the D-Wall and conditioning gym.
Taste of Singapore
If you're on this page, I'm going to go ahead and assume you have in common with us, a diversified palette that is never ever satisfied, and that you are continuously in search of more flavours, more recipes and more cuisines and the key factor in all of that being that of authenticity. We were very fortunate then to experience incredible, authentic Singaporean cuisine in Pan Pacific London's own Straits Kitchen headed by executive chef Lorraine Sinclair with a wealth of experience of nearly 30 years around the world in outstanding hotels like The Langham Hong Kong, The Fairmont Dubai and Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers.
She is joined by Singaporean-born executive pastry chef Cherish Finden, known for her appearance as a judge on Channel 4's 'Great British Bake Off' and together the culinary duo seeks to bring in authentic, beloved Singaporean recipes and introduce them to the City of London.
Sitting down to begin our dinner, we did acknowledge a few elements within the restaurant like the painted black walls with stunning Oriental flowers in a traditional blackened-background style and the choice of playing some of Teresa Teng's most iconic songs from the 70s just to infuse the atmosphere with some of the most emblematic sounds of East Asia's oriental music culture. An interesting notion that came to mind was when I remembered how the cuisine of Singapore is essentially a representation of the society's massive melting pot of cultures and how Singaporean fare actually shares a few parallels with British cuisine in the same way that London and it's culinary identity is similarly influenced by the wonderful mix of various cultures you find here.
Our first starter was the Salmon Mapo Tofu with Minced Prawns and Sichuan Spices. My dining partner and I are very fond of the Mapo Tofu dish which we regularly treat ourselves to back in Asia, however, it was definitely a first for us to see it paired with salmon, so we had to try it for ourselves. The Sichuan spices delivered a gorgeous kick that was not too strong at all, therefore anyone with an average spice tolerance will appreciate this starter featuring select seared salmon soaked in the delectable, piquant mapo tofu sauce with sliced red radishes. A bonus is it's a dish that won't fill you up.
Crispy Pork Belly with Sweet Mustard and Chilli Sauce is a smash-hit classic of an East Asian appetiser but it's one that requires finesse and quality meat as a base to even be worthy of serious consideration. So we were delighted to find the perfect 'crunch' on biting into our first little pork cube as well as noticing there was just the right amount of fat on the meat. The flavours from the sweet mustard and their freshly made chilli sauce blended well and authentically, and admittedly, both of us were hit with a slight swelling of nostalgia during this course.
My main course was the Signature Native Lobster Nonya Laksa. A dish consisting of thick rice vermicelli in spices, lobster broth, coconut gravy and sambal chilli, served with native lobster, fish cakes, bean curd, egg and bean sprouts. Aside from this being Straits Kitchen's signature dish, this is the signature dish of my heart as well as the entirety of Singapore. What's not to love about Laksa and the mind-blowing journey of flavours, spices, ingredients and smells this one, singular, drool-inducing dish takes you on? Before the Laksa even reached my table, I had already smelled it arriving, the unmistakable exquisite aroma of its thick, flavoursome lobster broth characterised and emboldened by the medley of accompanying ingredients and spices. Diners will be pleased by the generous amounts of fresh, juicy lobster in this dish too.
Another all-time favourite dish is the Hainanese Chicken Rice. Possibly the most succulent chicken dish to exist in the world that uses poached chicken paired with fragrant chicken rice, ginger purée, chilli dip and sweet dark soya sauce. Traditionally, the rice comes along with an aromatic, clear broth accompaniment like a Bak Kut Teh, so we were quite happy to see the little bowl of pale-yellow broth sat next to the dome of rice. The flavours from the medley of sauces tasted fresh and authentic and the juiciness of the chicken was genuinely impressive.
We were encouraged by our lovely server to try some of the desserts they have on offer since they are exclusively crafted consciously with Singapore's heritage and flavours at the forefront of their concepts by the executive pastry chef. We settled firstly on the Mandarin, consisting of Mandarin mousse, tiger sponge and black sesame ice cream.
A delicate and refreshing dessert with the beautiful citrusy tang of the mandarin fruit encasing a light, supple sponge cake on the inside. The black sesame ice cream was almost like a final round of sensations, just when you thought it couldn't get any better, then comes the unexpected wave of bold and nutty sweetness of black sesame.
My dining partner went with the Coconut, consisting of mango panna cotta, coconut sago pearl soup and fortune cookies. Not only exclusive to Singapore, but the coconut sago pearl soup is also a traditional dessert staple in many East Asian family homes. In the dessert menu's notes, Linden states that this was the dessert her Ah Ma (grandma) always made for her on her visits back to Singapore. It's for this very exact reason, that my dining partner chose to go with the Coconut, in hopes of evoking that tantalising taste of nostalgia. This is another delicious, refreshing dessert we highly recommend that captures the authentic taste and texture of the sweet sago soup, especially with the smattering of chopped mangoes which is a must to be included! The black sesame fortune cookies were an inspired, tasty spin on an often otherwise forgettable biscuit that was never Asian in origin, to begin with.
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80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB
Website: panpacific.com
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7118 6888 | Instagram: @panpacificlondon | Facebook: @PanPacificLondon | Location: Pan Pacific London 80 Houndsditch, London, United Kingdom EC3A 7AB
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