Attended the Star Choice event at St. Regis (thanks Haley for remembering me). It was quite an exclusive event where only 14 tables of 10 pax were invited. My ex-company and another competitor were the only 2 brokers (excluding myself) present at the event. There were staff from a restaurant chain and luxury car companies. Weird. Anyway, it was a nice dinner event where they invited brands under the L’Oreal company to do workshops (Lancome, Redken, Shu Uemura and Remede) before the dinner. Of course, during the course of dinner, we were bombarded with their speeches and presentations of all the various products AND Starwood’s various brands and properties (St. Regis being part of their luxury collection).
The place is pretty well done up. It’s not ostentious but neither does it wow me. I guess its because the furnishings are as expected from a 5-6 star hotel. I think I’ve been spoilt by visiting too many 5 star hotels. Oops. Anyways, you are greeted at the lobby by a whole army of staff. I really do mean an army. There are sooo many of them of different nationalities to cater to the language/ culture needs of their guests. However, I do think its a little too much. It’s not like the organised lines of staff that greet you at the Ritz Carlton. St. Regis’ staff are spaced out at the lobby and then they approach you and start asking you where you’re heading to and then walk you to where you’re headed. Looks like you MUST have an agenda when you’re entering this hotel. No browsing or aimless walkabouts.
Dinner was quite good.
Starters: scallop with wasabi mayo (I scraped off all the wasabi mayo and yes, only 1 scallop); fried fish skin (tasted like your fish keropok); 2 prawns in shaoxing wine jelly (yum but I felt unglam eating this as I had to use my fingers to fish the prawns out from the small shot glass)
Soup: Sharks fin soup with dried scallop and melon. For the first time, I’m drinking the non-starchy shark’s fin soup! That in itself is a bonus point. I am against eating shark’s fin soup but ah well…the shark is already dead. It’s more sinful to waste food. Sinfully yum. I love melon soups too! 🙂
Main: Half a lobster steamed with scallions and minced ginger and garlic. Stir fried pineapple rice with bits of seafood. Stir fried broccolli.
Lobster: MMMM………..yummmmmm………
Broc:MMMM……….yummm…….
Rice: Um….doesn’t taste bad but fried rice with such strong lemongrass taste is weird. Doesn’t go with the broc and lobster.
Dessert: Mango Sorbet in mango puree and pomelo.
The presentation is very Mandarin Oriental’s Cherry Garden-esque. Bowl with dry ice below, followed by the chilled dessert in a top-like bowl above. Seen this a bit too many times. That pink thing is a macaroon. Christabel (yes, she was there too) commented that she didn’t like the texture of this one and that the macaroons from Le Goûter Bernardaud in Hong Kong (http://www.ifc.com.hk/english/restaurant.aspx?id=2028) were much better. Duh. Those macaroons are as expensive and yummy as those from Laduree (http://www.laduree.fr/) lor!!
I know, I sound like a food snob but I have to admit that I’m spoilt. Nonetheless, I have to defend that macaroon! It’s not bad really! It’s not cloyingly sweet like Bakerzinn’s and I think that the texture might’ve changed due to it being left out a little too long.
I really shouldn’t complain too much. Eating free food is really sooo tough huh. Especially when they gave a goodie bag to each of us containing free samples of 1 Redken shampoo, 2 types of Shu Uemura’s cleansing oils, 1 Remede face soap, 1 Remede Anti-oxident moisturiser, discount voucher for haircut (incld. disc to Redken products), 1 discount voucher for a spa treatment at Remede and tons of ads.
Thank you Starwood nonetheless. Now….I wanna do a SI (those in the industry will know what I’m talking about *wink*) in St. Regis. Wished I could be a shameless photobug and take loads of photos of the interior but as I said, there were an army of staff stationed at the lobby. They probably will notice if you so much as moved a butt muscle. Hahahaha…
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