The Copthorne King’s Hotel Experience.

I’ve just arrived at the Copthorne King’s Hotel armed with a huge tote bag all ready for the relaxing and yummy weekend.

For the clueless, Copthorne King’s Hotel is located at Havelock Road and is a boutique -styled 4 star business hotel located within close proximity towards Zouk. (Great for clubbers eh?)

As mentioned earlier, the kind folks at Copthorne King’s had invited me to experience a weekend over at their hotel. This will be my no-holds barred review of the hotel.

The hotel had kindly arranged a room for me before hand and checking in was really fast and efficient. They had arranged for a front facing deluxe room with a balcony. Here are some pictures of the room.

See something on the bed?

It’s actually a pair of specially commissioned, limited edition 12-inch Copthorne King’s Hotel Sasha’s Bears  complete with miniatures of our hotel’s bathrobes and slippers. Extremely adorable! I surfed their website and found out that they’re having a Teddy Bear Weekend at the hotel till end April.

I spy a bath tub! I’ll definitely take a long hot soak afterwards. My whole body is aching after yesterday’s event.

Unfortunately these aren’t free else I’ll be guzzling them at this moment.

Blogging on their little day bed/couch? (I really don’t know what it’s called) I hate blogging at desks, I usually prefer to sprawl over my bed, floor or couch. Feels more relaxed this way.

Headed down for lunch and explored around the recreational activities.

Tried my hands at their mini golf putting green. It’s really a small area and I was delighted that there weren’t any other guests there. I had the whole place to myself! I REALLY suck at golf. Bah.

Spotted their gym but as I did not bring my gym gear, decided to give this one a pass.

Headed over to the Executive Club for some cold and warm canapes with some cocktails before heading to check out the rest of the recreational activities.

Decided to take a dip in the pool.

And tried out their jacuzzi and sauna.

Headed back to the room to wash up and change before dinner.

First up, outfit of the day! (or night, to be exact.)

We had a reservation at the Princess Terrace Cafe which is really famous for it’s authentic Penang cuisine.

The place is extremely crowded. It would be highly recommended to make a reservation before hand.

The Penang Buffet features nearly 60 different items and I spoke to Chef Loh, a master chef talent-scouted directly from Penang about his love for Penang food.

Chef Loh has been cooking for more than 30 years and frequently returns to Penang to get ingredients for most of his dishes.

He recommended some dishes to me like the Nasi Ulam, Assam Laksa and Char Kway Teow.

Infact he actually fried a plate of Char Kway Teow for me specially and prepared Lor Bak, which was similiar to Ngoh Hiang but is actually made using pork. (Lor Bak is not available in the Penang Buffet though.)

I really enjoyed the Penang Buffet and I’ll definitely be back for more soon!

Princess Terrace Cafe is located at the lobby level of Copthone King’s Hotel and offers both lunch and dinner buffet. Be prepared to pay $38 for each dining adult and $23.80 for each child.

The good thing about staying in a hotel pretty near to town is that it’s extremely convenient to go clubbing. I headed over to Bellini Grande after dinner to catch the Lah Mardi Gras show, tix courtesy of Herbert. 🙂

Fell asleep almost immediately when back at the hotel. Woke up at 8am for the International Buffet Breakfast and headed off to Tien Court Restaurant.

Outfit of the day!

Tien Court Restaurant is a Chinese restaurant serving contemporary Chinese cuisine.

The restaurant is extremely packed. Please make reservations if you like to visit them in future yeah?

After much pondering, with the help of the restaurant manager, Carmen, here are the dishes I ordered. The prices stated are per portion per person aside from the prawns.

Superior Sharks Fin, Double Boiled in Shark’s Cartilage. $42.

Looks different from the normal Sharks Fin Soup right? The normal brown “version” we see is actually the Braised Shark Fin Soup with crab meat. The soup looks like there’s nothing inside doesn’t it?

Appearances can be deceiving isn’t it? Check out the big bunch of sharks fin inside! The soup was stewed for about 6 hours and consists of dry scallop and chicken inside too.

At first, I wasn’t used to the taste as compared to the normal “brown version” but after a few spoonfuls, I think I prefer this!

Braised Abalone Slices, Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber with Superior Abalone Sauce. $28. The abalone is very big!

Baked Abalone Slices with Tientsin Cabbage. $18. As compared to the previous abalone dish, I actually preferred the sauce. I feel this dish is a bit fusion inspired as the abalone slices were baked with cheese on it. A bit different though and a tad dry probably because of it being baked but rather a very interesting combination.

Steamed Fillet of Cod with Crispy Fried Bean Crumbs. $12. The cod is very very fresh and the bean crumbs were a very unique touch to the cod fish. In fact I actually thought they were fried garlic at first.

Pan Fried Venison Rib. $14. This is very very tasty. There is no aftertaste you get with most red meats. The venison is very juicy and I would highly recommend this! Am so ordering this the next time!

Sauteed Scallops & Celery with XO Chilli Sauce. $32. While the scallops are very fresh and yummy, the XO Chilli Sauce was a tad too spicy for me. It was my first time trying XO Chilli Sauce and with every bite, I was gulping down more water. LOL. Next time, I’ll order the scallops to be with another sauce…

Live Prawns with Minced Garlic. $8 per 100 gms. This is 300 gms worth. The prawns were very fresh and juicy and super easy to peel. There is no strong aftertaste of the garlic but if you’re not a fan of garlic, there are many other ways to have them prepare them.

Poached Hong Kong Kale with Superior Sauce. $14. Instead of the normal oyster sauce kailan combo, try this! It is very light, natural and does not feel leave an oily after taste.

Braised Lobster with Noodles, Young Ginger and Spicy Onion. $18. This can be considered as a meal on its own. The noodles with the lobster is extremely filling.

Double Boiled Hasma with Red Dates. $15. This is very light and refreshing. A great way to end the meal.

Steamed Yam with Pumpkin & Gingko Nuts. $6. I’ve learnt to expect the unusual here at Tien Court. The orni is no exception. The texture is different from the normal orni outside, it’s very smooth. The pumpkin gave it a very different taste.

My notes while eating.

The meal was extremely satisfying. If you feel that the prices are tad too painful for your pocket, do not fret. I noticed that there were a few different packages available. For $38 per pax, you can enjoy a six course meal which consists of Sharks Fin soup, Scallops, Cod etc.

What made the meal even more sweeter was when Dessert Chef Dennis presenting me with a box of Penang Nonya Kueh to bring home for my family.

The kuehs consistsed of the Kueh Bengkah Ubi, Pulut Tai Tai, bite sized Ang Ku Kueh, Kueh Talam, Kueh Kosui and many others. The 24 pieces of kuehs costs about $24.80. Do call 6318 3168 if you like to order them.

I really enjoyed my stay at Copthorne King’s and I’ll like to thank everyone who had made this possible. Thanks once again! It was really a luxurious experience and I feel rejuvenated and extremely satisfied. 🙂

[Pictures were taken with the Canon Digital Ixus 980IS]