Catching-Up: Casino Royale New Year's Eve

Trying to catch up on my posts since I now have a much better internet connection here in Hanoi. The newspapers said that the submarine cable won't be completely repaired until the end of this month, which means internet traffic in Hong Kong will remain spotty.

The Casino Royale, black-tie New Year's Eve was a blast! I had arrived a day ahead of the group (7 others), fully expecting to have time on the morning of the 31st to go check out the Cotai strip area. Of course, that did not happen. I spent the entire day at Wynn. I had a bit of a frustrating morning. First of all, I found out, while I was huffing and puffing away on the treadmill, that hotel guests (even guests of their suites!) are charged MOP60++ for use of their gym! That's right, even if you're paying HK$6,000++ for a suite, they will still charge for use of their gym. That just seems so preposterous and petty to me.

Next, the front desk staff told me it would be impossible for them to tell me in advance what the room numbers would be for my friends until they actually checked in! I need to know to make sure they would get their "mission brief" on check-in so they would know what the game was and where they were supposed to meet for cocktails and dinner. Incidentally, the game was for each Bond-to-be to acquire his 2 kills by correctly identifying their targets (2 profile clues were given for each target) and make the targets "self-destruct" by leading them into using specific words in the course of the evening's conversation. Words were all bondgirl names (i.e. Christmas, as in Christmas Jones or Paris, as in Paris Carver or Honey, as in Honey Ryder). Only 2 of the 7 guests managed to achieve 00 status, most only got 1 kill.

By afternoon, once I had moved into the suite (got upgraded to a lakeview suite after a few exasperated calls about being on a non-smoking floor when there would be several cigar smokers), things got noticeably better as group after group of managers and directors filed through the suite to check on things. From that point on, everything worked out magically. The table was beautifully-set and I had my iPod, which contained the soundtrack to the original Casino Royale film plugged into the suite's iHome unit. I had time to get my nails, hair and make-up done in the Salon downstairs before everyone arrived.


By 7:15pm, all 8 of us were in the suite with everyone trying to lead their targets into work in words like Tiffany, Solitaire or Jinx into normal conversation. MP played bar tender and poured the Champagne for the kir royales. We sat down to a lovely dinner of :

Chef’s Maine Lobster Platter

Sashimi, Cured, Shooter, Fritter

*****

Foam of Chestnut with Périgord Black Truffle

Poached Winter Vegetables

*****

Seared Hokkaido Sea Scallop

Roast Asparagus Spears, and Chilled Tomato Essence

*****

The Showcase of French Duckling

Supreme, Confit, Foie Gras, Gizzard

*****

Crispy Roast Wagyu Beef Scotch Fillet

Baked Portobello Mushrooms and Wilted Spinach

*****

Trufficulteur’s BBQ

Warm Cambazola Cheese, Polaine Bread Croustillant

*****

New Year Dessert Fireworks

*****

Café

Chocolate Cigar

I was very impressed with the dinner service, which was executed seamlessly and flawlessly. The food was wonderful, especially considering that it had to come up all the way from the kitchen to the 23rd floor. Plates and silverware were cleared and replaced with each course with a minimum of fuss. Our glasses were constantly refilled, yet the staff were not intrusive. By 10:30pm, we had finished our cheese course and decided to move to the second part of the game. The "Treasury" was funding their low-stakes Blackjack game with a HK$100 chip with the goal obviously being to win as much as possible by 11:45pm. We got back up to the suite, which in the meantime had been cleared of the dinner table and had its original furniture returned, just in time for the countdown by the performance lake. With the ringing in of 2007, dessert and Champagne were served.

With the group's collective winnings, we decided to bet it all on one hand of blackjack. So we quickly scoffed down our dessert and headed back to the casino. With HK$1,600 on the table, the first hand dealt for 2007 was BLACKJACK! And so the new year began with a win.