Macau Update: MGM Grand

It never ceases to amaze me what a quick, easy and increasingly attractive getaway Macau has become for us Hongkies. Caught the 6pm ferry over last night and came back after breakfast this morning. I stayed at MGM Grand, which opened last December. Wynn still gets my vote for the best rooms and overall experience, but I did have a wonderful, great service moment this morning while having breakfast in MGM Grand's Rossio restaurant. I noticed that the hot plate they were using for the buttermilk pancakes station is the same used for making crepes, so I asked the guy at the station whether he could make me some crepes, thinking it was just a matter of spreading less batter on. The guy wasn't sure, but asked one of the chefs who was passing by. The chef, AG, said it was possible.

I sat down to eat. When I finished the food on my plate, I noticed the chef was wandering around the open kitchen mixing up a fresh bowl of crepe batter from scratch! He didn't even have the wooden roller that spreads out the batter evenly into a large circle. So at one point, he had to tilt the hot plate to get the batter to spread. Anyway, was very impressed by this great service moment.


The rooms at MGM Grand are comfortable, but on the small side. The bathroom and bedroom are separated by a glass wall (curtains can be drawn shut over it). The casino has comfortable and probably the best-looking chairs, with the experience aiming more for Wynn intimacy than LVS scale (i.e. Sands or Venetian). Yet, Wynn is still steps ahead of the field in Macau. Everything from its signature scent that greets you the moment you step out of the taxi at the entrance to their large, plush rooms, the hip, lounge music to its spectacularly put-together Rotunda show (every half hour for 5 minutes) contributes to a more impressive overall experience. The only area where Wynn falls short is the quality of its restaurants -- competent, but not exactly exciting.