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.

Macau Update

Was in Macau over the weekend. Of course, it is probably more accurate to say that I was at Wynn Macau. If it were not for the fact that I felt professionally obliged to "check out" Venetian, I would not have stepped out of Wynn's revolving doors. And I'm not even a serious gambler; I set my limit and was done within 3 hours of hitting the casino floor.

I arrived Macau Saturday evening to join friends who were hosting an informal party in one of Wynn's suites. We had Champagne and pizza before hitting the blackjack table. After a couple hours, we had dessert in Il Teatro, the Italian restaurant. And here was where I was very pleasantly surprised by how much service at Wynn had improved since my New Year's Eve visit. I noticed a dessert on the menu that had truffle honey topping and decided that it would be nice to have a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some truffle honey topping. This request does not sound all that complicated, but it's not on the menu. But service at Wynn had previously been so bad/green, that they were struggling just to get the standard things right. But I decided to try anyway. It paid off. Not only did the waitress understand my English request, she even added: "Would you like the truffle honey on top or on the side?" Wow, I thought, this is really a quantum leap since 1 Jan. Similarly, the Wynn Club front desk staff were sharp, on-the-ball and capable of dealing with somewhat complicated billing instructions. Where the service did disappoint somewhat was in the coffee shop. It took seemingly forever and multiple requests just to get a bottle of water. But I suspect that by the time I visit again after they open their expanded wing early next year, there will be even more improvement. It was encouraging to hear that with Macau's tight labour market, Wynn had no problems retaining staff. Apparently, staff prefer the culture at Wynn over LVS's (i.e. Las Vegas Sands and Venetian).


As for Venetian, I would say that my expectations have been very well-managed by friends who visited before me. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Sure, Venetian has a cheesy, artificial quality about it. But if you can forgive the silliness of trying to replicate Venice in the vein of Disney's It's A Small World ride, then it's not so bad. Venetian is huge compared to Wynn and the feeling is much more mass market. The Grand Canal shops are very main street -- Zara, Nike, Massimo Dutti etc. There are chain fast food restaurants in the food courts. And the casino floor is wide open, lacking the intimacy of Wynn's casino floor. For now, I would still stay at Wynn in Macau, but with the events that Venetian puts on (so far Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Federer vs. Sampras match), there is enough reason to head over the bridge to the fledgling Cotai Strip for a brief excursion. As of tomorrow (30 November 2007), Venetian's CotaiJets are scheduled to begin service between Hong Kong directly to Taipa, where Venetian is located.

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.

Casino Royale 2007

I am soooo bummed that Hong Kong is sooooo behind the times. While the rest of the civilised world gets to see Casino Royale this Friday, 17 November, those of us unfortunate souls stuck in Hong Kong have to wait until 22 December!!!

To make up for it, I want to organize a black tie, Casino Royale-inspired New Year's Eve party at Wynn Macau. Imagine this: Beautiful guests in black tie and ballgrowns helicopter over to Macau. On arrival, a fleet of Aston Martin DB9s await (need to work on this detail though). The procession of DB9s arrive Wynn, guests parade through the casino floor on up to adjoining party suites staffed and ready to serve a wonderful sit-down dinner with a freeflow of Krug and caviar. After dinner, the entertainment (from Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds are Forever" to Madonna's "Die Another Day") arrives. Guests party the night away with even more bottles of Krug, Macallan 25 and Cuban cigars until 2007. Masseurs will be available throughout the night in the suites' massage rooms for fatigued guests.

For the occasion, I even have the perfect pair of diamante-studded Shu Uemura eyelashes that I got in Tokyo this past weekend! SM, who is head of the cosmetic brand's international marketing, got my intrigued enough about the product to buy them after hearing all her Madonna stories (they custom-made a pair of lashes from mink and real diamonds for Madonna's Confessions on a Dancefloor tour).

Here's a bit of inspiration (trailers courtesy of Sony Pictures via google video):



I actually prefer this shorter trailer with the Judi Dench voiceover:

Macau: My new infatuation

Investment strategies come a dime-a-dozen; with many worth less than a dime. I'm what you would call a simple-minded, intuitive investor. I invest in what I love, the companies that are a constant in my life each and every day -- Apple, Google and Starbucks. Following this admitedly pollyanna-ish logic, Macau is my latest new love (but my simple logic also dictates that when everyone is talking about buying flats for investments in Macau or buying small, ground floor shops for investment to lease to Circle Ks and 7-11s, everything must also be overvalued. So the trick is in finding the overlooked gems.).

Prior to this October, I had not been to Macau (despite its close proximity to Hong Kong -- an hour by TurboJet, 15 minutes by HeliExpress) in at least 5, maybe even 7 years; even the opening of Sands could not get me there. But since the opening of Wynn Macau, I have already been there twice this month. Had it not been for a conflicting engagment, I might have been at Wynn again this weekend with another group of friends. I guess this also proves the point that competition is the surest way of spurring economic development. When Stanley Ho had a monopoly on gaming, casinos in Macau were some of the most undesirable places to visit. Currently, Sands, based on rather unscientific research (i.e. cocktail and dinner table conversations) is probably more popular with serious gamblers (many Chinese customers even find Sands to be aesthetically more impressive; don't ask me why). Wynn Macau, however, has gotten me, previously a non-gambler, interested in spending my leisure time in their little fantasy world. Apparently, they pump fresh oxygen into the gambling halls, which is why I managed to stay up until 4:30am making HK$100 bets at their blackjack tables and still feeling giddy and fresh. Maybe offices should consider using similar systems and perhaps it will yield higher productivity from their employees. Apparently, in the first 13 days of its opening, Wynn Macau took in US$900 million in chip sales, but I wonder how much of that they manage to keep as gaming revenue (actually, I'm really interested in finding out how this whole gaming business works). Afterall, both times I've been there, I have walked out with more money. But then again, I always end up spending more money than my winnings in their spa or F&B outlets. Thus far, I've not made any purchases in their shops.

But retail in Macau is apparently very hot; I'd love to see the sales numbers for luxury retail stores (I was told that Louis Vuitton Macau store sales have topped Las Vegas store sales, but one never know if it's just hype or reality). Over dinner with a trio of shopping mall REIT guys in Wynn's Il Teatro, a pretty competant Italian restaurant with a reasonably-priced wine list, I got an interesting picture of Macau visitor spending habits: the big spenders are guys and spend are mainly spending on themselves. In Wynn, watches and men's apparel from Giorgio Armani is doing very well. Bags and accessories also do well. Jewellery, on the other hand, does not. Hermes is probably kicking themselves for missing the boat on a store in Wynn's first phase (apparently, the space went to Giorgio Armani). I wonder if luxury cars would do well. A high-roller might win enough to buy himself a Ferarri. For myself, I would definitely spend more on destination dining, shopping or entertainment.

By destination shopping, I mean brands or shopping experiences that are hard to come by in Hong Kong or even other major shopping cities. Actually, after my post on Edun, over a Starbucks coffee break with BL, I suggested that someone should create a goodwill shopping mall. It would be a destination bringing together all the brands that allow shoppers to do good while consuming and highlight companies that practice fair trade practices. So you'd have Edun, People Tree, GAP highlighting their (RED) clothes, G.O.D. highlighting their condom line of bed linens for AIDS Concern, Ralph Lauren's Pink Pony products benefitting breast cancer care and prevention, Marc Jacobs' Al Gore Fashion Line benfitting The Climate Project, etc.

These are exciting times in Macau. Galaxy's Star World just opened last week right next to Wynn Macau; it was packed. Sands' Venetian is expected to open summer 2007 in Macau's approximately 250-acre Cotai Strip and MGM Grand in late 2007/early 2008.

12 Hours in Macau: Wynn, Robuchon a Galera and Sands

Had a blast in Macau yesterday for the National Day holiday. Took the 0945 Turbo Jet, and headed straight to Wynn Macau to drop off an order of Little Cream Book: Goodwill for an upcoming executive meeting as well as to meet up ES and co., who had stayed the night before. Arrived around 11am and checked out ES's room. It was a decent-sized room with two, double beds (56 sq m at HK$2,610++/night for a Grand Deluxe Lake View Room. The difference between Deluxe and Grand Deluxe is use of Wynn Club lounge and VIP check-in counter) and a view looking out over the fountain, towards Hotel Lisboa. The whole place was actually a whole lot more tasteful (such as the the Four Seasons-like floral arrangements) and well put-together than I had expected. While crowded, it was not unbearably so. I had expected throngs of people given that it was China's National Day holidays, Macau's newest casino (it just opened on 6 September, so everything still looks fresh, clean and glittery) and the sms ES had sent me on her arrival: "Too many people at Wynn. Very tiring".




Had booked 1230 lunch at Robuchon a Galera, so walked across the street after I had toured the room and took a quick spin through the casino (Again, better than I had expected. Probably the only casino in Macau with bright, yet soft, lighting). Of course, Robuchon's been open for quite a few years now (since May 2001), but I had not been enticed enough to make the hour-long trip. Maybe because I was still disappointed with L'Atelier in Paris, whereas this time around, I still have memories of my good NYC L'Atelier experience in my mind. In retrospect, it seems a bit silly, because the 3-course prix-fixe lunch (with amuse bouche, coffee and petit fours) at MOP288 (US$36) is probably the best value-for-money meal at that level of quality I've had. For starters, I chose one of the soups, a garlic bouillon with little escargot dumplings. For the main, I had quail stuffed with foie gras, which came with a small serving of the famously delicious (yet deadly on any healthy diet) mashed potatoes. I had a tough time with the dessert trolley, but ended up choosing a port wine and rosemary-poached fig, banana, caramel crumble tart along with scoops of ginger and coffee ice creams. All were absolutely delish.


Appetite satiated, I crossed the street once again and headed for Wynn's spa for my 3pm massage. Thankfully, ES has booked in advance, because on my arrival, there was another woman practically begging for a slot. The spa has the usual sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, but doesn't measure up to the heat experiences at Hong Kong's Four Seasons or Landmark Mandarin Oriental spas. Granted, a 90-minute massage was only MOP900 + mandatory 15% (around HK$1,006) compared to HK$1,350 for only 80 minutes at LMO, with pricing at FS along similar lines. And there is a difference in the level of service and attentiveness. For example, the therapists jump straight into the massage, whereas FS/LMO have a welcome ritual. But the Wynn therapist had a great touch. ES confirmed that, likewise, her masseuse was excellent as well. So while definitely pricey by Macau standards, the Wynn spa is not unreasonable by Hong Kong standards. It helped that afterwards, I managed to win enough money at the blackjack and roulette tables to cover half the cost of my massage.

Out of curiosity, I headed over to Sands around 8pm since it's just next to the ferry terminal. Big mistake. It was like a convention center, and a grotty one at that. Am hoping that the Venetian's standards will be much higher.

I left Macau on the 2245 ferry, having spent exactly 12 hours in three hotels (didn't even get a chance to show AS any of the more picturesque parts of town or to indulge in egg tarts!).

On a different note, am dying to go have afternoon tea at the just re-opened Mandarin Oriental. Am craving their scones with rose petal jam and clotted cream. I had a look around the hotel with my grandfather (we used to always meet in the hotel lobby). Only the coffee shop (now known as café causette) and cake shop (both moved to the Mezzanine floor), Clipper Lounge, Captain's Bar and The Chinnery are open at the moment. The Grill Room and Man Wah will re-open on 11 Oct and Pierre (as in Pierre Gagnaire) on 17 Oct. The totally revamped spa re-opens on 23 Oct. I'm glad they didn't change the look and feel of the hotel too much. It still feels like the classic Mandarin Oriental (even though my grandfather thought it was too contemporary).