Suddenly commanding mega-wattage waterfront, Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers' Christmas and New Year's line-up pulsates with commensurately hyper party tricks.
Of all the hot ticket venues for festive season celebrations in the City of Angels this year, Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers can fairly claim to be the most transformed. And while the magnificent ICONSIAM going full throttle on the opposite bank fills the formerly missing piece in the riverside drama puzzle along this finally filled-in reach, the venerable hotel, which opened way back in 1983, now finds its own hard-wired 5-star charisma appearing more radiant than ever.
Its soft power catering, events and services offerings are all exceedingly ship shape and the hardware has been extensively refurbished and is as at least as resplendent as the new kids on the block.
The festive programme gets underway from December 16, at Giorgio's, the mezzanine Italian restaurant and terrace, which presents a sumptuous three-course Italian set dinner menu including highlights such as octopus salad with sweet potato and basil pesto, beef cheek ravioli with lentil cream and salami sauce, pan-fried trout with fontina cheese-flavoured creamy polenta, and homemade panettone laced with amaretto cream. The menu is served alongside a la carte until December 30, 2022, from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm, priced THB 1,800++ per person.
Indeed, the concept of all the hotel's Christmas and New Year's celebrations is very international while also being traditional where essential. Executive Chef Tomas Lennart Keskitalo, who originally hails from Sweden, and all the exceptionally able team, see to it that whatever your origins and expectations, so long as they're classy, your passions will be requited. Moreover, "Everything's going to be very interactive and live," promises Tomas.
Holiday Time can definitely vouch for that after previewing some of the core offerings. For instance, if you're one of those for whom no celebratory feast is complete without spectacular seafood, you'll find much to love here. We tucked into a towering mound of prime shelled and lightly grilled Atlantic lobsters, Thai river prawns, rock lobsters, cuttlefish and king crab legs that, together with freshly-shucked imported oysters and others, will account for a whole section on New Year's Eve and almost as much on Christmas. With Thai seafood, lemon oil, and Szechuan X.O. sauces, these go down a treat.
Diners will also be able to mainline premium meats accompanied with multifarious grilled winter, such as turnip and potato, and Mediterranean, such as capsicum and eggplant, veggies. The herb-encrusted New Zealand lamb chops with homemade mint jelly are divinely lean and tender and if lamb had a marbling scale, would be range-topping. Beef-wise we're talking 150-days grass-fed Aussie tenderloin and prime rib among others. Again, these are a la carte-quality viands. Same goes for the pork chops.
How come so good? Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers' deeply ingrained sustainability ethic has a lot to do with it. The beef is from Five Founders Cattle Farm that prides itself on its zero carbon footprint, which besides being planet-friendly, is evidently great from a gourmet angle. Ditto the lamb, the pork, and the Christmas turkeys which along with the chicken and eggs come from Thailand's very own organic Klong Phai Farm. Note that the turkeys are the same breed as those benchmark-setting US Butterballs. The only difference being that the husbandry is here in Thailand. As such, the plump birds carve moist, tender and flavoursome brown and white meat.
"Wherever we can, we take care of Mother Earth," says the head chef. "We seek out single source suppliers of everything, try them out, and settle on whichever hits the sweet spot of being most sustainable, highest quality and best flavour and texture."
That goes for the truffle and button and shimeji mushrooms in the addictive parmesan wheel-whisked pasta preparation too.
Nevertheless, you'll still find room for dessert. Declining what Executive Pastry Chef Dechar Moungseetong and team have lined up is nigh on impossible.
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS – GLAD ALL OVER
"Our Christmas concept is a journey around the world," declaims Chef Tomas. So Christmas specials derive from 25 countries. With Argentina it's beef. With the Japanese "for some strange reason" the dish du jour is fried chicken. From Sweden, it's ham. Greece, roast lamb. Australia, seafood. Plus signature salads from all over.
The desserts are a similar story, including outsize decadently spiced mince pies, fluffy Panatone, buttery stollen, tipsily rich fruit cake, and sinfully soft fresh strawberry choux. That covers England, Italy, France and Germany and there will also be Scandinavian and New Zealand numbers. Look out also for treacly mixed nut tarts, tropical fruits custard tarts and tastier than the original flavour macarons. Reference many of these and more come New Year's Eve.
With its stylish decor and newly renovated terrace, Feast highlights seafood on ice, a carving station that includes turkey and trimmings and prime rib, along with cold cuts, cheeses, yule logs, egg nog, and Christmas pud.
All this and much more is served Christmas Eve dinner on December 24, 2022, from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm and Christmas Day brunch on December 25, 2022, from 12:00 pm to and 3:00 pm. Priced THB 3,500++ per person with 50% discount for children from 10 to 12 years old.
NEW YEAR'S EVE ‘WHITE PARTY' – ONE RESERVATION TO RULE THEM ALL!
At the extravagantly epicurean "New Year's Eve Gala Dinner" we not only tour the world astronomically but also range physically around three distinctive restaurants, Italian Giorgio's, Thai Thara Thong and International Riverside Terrace. Whichever of these you reserve your table at, and whether you sit indoors or alfresco in front of the stage backing onto the river on the mezzanine level, you are at liberty to graze everywhere. Giorgio's and Thara Thong are side-by-side and a few stairs connect the Riverside Terrace.
Certain buffet elements will be consistent throughout but Thara Thong will feature more Thai food, Giorgio's more seafood, carvings and Italian fare, and Riverside more shelled and grilled seafood as well as a dedicated buffet line for children.
All this plus a live band and DJ, a countdown and a ringside seat for the fireworks up and down the river, including not only the hotel's but ICONSIAM's Tourism Authority of Thailand-sponsored countdown.
Priced THB 10,500++ per person with 50% discount for 10 to 12 year olds. Beverage package including draft beer, house red and white wine, and soft drinks @ THB 2,800++. The revels begin at 7:00 pm and go on through to the early hours of next year.
For reservations, please call 0 2266 0123
To purchase online, click http://shorturl.at/btvX2
Email: events.rosh@sheraton.com
