Guinea Pig for the Park Plaza

A big perk about working in PR: You get so hooked up like how I just got so hooked up with an invitation to spend the night in the new Park Plaza Beijing West Hotel before it’s even officially opened!  Lucky for me, the Park Plaza’s Executive Chef, Matthew Van Der Zwan is one of my favorite people and extended a personal and very generous invitation to me alongside some big name VIPs and influential individuals in Beijing.

Standard Park Plaza Hotel Room

Last night, I was wined and dined and wined again before I slept like a baby at the new Park Plaza Beijing West Hotel (near the Wukesong National Basketball Stadium) for their soft-opening trial period.

As a participant in their pre-opening simulations, I was requested by the hotel to try out and sample everything the hotel had to offer – from their dining outlets (SOLID Dining Lounge & RED), drinking outlets (LIQUID Bar & Flame Lounge), and do something I’ve never dared do: take from my room’s minibar!

It was such a pleasurable experience from the get-go.  From the welcoming and friendly check-in to enter a beautifully sophisticated room with an enormous bed and high-tech comfort controls to get you what you really need most from a hotel: a night of beauty sleep.

And the second best thing only hotels can offer: Ridiculous Buffet Meals.  As much as I would have liked to dine in their in-house Chinese restaurant RED, I just pigged out at SOLID’s buffet dinner AND breakfast buffet.  Food overload is an understatement.

While I was there, the dinner buffet only featured a portion of what they will serve when they are officially open, but it already included a wide range of fresh seafood including sashimi, snow crab, Australian oysters, scallops, along with other shellfish, pates, delicatessen, fresh baked breads, fresh oven-cooked pizza, soups, noodle/pasta station, a wide range of Western & Chinese hot dishes, and a delicious assortment of desserts including everything from cherry clafoutis, cakes, tartlets, dessert shooters and other sweet treats.

Highlighted favorites: Range of fine Australian wines, fresh snow crab, chicken & corn soup, lamb dish, garlic mashed potatoes,

Review of Park Plaza Beijing West Hotel: Between Wanshoulu and Wukesong, on XiCuiLu (just beside the Natinal Basketball Stadium.) Targeting business and leisure travelers

Best Part:

• The glorious bed that awaits you in your room
• SOLID’s Dinner & Breakfast Buffet (fresh seafood, hearty soups, fresh pizza, breakfast selection, BOMB dessert spread)
• Diverse event spaces
• Matthew Van Der Zwan, the Park Plaza’s Executive Chef, is the most talented, motivated, personable professional in town
• Their prices for rooms, for dining and drinking is much more affordable than your expected hotel prices (a standard room per night will start at around 400-500rmb) – they have 263 rooms & suites
• All rooms come equipped with complimentary high-speed broadband internet access
• Equipped gym & locker rooms with sauna, jacuzzi and steam room
• Their Club Lounge on the top floor has a great view and food available 24/7

Comments:

• Instead of a spa, they have installed a larger business center with meeting rooms built for privacy and conference calls
• The Park Plaza’s location in the west side of Beijing will be targeting a market unknown to me (my knowledge of the west side is slim to zip).

Overall ‘guinea pig’ experience summed up in 1 phrase:  Trial Without The Error

PR Hot Tip: Always try to be among the first to see and check out new venues.

25 and None the Wiser

25 is a pretty intimidating number. As a kid, I always associated the number 25 with being an adult – someone with a career, who is financially independent, at a prime age to get married and start a family.  Ok, I’m 2 for 3.  As a kid, I also wanted to be a Disney fairy-tale princess and meet Prince Charming at the age of 16.

I realize age is just a number and age is absolutely relative. But just I don’t feel 25; I feel like I’m still 16.  Maybe that’s because the last time I had a birthday party was when I turned 16.  Due to the awkward timing of having a birthday in early September, my birthday always coincided with the start of a new school year, when everyone is still sorting out their new class schedule and their new circle of friends or in most recent years, my birthdays have coincided with vacation time – which was nice to be celebrating in an entirely new, exotic setting, but also away from my friends, my family, my home.

So for the first time in almost a decade, I have reached the quarter century mark and I was ready to go BIG.

My Birthday Week Break-down:

Monday: Pre-Birthday Home-made Dinner & Movie

Tuesday: Birthday lunch & Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant Kagen Teppanyaki followed by birthday drinks @ d. lounge

Wednesday: Post Birthday Dinner and Pre-Birthday Party @ GOSSIP Pour Femme at [Touch] The Westin Beijing Chaoyang

Friday: Post-Birthday dinner & drinks @ none other than Hatsune @ the Village

Saturday: Birthday Champagne @ Riviera’s Pool Party

Birthday Make-Over courtesy of the beautiful & talented Meili Autumn (CW’s Fashionista Editor)

Birthday Dinner Party & Drinks @ Karaiya Spice House

‘Bling-isine’ Champagne Limo Ride courtesy of BLING (Can be booked regularly through BLING)

After-Party @ BLING

Sunday: Birthday Recovery @ Capital M’s Opening

By the same people behind M on the Bund in Shanghai and M on the Fringe in HK, Capital M launched its official opening this Sunday, September 13.

Best Part:

• The bright & colorful painted artwork that runs along the walls of the venue
• The pointed roof-top lounge area
• The spectacular view from the spacious rooftop terrace of the Tian An Men Area
• The boxed fireplaces throughout the space really warms and illuminates the venue for a very romantic and intimate lighting in the evening
• Fabian, the restaurant manager, was very welcoming, attentive and a perfect host
• The food was fantastic – I particularly was pleased to be served fresh oysters, and some top picks included the beef bearnaise and smoked salmon with poached egg and spinach. WOW, gave a really great first impression
• Capital M will bring more attention to the Qianmen area
• The location is a great destination for afternoon tea or dinner after a day of sightseeing around heart of Beijing’s history and culture
• They are bringing Danish Smørrebrød to Beijing!!  (world-famous piled-high, open-faced sandwiches from Denmark!)

Comments:

• WARNING for girls with high heels: Taxis can not reach the venue and you must walk quite far to catch one home.
• With a massive space that fills over 400 seats both indoor and the outside terrace, it will be interesting to see who their regular clientele are and their incoming business post-launch period
• It will also be interesting to see how Capital M will compare and compete with the Legation Quarter’s supreme dining outlets.

This past week I have been living in a cloud of BIRTHDAY BLISS – birthday lunches, birthday dinners, birthday e-mails, birthday text messages, birthday FB wall posts…I’ve been down-right spoiled with love, it makes me wish every day was my birthday!  I truly feel blessed to have had such a happy and loving birthday week – Thank you to everyone for making me feel so special, this birthday exceeded all my expectations. It was better than I ever could have imagined or asked for.

Here are some of my favorite birthday shots: