It was this very charm of Sirocco that compelled Warner Bros to shoot scenes from the film Hangover 2 here. According to Deepak Ohri, CEO at lebua, the five-day visit by the Hollywood team of over 400 movie professionals was perfectly choreographed down to the last detail. “They would vacate our restaurants at sharp 5 p.m.,” he marvels, “no matter how much equipment was strewn about just five minutes prior.”

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There’s something rather magical about a stay at the Lebua, Bangkok, where fine
dining has been perfected to a performance art in a city of angels. Aekta Kapoor
takes a culinary journey into opulence.
Wide stairs, which seem wider because there are no walls to bind them, begin from
the sky and descend seemingly into the Bangkok skyline. Two steps down, you
stop giddily – the panorama of the city vying for your attention, the breeze
rummaging through your hair and sounds of a live band floating six hundred feet
above the ground into nothing. Gathering your wits, you descend lower and find
yourself welcomed into Sirocco, the highest al fresco restaurant in the world, one of
the gems on offer at the Dome, Lebua Hotels & Resorts, and one of the most
sought-after dining destinations in the Thailand capital.
As dusk turns into a twinkling night, the lights of Krung Thep, also called the ‘city of
angels’, shine above the darkening Chao Phraya River. Your five-course
Mediterranean meal turns up one delight after another, and you linger over the
absolutely perfect hand-rolled potato gnocchi served with roasted butternut squash
and king-oyster mushrooms. The Whispering Angel rose wine only adds fuel to the
enchantment of sitting in the open air, 64 floors above a breathtaking urbanscape,
with elegant jazz for company.
It’s like dining with the stars, not just under them.
It was this very charm of Sirocco that compelled Warner Bros to shoot scenes from
the film Hangover 2 here. According to Deepak Ohri, CEO at Lebua, the five-day
visit by the Hollywood team of over 400 movie professionals was perfectly
choreographed down to the last detail. “They would vacate our restaurants at sharp
5 p.m.,” he marvels, “no matter how much equipment was strewn about just five
minutes prior.”
Lebua Bangkok
To pay tribute, the hotel now offers a Hangovertini, created by Alex Holzer,
mixologist at The Dome, using the formula, “vitamins + minerals + antioxidants + bit
of alcohol” (see box on the next page for its recipe). Not only is this drink one of the
hotel’s bestsellers, so is the Hangover Suite located at the Tower Club, a three-
bedroom sprawling 266-square metres space with four separate balconies to
savour the Bangkok skyline from different angles and a whole host of
complimentary luxury services. But fear not if you can’t get a booking – the hotel
still has 357 other suites to offer, and a staff of over 700 from 18 countries at your
disposal, including in-suitemasseurs who bring soothing spa music along with their
sweet-smelling oils.
Located in the heart of Bangkok at the corner of Charoen Krung and Silom roads,
and just a few minutes away from the city’s most popular attractions and markets,
the Lebua is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, a luxury collection in which
member hotels must embrace an extensive 1,600-item annual quality assurance
programme. The luxurious rooms here offer breathtaking vistas of the Chao Phraya
River and come with kitchenettes, home-entertainment centres and Bulgari
amenities in all bathrooms. The high-end suites in Tower Club also offer
complimentary mini-bars, broadband and video-on-demand, along with access to
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the super-elegant Tower Club Lounge, where you can sip coffee from gilded cups Poolside view at the Lebua.
as you view the city around you from an opulent vantage point.
Fine dining is, in fact, refined to an art at the Dome – a collection of super exclusive
fine-dining experiences including Sirocco, where per head costs start from THB
4,300 excluding taxes for a tasting menu. The Dome is also home to the startlingly
innovative Mezzaluna, a ‘modern European’ restaurant headed by celebrity twin
chefs Thomas and Mathias Sühring. With a formidable background in haute
cuisine, the German duo create a new menu every evening using the latest in
culinary technology and the finest seasonal ingredients from around the world.
Mezzaluna entrenched itself firmly on the global epicurean landscape when it held
a ‘million-baht dinner’ in 2007, a gourmet extravaganza that was ‘invitation by
request’ only for a few of the world’s who’s who and lauded as the world’s most
expensive dinner. The event was the grand finale of the Epicurean Masters of the
World Part II, a one-of-its-kind gourmet festival that saw several Michelin Star-
awarded chefs congregate under one roof. The six-course tasting menu at the
Mezzaluna includes unexpected ingredients such as ‘forgotten vegetables’ from
around the world topped with freshly grated winter truffles from Europe, and
kumamoto oyster served with cauliflower, sea lettuce, turmeric and dashi. With
wine pairing, the price for one person’s meal starts from THB 6,900, excluding
The living room of a suite.
taxes.
For those in a mood for more Asian fare – after all, you are in the strategic fifteenth-
century capital of the historic Siam – head to Breeze on the fifty-second floor of the
Tower Club. Dig into Chinese savouries created by executive chef He James and
his team, against the backdrop of a 25-metre high neon-lit sky-bridge. Else, you
could always have a drink at Distil or the Sky Bar, such as the 62 Gun Salute – a
peg of which could set you back INR 35,000 – or wines that go up to THB 2 million
per bottle. “A Russian billionaire flew in for one evening recently and ran up a bill
for USD 100,000 – that’s been the most anyone has ever consumed in one meal,”
recalls Ohri, who was the hotel’s first employee and has been here since.
Despite their rather exclusive clientele, Ohri insists the rules at the Dome apply to
everyone, no matter who they are or what they are willing to pay. “Sirocco has twice
refused entry to the prime minister of Thailand because they wanted table for 16 to
18 persons, and we don’t do large gatherings,” he says. “Another wealthy client
once offered a million dollars to hire one of our restaurants for an evening – and
that was just the cost of the food – but we said no.” Later in the evening, we
observe a couple being turned away from Mezzaluna because they are in shorts
and T-shirts. “The dress code at the Dome is very strict,” informs Kanokrat Kirkland,
the amiable director of public relations.
Internationally acclaimed for its innovative business strategies and use of cutting-
edge technology, the Lebua Hotels & Resorts chain – with properties in Bangkok,
New Zealand and New Delhi – has been rated within the top 1 per cent of
companies in the world in terms of customer satisfaction by TNS research.
Interestingly, it started only as the Dome group of restaurants, and then developed
a hotel at the same location when clients demanded a place to stay. It now also
features Café Mozu, an all-day diner. Having redefined the landscape of luxury The wine cellar at Distil.
hospitality in Thailand, Lebua has gone on to win several awards and its business
strategies have become the active point of discussion in several top business
schools around the world.
But business is the furthest from your mind as you take your morning coffee out to
the spacious balcony in your suite, and gaze out at the vista below. The sun is just
starting to come up but the city has never completely gone to sleep. The highways
buzz with traffic 60 floors below you, vendors have begun their business of the day,
and the river is abuzz with cargo boats. A gentle breeze picks up, bringing with it
sounds of a multi-cultural city with a plethora of languages. The day ahead
stretches out replete with luxurious delights. Who would ever want to say goodbye?
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