Vana Belle, a Luxury Collection Resort, Koh Samui (Day 2)
Its been a while since the update so apologies to everyone. After getting back to New York, recently took some time off from Consulting and finding my next career is little bit draining but to be honest… its my first break I’ve had in 13 years so I’m taking full advantage of the situation! As mentioned previously – the great thing about the Tropical Pool Villa is the privacy that it provides. With its own private entrance as well as the dense trees/vegetation – it offers immense privacy.
The Tropical Pool Villa has a perfect view of the ocean. Having a private terrace as well as the pool allows to have a perfect view of the sunrise
After enjoying a nice cup of coffee while watching the sunrise – as usual, my stomach gives several signal stating “it needs food”. Breakfast is offered in the hotel’s KIREE restaurant and luckily from our villa it was a quick 2-3 minutes walk.
As mentioned before, the F&B at the resort is little bit underwhelming. In comparison to the Athenee Hotel in Bangkok, the breakfast option at the KIREE was little bit of a miss. The breakfast was provided by the rate that I booked.
But forgot to take pictures of: bread section, vegetable section (salad and etc) as well as cold meat/cheese section.
The buffet selection is little bit on the light side (in terms of a resort) and most of the menu is selected from an a la carte menu.
It goes without saying, the service in Asia, Thailand and this resort was excellent. The staff is extremely extensive and always try their best – however, I believe due to the language barrier and the “island/resort lifestyle” there was a little miscommunication in the speed and the items we have received (e.g., we ordered sliced avocado and had to wait circa 20 minutes when there was a total of 3 or 4 tables that were occupied). But all in all, the quality as well as total experience from an F&B perspective, the Vana Belle was little bit underwhelming.
Post breakfast, my wife and I wanted to go snorkeling, however due to the strong wind and wave – all activities were cancelled. However, we decided to pick this package for the day after (more details on the package in later part of the report).
I’m the type of person whom has a tendency (even on holiday) to semi check work e-mails and/or presentation. However on this trip, I went radio silent. My wife and I decided to just bum around in our patio and have a swim in our pool.
After a relaxing at the pool and the patio – the wife and I decided to go on a quick trip outside to a local Thai restaurant for lunch. After a quick GRAB ride (flat rate around island at 500 THB), we arrived at The Chef Thai Restaurant and Bar. It is a nice sit down restaurant and the food was fantastic (compare to the resort). The one thing to remind people is that the restaurant is next to a river/creek (for which in Thailand can cause a lot of flies, bugs and etc) as well as the restaurant doesn’t accept Credit/Debit Card.
After wonderful late lunch, we grabbed a quick GRAB ride to one of the tourist attraction in Koh Samui – Big Buddha Temple. From the restaurant it was a 30-minute ride and the temple is located in the north east of the island. It was as usual extremely hot and humid in Koh Samui – after a quick picture and walk around the temple…… the wife and I decided to go back to the resort to enjoy the cool drinks/AC.
After a quick 3 hour nap in the cool AC of our room, we were ready for dinner. We actually been planning for this dinner for a while and liaised with my Ambassador as well as Tong (Butler) to schedule a private beach side dinner. On the day of the check-in Tong confirmed our date, time as well as the menu. The menu are as follows and it was a 4 course mean for 8,999 THB (which roughly translates to $295 USD) for two people. When we first arrived, it was beautifully decorated – I think picture probably speaks more volumes than I could…
Before the meal began, Tong as well as another server greeted us and presented us with today’s menu. Before the appetizer, we were brought hors d'oeuvre of vegetable wrap with light yogurt sauce.
For the appetizer, both the wife and I ordered the Seared Scallops with Fennel Puree, Braised Squid, Lobster Bisque Sauce with Crispy Prosciutto.
The scallops were perfectly cooked and overall the appetizer was excellent.
After the appetizer, we had our soup which was Roasted Forest Mushroom with Truffle Oil.
The soup was fantastic and was rich with truffle oil. It was perfectly seasoned and again… SO MUCH truffle oil.
For the main, the wife and I had a combination of – Australian Rib Eye, Tiger Prawn, Seabass and Porkchop.
In comparison to the seafood BBQ we had the previous night, the meat as well as the seafood were extremely fresh and perfectly cooked.
Both my wife and I aren’t a huge dessert fan but we did order both the dessert option and literally had 1 bite.
Overall the dinner was excellent and the pace between each course was perfect. Tong was extremely attentive and constantly checked on us. What a perfect way to end our second night in Koh Samui!
