W Hotel, Hong Kong (Day 1)
For individuals who don’t know me very well, I spent a fair amount of time working and living in Hong Kong. During my time in London as a Consultant, I lived in Hong Kong and especially the W Hotel for 13 months. Subsequent business trips after, I’ve always stayed at the W Hong Kong. I was contemplating the Ritz Carlton just across the street, however without the ability to apply SNA as well as not providing breakfast benefits, I decided that the W Hong Kong was a better choice. Several days before the stay, I got a confirmation that my room has been upgraded.
- Room booked: Wonderful Room, Non-Smoking, 1 King Bed
- Room received: Wow Suite, Skyline View, Corner Room, 1 King City View
The main entrance of the hotel is on ground floor and the check-in desk as well as the restaurants are on 6th Floor of the building. I love the vibrance and the ambience of the W Hotel (well I used to) but I don’t know but this time I wasn’t hugely turned on (no pun intended) – it might have been because of my lengthy stay in W Hong Kong/Kowloon Area, but the darkness of the room wasn’t great for my wife’s make-up routine……
The check-in was a breeze and the Hotel Manager came down personally to greet me and thanked me for staying in W Hong Kong. As an Ambassador - they presented me with a choice of the normal welcome amenity:
- 1,000 Point
- Breakfast at Kitchen
- Welcome Gift
The funny thing was the hotel staff whom was guiding me up to the room asked us a very random question – “Why are you guys in Hong Kong for honeymoon – people go to more exciting place” – for which my wife just didn’t answer and had that “why do you care” look. My wife is an extremely private person whom doesn’t like to be asked private questions but I’m 100% different. The hotel staff looked awkwardly and just moved on.
Main entrance
Small Bathroom on the left hand side of the main entrance
The living room area - which sadly we never used since we were always outside
Well stocked bar - the alcohol wasn't complementary but everything else was (the juice and snacks were taken off by the Front Desk during check out since it was our honeymoon)
Sofa/living room area with the view of Hong Kong harbor
Walk in Closet Area with a Dyson hair dryer (which my wife loved)
The 2nd small bathroom just across the closet area
Bedroom
Main Bathroom + Sink (with the usual Bliss products)
Tub as well as the shower
After quick photos around the room (prior to getting messy) – we took a quick break before heading to our dinner reservation.
After couple hours of rest and unpacking, we headed over to Mott 32 (link). Mott 32 is located in basement of the Standard Chartered Building in Central. I’ve been to this restaurant more than I can count but my wife was looking forward to this restaurant the most since her favorite thing to eat is probably Peking Duck. Mott 32 calls it self an “contemporary chinese” restaurant which focuses on Cantonese food but also injecting some Beijing/Szechuan dishes. They emphasize on the quality of the ingredient and they work extremely closely with farms/vendors to source local ingredients. As you can probably imagine, all of this comes at a price.
We had to pre-order the duck in advance. The ducks are air-dried in their custom oven before they are roasted. The total cooking time is well over 48 hours but the server asked it would probably take 45 minutes before it could be served.
We managed to order quite a bit:
- Apple Wood Roasted 42 Days Peking Duck "Signature Mott 32 Cut"
- Peking Style Spicy Crispy Duck Rack (which uses the remaining meat and bone from the Peking Duck)
- Wok Fried Japanese Shrimp, Baby Beans, Napa Cabbage, XO Sauce
- Bottle of Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc 2015
The duck was excellent and was eaten very traditionally. Start by eating the duck skin in raw cane sugar but you after the first bite you can tell how excellent the skin was. It was paper thin and yet had a strong crisp followed by the warm fat from the duck - it was extremely divine and totally addictive.
The Whole Duck was presented prior to cutting
THE SKIN!!
How devine - it was served with white section of scallion as well as cucumber and sauces.
We were also impressed by the other details - like how the server would swirl the two dipping sauces together to form a beautiful circle.
The napa cabbage was brilliant - the flavors were subtle but the crisp provided by the wok fried japanese shrimp as well as the flavors from the XO sauce made the vegetable dish perfect side pairing for the duck.
After the meat/skin of the duck were devoured, they provided the crispy duck rack. It was lightly fried and sautéed around with salt and chili pepper.
I've been to Mott 32 numerous times and I've never had a "bad/horrible" meal. The price in comparison to other restaurants can quickly rack up, but if you are looking for one of the best Peking Duck restaurants in Hong Kong in an elegant setting/environment - I would say Mott 32 is the place to go. They are also famous for their Iberico Pork Charsiu BBQ (which is also excellent).
After an excellent meal, we grabbed a quick uber ride back to the hotel for night in of movies and champagne!