W Hotel, Hong Kong (Day 3)
Well this is technically continuation from Day 2 but after dinner, the wife and I took some time to freshen up at the hotel prior to going to Ozone at the Ritz Carlton.
The Ozone Bar sits on 118th Floor of the Ritz Carlton Hotel at the ICC Tower in Hong Kong. Its claim to fame is “world’s highest bar in the world”. The entrance to Ozone from the W Hotel is extremely easy – you will have to walk up a set of escalators and pass all my favorite watch shops (e.g. Vacheron Constatin and Piaget) and you will be at the Ground Floor of the ICC Tower. From there you will take a set of elevators up to the main lobby level of the Ritz Carlton which is on 103rd Floor. On that floor you will find the Ozone Elevator and prior to entrance – a Concierge will check for availability. Luckily we had the W Hotel reserve a table for us (but on Saturday night – some people/party without reservation were being turned away).
Once you leave the elevator – you will be welcomed to the Ozone hallway which contains curtains hanging over brilliant granite floors with ambient lighting leads you to the check-in desk. There was plenty of tables both inside and outside on the rooftop terrace but it was shockingly absolutely full at 12AM.
The view from the Ozone is amazing but it’s a difficult place to take photograph of the island due to the glare/reflection from the window. But if you want a quiet place to enjoy drinks and ave a beautiful view of Hong Kong Island – Ozone is the place to go!
Bar Area in Ozone
View from 118th Floor of Ozone
I have no clue what we ordered to be honest...
After a quick drink and running into my high school friends from California – the wife and I headed back to the hotel. Once again I was ridden with jetlag and that means only one thing – hitting the GYM. After having a light breakfast of just wonton noodles and dimsum – we decided to do some shopping around Pacific Place before our final destination – Dubai. My wife went a little overboard with Hermes/Dior – a happy wife = happy marriage/home.
After couple hours of walking around and shopping – once gets naturally hungry. We realized that we haven’t had dimsum in Hong Kong so we decided to go to Lei Garden (recommended by my wife’s friend). In all honesty, Lei Garden would be the last place I would go for dimsum but due to sheer convenience of being located in Pacific Place, I decided to give it a try! Weekend and especially around 11AM is prime DIMSUM time in Hong Kong and I was shocked that we were seated immediately. With just a light breakfast the wife and I went little bit overboard and ordered circa 12 dishes.
Getting myself ready and warming my stomach with tea
The Classic - Har Gow: Shrimp dumpling and this dish will often make or break a dimsum chef's reputation. I guess the dimsum chef at Lei Garden was ok since I've had much better at local restaurants in HK - the skin stuck to the paper (which indicated it was left in the cooker for a while and the shrimp was extremely overcooked.
The Classic - Siu Mai: Its a classic dimsum dish and this one was fantastic. The pork was flavorful and the shrimp fresh. No chewiness and/or smell from the pork/shrimp - which indicated that it was freshly made.
Shrimp Cheung Fun: Its a thin crepe roll made of rice noodles filled with shrimp and served with a sweet soy sauce
My personal favorite - crispy belly pork.
My wife's favorite the Xiao Long Bao (XLB): Often known soup dumpling - it was packed with pork broth!
Not sure what the exact name is but its bean curd wrapped with meat and vegetable and deep fried. It was fantasti!
You need to have your vegetables!
Roast Duck!
The meal roughly came to around $900 HKD or $115 USD. Since it was at Pacific Place and at Lei Garden the price was standard and expected in Hong Kong. However, if I had a choice I would have gone to other restaurants (hell even Din Tai Fung or Tim Ho Wan would have been much better) - but like I said a happy wife = happy marriage. My wife enjoyed everything so I guess this was a good meal!
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and started to pack. Since we had the WOW Suite, they offered a late check out of 4PM which let 9 hours before our flight to Dubai. Luckily I was at my favorite airport in the world - Hong Kong International so had plenty of time/opportunity to lounge hop!
We could have taken airport express to Hong Kong airport and could have used the City Check In, however since this is my wife's first business/first class experience - we decided to use the First Class Counter at HKG.
Overall: The W Hong Kong provides luxury stay in Hong Kong away from the hustle and bustle of the island. I used to love this hotel and spent a fair amount of my time, however as I grow older - the glitch and flair of the W Hotel Brand seems to have lost its lust. Its dark corridors and loud environment might have been great for individuals in their 20s, however I've grown extremely fond of the luxury collection!