surryson

That’s a shame about the lounge. My recollection was that it used to be very good.

TalkingPoint

It was in a great location as well, just off the breakfast with the same great views and seating that citron has. That’s why they took it from the lounge and will use it for a new restaurant soon.

MajulahMadooba

I saw a stray post-covid comment here that the French La Maison 1888 restaurant is insanely overpriced, can anyone validate?

I'm wary because it's billed as the big foodie destination of Vietnam, which remains to be seen because Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will get Michelin stars this year. The only references to La Maison 1888 being incredible are brief references in more press release style reviews. There are no personal reviews from actual food bloggers or someone who stayed in the hotel and liked a dish enough to take a few good photos. Not even the TripAdvisor reviews are awestruck.

The strange thing is these press release style pieces keep referring to La Maison 1888 as the only restaurant in Vietnam with a Michelin-starred chef. Thing is, there is no such thing because the stars go to restaurants, and that French chef is not even in Vietnam.

turbox3

It is overpriced. I can have Michelin in the US for less, with comparable or better food.

Having said that, the brown butter they keep prepping every night pervades the air on that level where you keep thinking to yourself if you've missed out on something.

Aventine

It is insanely overpriced and I wouldn't go back. It's simply Hotel PR hype.

umc

We plan to stay here for 2-3 nights in early January. We have the lowly Platinum IHG One status through our credit cards. We also have the Amex Plat card. Is there any befit to buy the Ambassador status for $200/year if we plan to book through Amex FHR?

Can the free one weekend night certificate be combined with Amex FHR booking? Any input is appreciated.

cmhsieh54

As of hunting throughout Q2/Q3 2023, I couldn't find any availability for using BOGO cert...

cmhsieh54

Just running through some posts here... As of July 2023, free breakfast for Diamond at Citron. If you arrive when it's full, very possibly, you'll be directed to take breakfast at the Club Lounge. In general, aside from free flow Prosecco and ordering a la carte, the (buffet) breakfast at Citron is far superior...

cmhsieh54

Just a dp here... Now in July 2023 it is open.

cmhsieh54

For future reference in case others are interested...

As of July 2023, yes, there is still free shuttle available to/from Hoi An. Offered twice a day. We took the 3pm shuttle from the IC, and it arrives to Hoi An right around 4:15pm. The shuttle leaves Hoi An at 8pm and they ask that you come back by 7:50pm. Back to the resort right around 9pm.

Diamond Ambassador also offered same deal for club lounge access... I think it was USD $140 per person per night.

At Diamond Ambassador, we were upgraded from the basic/standard "King Resort Classic Panoramic Oceanview" to a Terrace Suite, for our Thurs-Sat stay. I think I was offered vouchers vs. points vs. breakfast. And obviously I took the breakfast.

Agree that the room was dim (at least for Terrace Suite), especially the bathtub/shower area.

cmhsieh54

Just a dp here that, in July 2023, there was a shuttle direct from IC Danang to Hoi An, leaving the resort at 3pm and leaving Hoi An at 8pm. The drop-off / pick-up point in Hoi An during July 2023 is near what Google Maps refers to as "356 Nguyen Duy Hieu".

cmhsieh54

The free one weekend night cert is useless at this property. No availability, in my experience. And I hunted continuously during Q2 2023.

No idea whether the FHR upgrade matches the Ambassador upgrade. I'm Diamond Ambassador and just this past weekend was upgraded from the Panoramic room to the Terrace Suite.

cmhsieh54

MajulahMadooba Aventine

The Spring 2023 menu for La Maison 1888 is here: https://www.danang.intercontinental....u-2023-ENG.pdf
As you can see from that menu, it's showing prices for 3-, 4-, and 5-course dinner sets.

I'm only seeing that Spring 2023 menu now as I write this, but actually, for our dinner this past weekend, it was essentially the same prices for a 3-, 5-, and 7-course dinner, respectively. The waitstaff told me that we were there for the 2nd day of their new (seasonal) menu.

So, all-in, I paid about $200 per person for a 5-course dinner. For my wife and I.

There was a Jazz event for elites at the bar next door to Maison from 5pm-7pm. But Maison itself opens at 6:30pm, so we tried to duck out of that jazz thing and walked into Maison to ask whether they had any tables available. Turns out that reservations are heavily recommended. But nevertheless, we were lucky to score a table at 6:30pm. So we were the first and only ones in the restaurant until the jazz thing ended.

Below are some pictures of the 5-course dinner. I'll try to add a bit of commentary below each picture.


This was a set of amuse-bouche that came out before dinner. Four in total. We (my wife and I) can't quite recall what the 'fried cup' thing was, some kind of cream. We seem to recall that the fried ball contained a kind of small meatball, plated over some green-tea (matcha) powder. The third one here was the small piece of salted eel on a cracker. And the red one in front was a small watermelon cube infused with campari. If I recall correctly (mind you, this dinner was just last night for me), we were suggested to have the watermelon last... Overall, it wasn't a bad start to the meal. The textures, I can recall, were very different, and also the flavors were strong. I made a comment to the manager, who walked by right after we finished these amuse-bouche, that it was a flavorful start to the meal. Definitely woke up the taste buds. (I'll get to my overall rating of the entire meal later.)


I ordered an iced tea. And here was the first 'official' plate of the meal -- what the waitstaff called a "bell pepper sorbet" over something bread-like (but not mushy) below. This was surrounded by an olive oil, and when this was brought to the table, the waiter doused the entire thing with a tomato puree... basically it was gazpacho. But the sorbet itself was not as creamy as it was "icy-crunchy". So, it was a fresh-tasting experience. (Note the bread and butter to the side. After the amuse-bouche plates were taken away, the bread and butter came basically non-stop. Different breads, as you might find in some of my pictures. They were all tasty and well-made, but it struck me towards the end of the meal that I had become quite full probably in part due to all the bread I was inadvertently eating!)



This was a slightly citrus-y crawfish sashimi salad. I took this picture after separating out the crawfish with my fork, my apologies. But very delicately well-seasoned.



This was steamed fish topped with a large steamed oyster, with a kind of hollandaise sauce. Sorry about the lighting. The sliced vegetable to the right was a kind of root vegetable, reminiscent of deodeok.



That fish-oyster combo was accompanied by a small dollop of what the staff called "oyster ice cream", with some kind of herb/oil sauce next to it. My wife and I thought this was our least favorite.



The 4th course, the main, was veal. On the side was, I believe, a potato-based puree. The waitstaff brought this out and poured the au jus over it. It was meat, what can I say. Nothing that noteworthy.



Dessert, a.k.a. Course #5, was actually a set of 6 separate small plates. Here were the first three: a raspberry sorbet paired with a chocolate-flavored cookie, sliced mango with some flower petals, and coconut ice cream with a fried crisp over some heavy whipping cream.





At the table, the mango was topped with some grapefruit ice shavings.



The last 3 small dessert plates to wrap up the dinner: a blueberry tart/muffin hybrid (sounds weird but that's what it basically was), a creme-brulee cheesecake bite over a kiwi/avocado cream, and a chocolate mousse with alcohol-infused raisins (?) topped with a large thin dark chocolate slice (which the waitstaff poured some hot chocolate fudge over to 'pop' the chocolate slice).

Overall, was this dinner worth $200? I mean, is any dinner worth $200? I've had maybe a dozen $200+ dinners in my life, maybe only 2 really came close to being worth that (both in Europe, both involving flights of 4+ wine glasses!). I'd grade this meal as a "B", just in terms of the food. And a weak "B-", if accounting for the price!

The atmosphere was lively, dinner guests were almost all dressed to impress (esp. the ladies). Mostly Asian, of course. The general manager ("Stefano") came by to say hi to my wife and I three or four times during the dinner. Very cordial chap, apparently Italian. But when I tried to say anything about the food, it struck me that he either didn't want to get into it, or had nothing much to say about it anyways. :-) He basically just mentioned that Pierre Gagnaire himself visited in-person twice a year, and that he also had to approve the seasonal menu.

People earlier in this thread mentioned that the poolside food is a better deal. In terms of just filling the stomach with good food, I think that sounds right. My wife and I enjoyed the fried calamari and the mushroom pizza poolside. Those two items themselves can feed 3 for a hearty lunch at the pool.

Aventine

Ouch. $200/pp. Thanks for taking one for the team here but I do understand that you're somewhat held captive and want to enjoy the resort. I believe the GM knows that he is toeing the line and fooling a lot of people into thinking he has a 2* restaurant as an outlet. I've had 1* dinners that were more creative and original than what they're serving.

cmhsieh54

Yes, you are right on both counts. My wife and I are actually from the Seoul area (which you may have already gathered from my other posts) and she has never been to Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant at the Lotte Hotel. That hotel restaurant, incidentally, has a multi-week waiting list. So, since we were already at the resort, and it was Gagnaire's own restaurant, we thought we might as well. And indeed, I took pictures "for the team". :-D It was just OK. But I have appreciated others "taking one for the team" for people like me too, in the past. So there's that.

[Edit: I had no idea that this restaurant had won the title of "World's Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant 2022" by the World Culinary Awards. Not sure whether I'd go that far...]