Singapore, Bangkok, and a First Class Round the World for the ages
Jul 10, 2019, 9:19 pm
#31
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We arrived at Changi just after 11am or about 1h45m until departure. We were planning on going to The Private Room but didn't do our homework and wound up going to Terminal 2 where our SIN-BKK flight was to depart instead fo Terminal 3 and First Class terminal entrance.
So we took the train to T3 to explore.
And got to see The Jewel. OK, now that was prettty cool.
By the time we got to T3 and walked towards check in and departures, we agreed that this was now too much hassle and too little time. We'd both been to The Private Room numerous times, and find it somewhat over-rated any way. So we took the train back to T2, passing thru The Jewel again.
... and the SilverKris First Class Lounge.
Pleasant bar...
... and comfy seating areas.
Dining room...
... with a nice selection of serve yourself food options.
The biggestsurprise shock of the day was the champagne. OMG. OMG. Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millésime 2006. Are you serious? This amazing champagne retails for $500 a bottle, and it was just sitting out on the serve yourself liquor contour. The funniest thing was that I had just poured myself a draft Tiger beer when batmandds pointed it out. Needless to day, I didn't drink a drop of the Tiger. We wondered who screwed up and mistakenly put out this champagne, which is better than anything served in The Private Room. We each enjoyed three glasses and killed the bottle and then watched as a staffer brought our another bottle. Wow.
Sadly, it was time to head to our gate for our flight to Bangkok.
So we took the train to T3 to explore.
And got to see The Jewel. OK, now that was prettty cool.
By the time we got to T3 and walked towards check in and departures, we agreed that this was now too much hassle and too little time. We'd both been to The Private Room numerous times, and find it somewhat over-rated any way. So we took the train back to T2, passing thru The Jewel again.
... and the SilverKris First Class Lounge.
Pleasant bar...
... and comfy seating areas.
Dining room...
... with a nice selection of serve yourself food options.
The biggest
Sadly, it was time to head to our gate for our flight to Bangkok.
Last edited by SFO777; Jul 13, 2019 at 7:52 pm
Jul 11, 2019, 1:23 am
#32
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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Wow at the cost of the bubbles!
Interesting comment about keeping quiet on who you'd booked your hotel through. For a while here, if your travel agent booked a trip through Ryanair instead of you booking it, you risked not getting on your flight if they found out. I think they seem more relaxed about it these days though as not heard anything in the press for a good while.
Interesting comment about keeping quiet on who you'd booked your hotel through. For a while here, if your travel agent booked a trip through Ryanair instead of you booking it, you risked not getting on your flight if they found out. I think they seem more relaxed about it these days though as not heard anything in the press for a good while.
Jul 11, 2019, 4:12 am
#33
Join Date: Nov 2009
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Another absolutely awesome trip report! Thank you for sharing SFO777, I've been looking forward to this one with bated breath. Also, not a good thing to read on an empty stomach. It got me real fired up, and I don't think my city has any Chinese restaurants open at 6am 
Jul 11, 2019, 2:51 pm
#34
Join Date: Mar 2003
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The biggest surprise shock of the day was the champagne. OMG. OMG. Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millésime 2006. Are you serious? This amazing champagne retails for $500 a bottle, and it was just sitting out on the serve yourself liquor contour. The funniest thing was that I had just poured myself a draft Tiger beer when batmandds pointed it out. Needless to day, I didn't drink a drop of the Tiger. We wondered who screwed up and mistakenly put out this champagne, which is better than anything served in The Private Room. We each enjoyed three glasses and killed the bottle and then watched as a staffer brought our another bottle. Wow.
Jul 11, 2019, 9:49 pm
#35
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: PVG / BNE
Posts: 131
The biggest surprise shock of the day was the champagne. OMG. OMG. Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millésime 2006. Are you serious? This amazing champagne retails for $500 a bottle, and it was just sitting out on the serve yourself liquor contour. The funniest thing was that I had just poured myself a draft Tiger beer when batmandds pointed it out. Needless to day, I didn't drink a drop of the Tiger. We wondered who screwed up and mistakenly put out this champagne, which is better than anything served in The Private Room. We each enjoyed three glasses and killed the bottle and then watched as a staffer brought our another bottle. Wow.
Jul 12, 2019, 3:47 am
#36
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: Miles and More
Posts: 12
Jul 12, 2019, 8:05 pm
#38
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: points traveller
Posts: 329
back in the day it was the 2002 version.
but then again TPR has Dom which is better than most F lounges.
Jul 13, 2019, 7:47 pm
#39
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Wow at the cost of the bubbles! Interesting comment about keeping quiet on who you'd booked your hotel through. For a while here, if your travel agent booked a trip through Ryanair instead of you booking it, you risked not getting on your flight if they found out. I think they seem more relaxed about it these days though as not heard anything in the press for a good while.
Thanks very much Justin Case.
Jul 13, 2019, 7:49 pm
#40
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Singapore SIN to Bangkok BKK
Singapore SQ 873
A330-300
12:50pm-2:20pm
July 3, 2019
Business Class
Seat 12A
Since we spent a little extra time in the lounge with our third glass of Rare, boarding was well under way by the time we got to the gate. We boarded immediately using the left Priority Lane.
SQ's regional A330 is 2-2-2 but an updated and comfortable version.
Today's menu...
... and wine list.
I had Booked the Cook and ordered Lobster Thermidor...
... which was very good.
We arrived on time and then walked to Immigration to try our the new no invitation Fast Track, which now relies on your boarding pass.
Not a lot of signage but we had faith that it would be there...
... et voila.
Worked great with no one in line ahead of us.
After Immigration, we went looking for Left Luggage to stow our rollers until later that day. Information Desk told us to look for the Q lane.
There it is. 100 Baht (or roughly USD 3) and we were done.
I guess we won't be doing any modelling this trip. LOL.
Back downstair at arrivals, our Blacklane driver was waiting for us and we were on the road.
And here we are just after 4pm.
We hung out for a while at nearby Marriott Mayfair before heading back to Gaggan.
Singapore SQ 873
A330-300
12:50pm-2:20pm
July 3, 2019
Business Class
Seat 12A
Since we spent a little extra time in the lounge with our third glass of Rare, boarding was well under way by the time we got to the gate. We boarded immediately using the left Priority Lane.
SQ's regional A330 is 2-2-2 but an updated and comfortable version.
Today's menu...
... and wine list.
I had Booked the Cook and ordered Lobster Thermidor...
... which was very good.
We arrived on time and then walked to Immigration to try our the new no invitation Fast Track, which now relies on your boarding pass.
Not a lot of signage but we had faith that it would be there...
... et voila.
Worked great with no one in line ahead of us.
After Immigration, we went looking for Left Luggage to stow our rollers until later that day. Information Desk told us to look for the Q lane.
There it is. 100 Baht (or roughly USD 3) and we were done.
I guess we won't be doing any modelling this trip. LOL.
Back downstair at arrivals, our Blacklane driver was waiting for us and we were on the road.
And here we are just after 4pm.
We hung out for a while at nearby Marriott Mayfair before heading back to Gaggan.
Jul 13, 2019, 7:51 pm
#41
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Gaggan - Bangkok
The #1 Restaurant in Asia and #4 in the World.
At around 5pm, we walked back to Gaggan to make sure we were in plenty of time to secure one of the coveted few seats at the Chef's Table for our 5:30pm seating.
Gaggan staff enjoying their pre-game meal at what appeared to be an auxiliary kitchen across the alley.
Just before 5:30pm, we were escorted upstairs to the Chef's Table for what turned out to be an amazing and memorable evening of fabulous food, good wine, great music and great entertainment from an incredibly talented and outgoing staff including Polish-American sous-chef Radek Zarebinski and an amiable young American sommelier Ottara Pyne.
The menu is 25 simple emojis, representing the 25 different tasting menu courses.
We both opted for the wine pairing, which included nine different wines. Pours were generous as were the refills.
Our entertaining sommelier Ottara...
... and sous-chef Radek who entertained us for more than three hours with food and wine descriptions for each course, with a varied background of music throughout.
Gaggan's iconic Yoghurt Explosion.
Uh-oh. Time for the blindfolds and no peaking...
Talk about trust.
Getting ready for Fire.
Our nine wines for the evening.
At the end of the night, applause and hugs all around.
And a brief chat with the man himself before heading off to the airport. What an amazing experience that we will remember for a long time. An experience that touches all the senses. Bravo Gaggan!
The #1 Restaurant in Asia and #4 in the World.
At around 5pm, we walked back to Gaggan to make sure we were in plenty of time to secure one of the coveted few seats at the Chef's Table for our 5:30pm seating.
Gaggan staff enjoying their pre-game meal at what appeared to be an auxiliary kitchen across the alley.
Just before 5:30pm, we were escorted upstairs to the Chef's Table for what turned out to be an amazing and memorable evening of fabulous food, good wine, great music and great entertainment from an incredibly talented and outgoing staff including Polish-American sous-chef Radek Zarebinski and an amiable young American sommelier Ottara Pyne.
The menu is 25 simple emojis, representing the 25 different tasting menu courses.
We both opted for the wine pairing, which included nine different wines. Pours were generous as were the refills.
Our entertaining sommelier Ottara...
... and sous-chef Radek who entertained us for more than three hours with food and wine descriptions for each course, with a varied background of music throughout.
Gaggan's iconic Yoghurt Explosion.
Uh-oh. Time for the blindfolds and no peaking...
Talk about trust.
Getting ready for Fire.
Our nine wines for the evening.
At the end of the night, applause and hugs all around.
And a brief chat with the man himself before heading off to the airport. What an amazing experience that we will remember for a long time. An experience that touches all the senses. Bravo Gaggan!
Last edited by SFO777; Jul 15, 2019 at 10:21 pm
Jul 14, 2019, 8:16 am
#44
Join Date: May 2003
Location: TLL
Programs: OZ Diamond, BA Gold, Bonvoy Ambassador, HH Gold
Posts: 4,412
I loved Gaggan and went last November - I love how much he mixes up the menu. Besides from yogurt explosion and lick it up, it looks like you had a totally different line up of dishes Great trip report!