Near the end of May, TheDiarist.ph was invited to celebrate the reopening of The Londoner Macao after its redesign and a lull in tourism in Macao due to the pandemic.
What we enjoy about press trips such as this is the food, down to the chocolates and bottles of bespoke liquor in our suite. On the first day, we had lunch at the North Palace restaurant of The Londoner, which offers Northern Chinese cuisine. The meal began with appetizers of chilled live Dalian abalone, sea cucumbers, and razor clams in vinegar dressing, sliced beef shank in chili dressing, marinated mung bean noodles, and poached pear.
The Londoner Court Mayfair Suite
At The Londoner Court Garden Suite
Next came a delicious soup of braised sea cucumber, fish maw, and abalone. Served at the end were the most tender roast whole baby lamb, delicious Beijing duck with all the accoutrements such as the wrapper and Hoisin sauce, and prawns, eggplant, and spinach. Dessert was a magical-looking concoction of candied seasonal fruit coated in sugar.
We were then given a few hours to relax before the main agenda of the Macao trip: the grand celebration of The Londoner Macao. The event’s theme was “The Journey Begins,” starting with cocktails graced by VIPs from Hong Kong and China. Among the world celebrities was David Beckham, the brand ambassador of the Sands Hotel; the Las Vegas Sands hotel chain owns The Londoner Macao. The highlight was a concert featuring Lang Lang, the renowned pianist who performed on the evening of the coronation of King Charles III in London. Known for his past performances in the Beijing Olympics, Grammy Awards, Lang had a lengthy repertoire that included The Rainbow Connection. The other performers were Hong Kong singer-songwriter G.E.M., the “Taylor Swift of China,” and Chinese musical theater artist, actor, and vocalist Ayanga. Sheldon Adelson’s wife, Miriam Adelson, gave a speech to honor her late husband, the founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns The Londoner Macao. There were other speeches, and Beckham’s was the most entertaining.
After the concert, we were treated to dinner at Churchill’s Table—oysters, followed by truly scrumptious burrata and tomatoes. A ravioli dish, and finally, steak rounded off the meal. Dessert was lemon sorbet matched with a crackable, edible tennis ball made of candy. We were excited to try breakfast the following day at The Residence on the third level of the hotel, with a special menu in addition to the buffet.
There was a concert in which Lang Lang, the pianist who had played a couple of weeks prior on the evening of the coronation of King Charles III in London, performed
Breakfast at The Residence was filled with our favorites: dimsum and sushi. We asked for noodles soup at the chef’s bar and were served a delicious dish that can only be described by Filipinos as mami. We tried a lobster on the menu during tea the next day, with various other dishes, including the requisite finger sandwiches and pastries. The Asian food was exceptional. Late in the evening, we heard that The St. Regis Bar was better than its Hong Kong counterpart—however, it was closed when we got there.
Dimsum at The Residence
Lobster Benedict at The Residence
It’s easy to get lost in The Londoner. The hotel complex comprises The Londoner Hotel, the Londoner Court, the Conrad Macao, the Sheraton Grand Macao, and The St. Regis Macao. There are over 6,000 hotel rooms and suites, a slew of retail, entertainment, dining, and meeting rooms, and convention space. The Shoppes at Londoner, Shoppes at Venetian, Shoppes at Four Seasons, and Shoppes at Parisian make it an exceptional place to spend a few days for some retail therapy. There are also an Eiffel Tower, a Big Ben, gondolas, and other recreational spaces to give you some mock-European splendor. There’s a Changing of the Guard show every afternoon at 3 pm. The “Queen” addresses the crowd at the Crystal Palace, a large closed courtyard where thousands of people can gather, albeit standing up.
The Crystal Palace at The Londoner
Our suite at The Londoner was exquisite. We felt like VIPs with a living room, two humongous TVs and a spacious bathroom with all the accoutrements you’d expect in a suite, with ample space to fix your face before leaving for the day.
Filled with photos of Beckham and his family, the suites include his favorite things, like look-alike chairs from his London home
We were shown around the Suites by David Beckham at The Londoner, which comprise 14 bespoke suites, ranging from one to three bedrooms. Filled with photos of Beckham and his family, the suites include his favorite things, like look-alike chairs from his London home, a barber’s area, books, and art. One has to be invited to book a suite. We were also informed that Harry Potter: The Exhibition will have its Asian premiere at Londoner in December. You can join the waitlist here: Harry Potter in Macao.
The Londoner Court check-in lobby
The Londoner Arena lobby
Our favorite part of the trip was the teamLab experience. According to its notes, “teamLab (founded in 2001) is an international art collective. Their collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world. Through art, the interdisciplinary group of specialists, including artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects, aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world and new forms of perception.”
teamLab Supernature Macao is at The Venetian Macao, a short walk from The Londoner. Expect to experience worlds where virtual flowers bloom in cups of tea, large clouds of bubbles pop as you walk through them, and neon lights dance in triangles at the ceilings of mirrored rooms. A large part of the teamLab Supernature journey is being engulfed in the dark, where shockingly-colored art floats down walls.
Much of the experience is interactive: Step on drawings that disappear as you hop through them and jump on trampolined floors, as stars twinkle at your feet. teamLab museums and permanent exhibits, in addition to Supernature in Macao, include teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets Tokyo, teamLab Borderless Shanghai, and teamLab Massless Beijing. Abu Dhabi, Hamburg, Jeddah and Utrecht include some cities where teamLab will exhibit.
The Londoner Macao
