Friday, June 08, 2012

Wynn Macau - Cafe Encore, the Stay and the Spa

The Suite life at Wynn Macau's Encore Tower
In this final post on the couple of days I spent at Wynn Macau (to see why I was there, head here), I'm covering our ace room, breakfast at Cafe Encore, and for the first time on this blog, a spa, because it was truly lovely (no, I'm not just saying that).

This was our room, which was in Encore Tower, the newer wing at Wynn where all rooms are suites. All the rooms are facing Taipa, so you get an open view, and there are villas that are by invitation only - I guess I'll never be enough of a high-roller to know!


View from the room - day
The suites were more than good enough for G and I. I'm not the most budget of travellers (that said, I'm not "good" enough to be a snob either) and I've site inspected more than my fair share of hotels for work, but double vanities, rotating TV (seriously!), floor-to-ceiling windows - you can say what you like about red carpets, but I've certainly seen worse.

View from the room - night
The lounge was a treat, although sometimes I feel I never get enough out of them, because you don't really stay in your room for very long when you're in a city hotel, unless you're working, of course. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I had a deadline the night we were there, so I got to write while all sprawled out on the sofa. Wish I could do that all the time!


French toast Our last meal was breakfast at Cafe Encore, the all-day cafe in the Encore Tower of the Wynn, round the corner from the very glam jewelbox lookalike, Bar Cristal (which I would be keen to visit on my next trip to Macau*).

Caffe latte
I woke up at about 8am, thinking we'd be ready for breakfast in an hour, max, but somehow we managed to dilly-dally for almost three hours, and we arrived in Cafe Encore at 10:40am. Breakfast is served till 10:30am, we were told when we arrived, but they made an exception as they had expected our arrival. This was really cheeky of us, but I have to say, I did very much appreciate not having to eat a club sandwich or a baked rice for breakfast.

Yogurt
G went the full "western hotel breakfast" route and had French toast and berries and yogurt, which he was awfully pleased about. I had a bit of the French toast too - it was fluffy, though maybe too soft for me - this was typical soft Asian bread which ends up relying on the crust to hold it together. If restaurants all changed to using the bread I like, complaints would be through the roof.

Macanese omelette
I went for the "local" option, which turned out to be a three-course breakfast with an omelette that would probably be better described as a frittata. The strips of chorizo on the top gave it a nice kick, and I do love a fingerling potato.

Cafe Encore interiors
You don't have to order a three-course breakfast of course, I just went with that option, because I'm greedy.

Rice noodles with fish ball and fish cake
The next course was a pretty standard Cantonese-style flat rice noodles in soup, with fish balls and fish cake. There was some minced pork too, which was the nicest part of the dish. The fish components were just a little too fishy for me...

Portuguese egg tart
Everyone, well, at least everyone from Hong Kong, gets really excited about Portuguese egg tarts when they come to Macau. Funny thing is, the tarts that they love the most, like from Lord Stow's and Cafe Margaret's are more Macanese than Portuguese. Sure, both of them have burnt tops, but the aside from that the Macanese ones are almost identical to Hong Kong egg tarts, which are eaten straight out of the oven. I'd say it's more of a Macanese egg tart, and that's not a bad thing at all. This was slightly flatter than the tarts we usually see, but it nonetheless had lovely flaky pastry and a jiggy custard centre, and it was served warm. And thus concludes my three-course breakfast! I think I actually skipped lunch that day...

Beautiful walls of the lift lobby - decked out with string knots that were used as currency
On the first day, the kind folks at Wynn also treated me to a four-hand massage at their spa. When you arrive in the lift lobby, it's like you've been transported to a resort in Thailand - and not just Bangkok, this was like a hidden luxury retreat in the cool hills of northern Thailand or something. Fittingly, my two therapists were Thai ladies, who, when I had my eyes closed, made me think they were one Thai lady with 4 hands. The rest is.... zzz.... I fell asleep!

Dried apricots, ginger tea and ginger cookies at The Spa
All the rooms in the spa are private, with their own sauna, experience showers and a jacuzzi complete with coloured lights and scents; all but one are for individual guests. (That's a very vague way of saying they have one couple's room).

Ginger cookies
You know you're an incorrigible foodie when you go to a spa and actually eat the food that's on those pristine trays and jars...

*I've made a couple of trips to Macau of late, and each time have discovered some very decent bars. Yes, many are in hotels and near gaming floors, but they're always quite tucked away and once you're in them, are excellent respite from the poker machines and unfortunately, badly-dressed tourists.

Cafe Encore
Wynn Macau
Rua Cidade de Sintra
Macau
+853 8986 3663

The Spa at Encore
+853 8986 3228
   
View e_ting in Macau in a larger map

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