Friday, March 20, 2015

Staycation at Rendezvous Hotel & Valentine's Dinner at La Maison Fatien

Yes, this is a super late post and it has been nearly 4 months since my previous post on White Rabbit. I have been pretty busy with my work and life; lazy as well. =D I don't blog for a living and I'm writing all these posts out of my interest to share with my friends and people who chance upon my blog. Rest assured that everything I write are based on my personal experience and definitely true.

Selfie before leaving house on 14 Feb; Freshly cut hair on 13 Feb 2015 by Chikuma-San from Shunji Matsuo (Oh I got a story to share about Shunji Matsuo! Will talk about it next time.)

For this Valentine's Day 2015, I booked a Club Room at Rendezvous Hotel. The Club Rooms are situated on the highest floor (11th). Also, club room guests have a separate check-in counter where we skipped the queue and got directed to the lounge to wait for check-in. Complimentary parking coupons are provided, simply ask from the reception before you leave the hotel.


Rendezvous Hotel Singapore
Address: 9 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189559
Contact: +65 6336 0220
Fax: +65 6337 3773
Website: http://www.stayfareast.com/en/hotels/rendezvous-hotel-singapore.aspx

Drinks were served at the lounge while we waited for the staff to bring our room keys. A stalk of rose was given to every girl upon check-in! That's very thoughtful of Rendezvous.

While waiting at the lounge...
Wines served
We waited almost 30min before we could get our keys to the room. Heyyyy that was a bit too long! Those who booked non-club rooms actually got their room keys are the check-in counter and were able to get into their rooms before us. Oh well, shouldn't let this delay spoil our special occasion.

I actually made an arrangement with the hotel when I booked the room. I was surprised by the decorations and would like to thank Rendezvous Hotel for giving us free cake and lovely petals on the bed!









Complimentary Cake

At the Club Lounge on the 11th Floor, they provide Comfort Food from 2pm to 5pm, Evening Cocktails from 6pm to 8pm and complimentary refreshments throughout the day. We were pretty hungry after checking in and went into the club lounge to grab some food.


Comfort Food (2pm - 5pm)
Not much food left at 4.44pm..... =(
Club Lounge Interior
Swimming Pool
Jacuzzi
Tiny Gym

We went around exploring the hotel, the facilities are not that impressive but it doesn't really matter to us as we didn't intend to use most of them.

The perk of staying at Rendezvous Hotel is not just its central location, it is also within 5 minutes walk to The Cathay, my favorite cinema in Singapore. This was the winning point when I compared this hotel with the others. We headed over to The Cathay and bought tickets for Fifty Shades of Grey airing at 23:35 in Grand Cathay (I love Grand Cathay!).


Evening Cocktails (6pm - 8pm)

There were several snacks for you to choose from which was pretty enough for us to be full if we didn't control ourselves. Also, there was a drink menu on the table with cocktail, mocktails, house pour, juices, soft drinks and hot beverages. You can order as much as you want! Everything is complimentary!

We only took 2 drinks and went out of the hotel as he booked a restaurant at 7pm and we had to drive over.





It wasn't easy to find a parking slot along the street of Duxton Road. We ended up parking at the nearby HDB multi-storey carpark and walked over to the restaurant. Even the HDB carpark was nearly full!


La Maison Fatien
Address: 76 Duxton Road Singapore 089535
Operating Hours: Mon-Fri 12.00pm-2.30pm, 6.30pm-10.30pm; Sat 6.00pm-10.30pm; Sun Closed
Tel: (65) 6220 3822
Fax: (65) 6220 8747
Email: mail@lamaisonfatien.com
Website: http://lamaisonfatien.com/

Upon entering the restaurant, we were welcomed by a formally well-dressed lady at the entrance. Our table was reserved at the second floor. The ambience was great, quietly romantic with other couples around us. As it was Valentine's day, they designed a Diwine Valentine's Menu for the special occasion. (Honestly, I dislike restaurants coming up with such specialized menu on occasions as the choice of food is VERY limited.) Everything on the menu was fixed except for main course which we had a choice between beef or fish.

Diwine Valentine's Menu
Table next to us

Table setting with a table hook provided to hang my bag



Amuse Bouche - Crabe croustillant aux langoustines sauce, hollandaise et caviar (Crispy river crab with scampi hollandaise and caviar)

Appetizer - Tartare de pétoncle sauce goma, herbes, bacon confits (Scallop tartare with goma dressing, herb crest, candied bacon)
I like the appetizer
Soup - Huîtres fraîches à la crème d'épinards, morceaux de pancetta (Fresh oyster with spinach cream, pancetta bits)
Nice soup
FRESH oysters (I gave mine to BF cause I hate the taste of the sea... He said that it's really fresh.)
My Main - Cabillaud, pomme deterre fondante, carottes, sauce aux cèpes (Black cod with potato fondant, baby carrot, porcini sauce)
The cod was rather disappointing. It wasn't what I expected and didn't taste fantastic. It was average to be honest. Looks can always be deceiving. =(

Joue de bceuf, patate douce, et asperges a la truffes fraîches (36hrs slow cooked Wagyu beef cheek with sweet potato, asparagus, fresh black truffles)
36hrs slow cooked Wagyu beef cheek with sweet potato, asparagus, fresh black truffles
The Wagyu beef was alright. Not much surprise but it was definitely up to our expectation.

Le chocolat noir et framboise à l'Armagnac, crème anglaise (Dark chocolate and raspberry bar with Armagnac, crème anglaise)
I ought to say that this was the worst dessert I ever had in a fine dining restaurant. The chocolate was sour, to a very large extent. The only saving grace was the slice of biscuit and the crispy parts below the chocolate. I didn't finish the dish. Sorry for wasting food but it wasn't really friendly to my taste bud. =/

Overall, the food was average and the price was outrageous at SGD 99++ per person for such average tasting five course dinner. The service was undeniably praiseworthy but sadly, the food did not match their service standards. I don't think I will ever visit this restaurant again.


Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey was so traumatizing!!!! I couldn't sleep the whole night. I'm not lying. It was just so wrong... But Mr. Grey's really hot. Hahaha


Breakfast with a view of..... nothing much; the breakfast spread wasn't great at all.
Thankful for complimentary parking coupon!

As we were staying in a Club Room, we could enjoy priority late check out as late as 3pm! We checked out at 1.45pm, went out for lunch while leaving our luggage in the car parked in the hotel. It was really nice to have a staycation in Singapore once in awhile!

I have not been travelling since my Taipei trip in Nov 2014 and Bangkok trip in Jan 2015 which I did not blog about. I am excited about my upcoming trips in April and May! Laters~ (infected by Elliot Grey)


Read about my other Staycations in Singapore: