Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok Getting Custom Tailored Suits Made in Bangkok at Empire Tailors Nahm at the Metropolitan hotel is probably Thailand’s most celebrated restaurant. The Australian-born chef David Thompson is the first person to win a Michelin star for Thai cooking, a distinction earned for his former London outpost. This has been called the best restaurant in Asia…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
The New Smart Choice for Barbecue in the Barbecue Capital of the World: Black’s of Lockhart Now in Downtown Austin
My favorite barbecue – anywhere – is Black’s in Lockhart, Texas. I believe barbecue is all about the meat, and that meat is brisket. Sauce shouldn’t be necessary, it just hides the taste of good barbecue. I’ve had Franklin Barbecue in Austin and it is amazing. Technically perfect, even. But I find Black’s brisket more flavorful. Last month I shared a trick to avoid the lines if you make the trip from Austin out to Lockhart and drop in on Black’s, which is the clear winner of the four barbecue places in that famous barbecue town. Austin-area barbecue has to be the most densely competitive enclave in the world, and that makes nearly all of it excellent. ‘Bad’ barbecue for the region is still ‘good’ in some objective sense, or at least relative to what…
Review: Thai Molecular Gastronomy at Sra Bua in Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok Grand Hyatt Bangkok: Suite, Club Lounge, and Facilities Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin at the Siam Kempinski hotel is quite well-regarded. It’s Copenhagen sister is the second restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin star cooking Thai food. (The first was London’s Nahm, and I ate at Nahn in Bangkok on this trip as well.) I’ve done plenty of the world’s best molecular gastronomy. The since-closed El Bulli, arguably then…
Review: Grand Hyatt Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok I had arranged meet-and-greet and golf cart pickup at the gate for my arriving flight from Hong Kong with the hotel. No one was there. Once I cleared immigration and passport control I found the hotel representative in the arrivals hall, let him know what happened, and he promised to call ahead to the hotel so that they could be prepared to address it on my arrival. Then it was out…
Review: Cathay Pacific Business Class, Hong Kong – Bangkok
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Cathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge, Hong Kong For more than two years I’ve been looking forward to flying Cathay Pacific’s new regional business class product but I’ve been foiled every time — I keep getting their long haul business product on my short intra-Asia flights. That streak, lucky in most ways, continued. And I was sort of banging my head against the wall over it. What better way than a short hop between Hong Kong and Bangkok would there be to try out lesser seats? Our…
Denied a Cabana at Cathay Pacific’s “The Wing” First Class Lounge
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International TerminalCathay Pacific First Class, Los Angeles – Hong Kong On arrival in Hong Kong you head to the nearest transit point where you show your connecting boarding pass and proceed through security. Laptop out, shoes stay on, there’s rarely much of a line. Once past the checkpoint you head up the escalator (or elevator, as you wish) to the departures level and on to your gate or lounge. Cathay Pacific’s flagship lounge is ‘The Wing’. For departing passengers originating in Hong Kong it’s just past immigration (turn left). It’s near the lowest numbered gates one through four. Hong…
Review: Cathay Pacific First Class Los Angeles – Hong Kong
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal I’ve flown Cathay Pacific first class many times. I’ve even called their Hong Kong – New York JFK service my favorite flight in the world. They don’t offer suites with doors. There’s not really great ground service to speak of. The food is fine but hardly amazing. But they have several things going for them: The seats. They don’t have doors that close, but they are quite private and very spacious. Instead of four seats across in the cabin, they offer just three seats across, and a cabin with just 6 seats. Attentive service. You do need…
Inside the New Oneworld Lounge at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal
Must-read Earlier Installments: Singapore, Cathay, and Qantas First Class.. Some of the Best Meals of My Life, and a Tour of Hyatts in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sydney This was my first visit to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX since it was renovated, and boy what a difference. You notice it from the moment you step up curbside. It’s no longer entirely an entirely an embarassment (well, it’s still part of LAX). It’s modern and bright and far better organized. Ok, it’s still part of LAX. But it’s a huge improvement. I checked in and proceeded through security. Unfortunately there’s no PreCheck, but the nude-o-scope was backed up with passengers and so they allowed me to proceed through the metal detector only — no opt-out required. I was confronted by the array of shops…
Sneak Peak: Inside the Pre-Opening of the San Francisco American Express Centurion Lounge
The new American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco airport is ready and will open tomorrow (as was leaked last week). I had an opportunity to see the lounge last night and try the food since I was invited to the pre-opening party and dinner there. What American Express has created is a stylish, comfortable departure lounge with good food and drink. I actually think this is the most gorgeous, sexiest domestic lounge American Express has built to date. The entry is dramatic, the lighting is great. At ~ 8200 square feet it’s about 10% smaller than Dallas while substantially larger than New York LaGuardia. It features a kids room like Dallas and Las Vegas, and it has a shower. There’s no spa, but its ‘plus’ feature is a self-pour wine wall with real premium wines.…
Review: American Airlines First Class Buenos Aires – New York JFK
You’ll Also Want to Be Sure to Read: American Airlines Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines First Class, New York JFK – Buenos Aires Review: Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Eating Around Buenos Aires: Four Notable Meals to Consider In Search Of — and Forgetting — the Past in Buenos Aires American Airlines Admirals Club Buenos Aires I arrived at the gate a minute or two after boarding had commenced, and the crowd was descending on the gate. When I reached the front of the line I was flagged for additional questioning. Perhaps it was that I was in Buenos Aires for just a weekend, or perhaps it was that I didn’t have any checked bags, but I got several inquiries about what I had been doing there and also whether or not I had…
