“A what?!” I blurted out as Rachel and I checked out the menu. It was approaching 2am and we had just arrived back to the room from exploring some of Bangkok’s best nightlife… which was an interesting and bizarre yet intriguing scene to say the least… almost equal to seeing a dessert section dedicated to club sandwiches, but in a very different manner. We had wanted more mango sticky rice, but maybe a club sandwich cake was a better choice…

“One Romeo Y Julieta Short Churchill (yes, room service even had cigars), two scoops of vanilla ice cream (for a safe bet) and the Green Tea-Mango Club Sandwich Cake please” I requested from in room dining. 20 minutes later, and our eyes were feasting on what looked like miniature cakes in the form of a 3-layered club sandwich.

“Interesting” and “intriguing” were two great words for this club sandwich… again, in a very different way than when describing Pat Pong’s bars/clubs.  The menu boasted a green tea sponge, coconut-mascarpone cream, and mango jelly.  With those ingredients listed, we knew presentation would be at the upmost importance for this club.

First and foremost, even though the club was quartered, it did not need a toothpick to hold it together; the green tea sponge owned up to its name and did the trick by playing the role of the bread. The mango jelly – presumably the meat of this treasure – added a nice flavor to the dessert that complimented the coconut-mascarpone cream well. The addition of chocolate chips gave a nice texture to each bite, as did the thin layer of green tea chocolate on top.

While the dessert had flavors and textures going for it, altogether they didn’t blend so well.  I’m glad we tried this club sandwich cake– it was a first for both of us and something I’ll never forget. Of course, more deeply rooted in my memory is mango sticky rice, a truly innovative and delish dessert I hadn’t tried outside of Thailand. Now that is a fantastic dessert no matter what restaurant you head to.

A representative from the airport met me at my gate after we landed, rushed me through the diplomats line for a quick passport inspection and immigration, and sent me off to the hotel in what they called a limo (which was actually a Toyota Corolla). As I walked into the hotel two members of their executive team greeted me warmly and quickly escorted me up to my room to finish the checkin– even though the lobby was busy the entire process was a blur as I was overwhelmed with the definition of hospitality. From the arrival gate to my suite, this was the best checkin experience for a busy property I have ever been to… the best overall has to be the Cape Grace in Cape Town South Africa, but that’s another story in an entirely different setting…

Two balconies on a corner suite, 58 floors above a bustling Bangkok. Looking down I couldn’t wait to explore the city. Everything seemed so peaceful from up above; quite the contrast to the dense hustle and bustle I knew to expect. But we had nearly 4 full days to explore, and while the best of Bangkok’s street food was exciting me, I was in no rush to dive right in.

I immediately checked out the room service menu – WOW – I have never been to any property in the entire world, including Las Vegas, that had such an extensive in room dining menu. This thing was a book. With my apetite at a high level, I wasn’t ready to peruse this menu. Instead, after Rachel arrived we went and checked out the concierge floor afternoon buffet. Extensive and delicious, the lounge on the 52^nd floor was the perfect afternoon lunch and filled us up with enough energy to head back out into the urban jungle.

Fast forward to the next day and as we were finishing up our full body Thai massages – which are fantastic and far preferably to their foot massages in my opinion – both of our stomachs were growling. I knew the concierge floor was open until 6pm, so at 3:30 we headed up to feast on the buffet. We had skipped lunch thanks to the Lebua’s absolutely incredible breakfast buffet at their Modo restaurant (this was included with the room on Agoda) but hunger had caught up to us and we needed food.

Disappointment crushed me as we were told the full concierge buffet closes at 3pm, with just snacks and drinks being served until 6. What were we to do? Rachel and I looked at each other and we knew the answer: room service!

My club sandwich arrived in less than 30 minutes – in a hotel that takes on average 5 minutes from the lobby to your room, I was impressed with the speed. Almost as much as I was impressed with the sandwich – this was tasty meal, one that made me happy the afternoon hors d’oeuvres were put to an end.

The avocado – extremely soft and almost guacamole like – was a perfect touch, and combined with the almost ripe tomato it allowed the sandwich to be moist without the need for any mayonnaise or sauce. The bacon wasn’t overpowering at all and subtly added flavor and texture to each bite, as my tastebuds were enthralled with the hickory smoked chicken and farm egg, flavors nicely paired together to make this sandwich a solid meal. The greens they used – a mixed salad rather than just lettuce – was a wonderful touch to top off this great club sandwich. While having French fries with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top looked slightly fancy on the menu and in the presentation, it definitely wasn’t necessary.

Overall I would gladly order this club sandwich again… I enjoyed every bite of it. In fact, if the in-room dining menu hadn’t been so extensive (I literally wanted to take it home with me I was so impressed) I probably would have. Of course, we did end up ordering another club sandwich, one of an entirely different type, which will be posted next…

Well, the night took a slightly different turn as we went exploring.

The first Japanese restaurant looked fantastic… but as we perused the menu, we realized they only served hotpot, and with warming weather tonight was just not the night for hotpot.

“Let’s check out these other Japanese restaurants I know about,” said Rachel as we left the first spot. She had taking tutoring lessons “not far” from here and remembered “some other Japanese restaurants that looked great.” After a “short” 45 minute walk, we came upon a new construction complex that had replaced the Japanese restaurants… so much for that! We were tired and hungry… what now?

I remembered the Kempinski hotel being not too far from here, so I quickly checked their website on my phone – 5 different restaurants plus a brewery… this place looked like it had great options, including a Japanese restaurant, so we hopped in a taxi, spent 10rmb, and went straight there. Our first stop was the Japanese restaurant, Honzen, apparently a “hidden gem” in Beijing. The menu said otherwise… there was nothing special about this place, besides the extremely high prices.

Out of the corner of our eyes we see another restaurant, quiet and empty. “What could that be?” we asked each other. It was Kranzler’s Restaurant & Bar, an establishment centered around a massive buffet with a menu offering the best of international cuisine. Honestly, it wasn’t what we were looking for but the menu stood out – the Caesar salad looked great, as did the tuna tartar, and to top it off the menu boasted a “Signature Wagyu Club Sandwich,” something I decided on the spot I was craving.

Even though the buffet was overflowing with food, the restaurant was entirely empty except for 2 tables, one full of drunken Chinese patrons who filled the entire establishment up with noise, providing the appearance of a busy restaurant. We sat down, ordered our food, and as we shared a delicious salad and tuna tartar, I waited patiently for my wagyu club. And then it came.

The Kempinski Signature Wagyu Club Sandwich has no defining classic club attributes. It goes against tradition in nearly every way – and I definitely wasn’t complaining. Of course, it’s mainly thanks to the incredibly delicious wagyu beef they used. Yes, I knew the Kempinski Beijing had a deli in it, but I was not expecting decent meat here, or anywhere in China for that matter… it’s just impossible to find. But I guess if you pay $30 for a wagyu club sandwich, it better be good, and I was glad to see the Kempinski cared.

What else was there to rate with the sandwich since this club was entirely meat? The ciabatta bread had been baked in garlic butter, which was a delicious touch. The few green rocket leaves didn’t add much at all, and neither did the pear chutney (it was delicious, but only 2 bites worth). This was literally sliced meat on two pieces of garlic butter soaked bread. Again, no complaints here; they decided the meat was the most important part of the sandwich and just stuck with that. Kudos to the chef for being so confident. To top it off, the French fries were perfectly cooked and a great way to finish the meal after filling up on the greasy bread.

Rachel and I left the meal completely satisfied – although compared to the noodles we originally wanted, this restaurant had put a serious dent in my wallet. But we stopped at the lobby lounge for some drinks and enjoyed the evening thoroughly, where we were quickly reminded how much we love being in a hotel environment, even in our “hometown.”

]]> http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/03/11/kranzler%e2%80%99s-restaurant-kempinski-hotel-beijing-china/feed/ 0 http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/02/24/le-petit-gourmand-beijing-china/ http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/02/24/le-petit-gourmand-beijing-china/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:08:23 +0000 Evan Saunders http://clubsandwichreviews.com/?p=246 “I tend to meet potential clients over coffee” the web developer I was meeting with said through the phone.  I knew this meant there was no office, just a man who works from a computer at home. No worries though – I was once a freelancer myself and knew the routine well.

While we were meeting to review his experience and approach to design and development at 2pm, my stomach growled and I decided to head to the location earlier. I was expecting a simple salad or crepe at this French restaurant, however when the menu featured a club sandwich, I decided dining on this dish would be a fun and relaxing way to prep for the meeting. Afterall, all I had were questions, so gathering my thoughts over a non-complicated meal would be a great way to focus on the meeting ahead.

The menu description had no ingredients listed, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As it arrived, I was delighted by the presentation and noticing the equally sized layers of ham, bacon, chicken, and egg, I knew biting into this club would leave me with few qualms. Of course, the truth wasn’t exactly what I expected.

The taste of pickles hit my tongue quite quickly, followed by a sandwich doused in mayonnaise. It wasn’t the best start for Le Petit Gourmand. Fortunately, everything else in this sandwich hit the spot and it didn’t end up being a disappointment. The tomato was nice and ripe, the chicken, while quite thin, was a nicely seasoned piece of breast, the bacon had been cooked well, and the fried egg while again quite thin added a pleasant taste and texture to the center of the sandwich. The perfectly toasted bread, again thin to match the rest of the ingredients, quartered and decrusted, really put an emphasis on the ingredients rather than the bread being used… which was strangely weird considering this was a French restaurant. In fact, to my surprise this turned out being one of the few times in my life I’ve experienced not having enough bread… again, strange for a French restaurant however probably a result of the excess mayonnaise.

Would I eat this club sandwich again? No. Would I come back to this restaurant? Maybe if I wanted to read a book with a cup of coffee, but probably not to dine. Was I disappointed? Not at all – it was an average club sandwich that filled me up and provided the energy I needed to ask an underprepared web developer about his experience.

]]> http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/02/24/le-petit-gourmand-beijing-china/feed/ 0 http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/02/12/shangri-la-kerry-hotel-beijing-china/ http://clubsandwichreviews.com/2012/02/12/shangri-la-kerry-hotel-beijing-china/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:02:00 +0000 Evan Saunders http://clubsandwichreviews.com/?p=231 I was meeting my friends from the Charitarian for lunch but did not know the dining destination. To me surprise and delight, we decided on the new Kerry’s Kitchen, located just adjacent to the lobby. While this restaurant boasts on incredible buffet, happiness washed over me as I found the club sandwich on their a la carte menu.

Back on the Chinese mainland, far from any island with only limited access to resources, dining in a world-class hotel chain, I had high hopes for this club sandwich. Our waiter, who was from Las Angeles and didn’t seem to know any Chinese, was yet another positive reinforcement that the club sandwich was the way to go.

When the plate fell in front of me, I immediately thought I had made the right decision. Even with the thin, McDonalds like fries dumped in a hurry on top of this quartered, decrusted white bread sandwich, I knew my first bite would be a perfect mix of ingredients… and my eyes did not deceive me. With very little mayonnaise, a moist, ripe tomato touched my tongue immediately, and as I bit down I could feel the crunch of crispy lettuce on the bottom and crunch of crispy bacon on the top. The slightly over-fried but quite tasty egg added a heartiness to this small sandwich, while the high-quality sliced turkey breast nestled in the center is one you would normally find at Thanksgiving covered in gravy; it was a pleasant and delicious surprise and it reminded me how much superior sliced meats can enhance a club sandwich.

Wow was I pleased. This club sandwich was everything I wanted when I saw it on the menu. A home run in my book and something I’d absolutely order again. Although the price was a bit steep for Beijing’s lunchtime, being a Sangri-La I almost expected it to be more damaging on the pocket. While the egg could have been a bit less-cooked, I’d say the only lame thing about this club was the sad salad that arrived with it. A bunch of leaves, one sliced cherry tomato, and lots of vinaigrette… I actually didn’t even touch the salad. A lackluster side dish, it didn’t really fit with this club, but then again, it didn’t take much away.

We were staying at the Blue Lagoon Resort on Truk Lagoon in Chuuk, pretty much the only hotel within a 2 hour plane flight. Although you probably haven’t heard of the place, it was actually a coveted destination during World War 2. The Japanese occupied it and one day, America unleashed a wrath of fury faaaaar more devastating than Pearl Harbor sinking tons of ships, planes, tanks, etc right into the waters. It’s by far some of the best wreck diving in the world, and people literally come from everywhere to experience this underwater museum.

Of course, being in such a remote place I was not expecting a club sandwich when we arrived in Micronesia, let alone Chuuk, but on the last day we tried the resort restaurant for lunch (we had been having picnics or barbeques on remote islands each day) and low-and-behold, a club sandwich was looking right back at me on the menu.

No sliced chicken in this club – solid breast meat filled the sandwich with a thick layer of ham hanging out beneath it. A small yet perfectly fried egg was nestled in below the third slice, with crispy cucumber surrounding it. However, what dominated the taste in this sandwich was the thick onion covering the bottom; I was not expecting such strong onion flavor and wow did that take me by surprise. Quartered and nicely toasted, the bread was slightly larger than the ingredients; it’s almost as if they forgot to decrust it.  The accompanying french fries were your standard: nothing too great but very filling. I had been eating them nearly every day with fish during dinner, so I hadn’t been expecting anything else.

While the sandwich wasn’t anything special, it didn’t reflect the other fantastic food we had been dining on while at the resort, and I feel it’s important to remember the person preparing this club sandwich has probably never eaten one or seen one on a menu themself. They probably never eat sandwiches unless it’s ham and cheese, and probably don’t understand why this one has three slices of bread. With that in mind, they did a decent job putting a description on a menu together in real life with no point of reference. I enjoyed the hearty club sandwich and the smile on my face after showed everyone how nice it felt for me to enjoy such a comforting meal in such a remote destination.

Kudos and thank you to the Blue Lagoon Resort team for adding this to the menu. While I literally ate fish or eggs every other meal (with the exception of delicious pancakes one morning), it was a treat to enjoy yet another club sandwich on and island far from any civilization.

With panoramic views from the 17^th floor, gorgeous Tumon Bay was the only thing in sight, and nothing waves breaking in the distance filled the air with noise. I waited patiently on our balcony for my club sandwich to arrive. This had better be a filling club, I remember thinking; wakeboarding on the ocean was much more tiring than on a lake and combined with being in the sun all day, I needed an energy boost unlike a typical lunch would offer. And this was America after all – coming from China, I was expecting American sized portions, even if this island wasn’t a united state.

Perfectly toasted and decrusted, this whole wheat club sandwich arrived quickly and my appetite didn’t have to wait long, which was quite the relief; while the waves in the distance were loud, my stomach was beginning to compete by growling itself. The menu had listed guacamole as one of the ingredients to this club, but from first bite you could tell this guacamole – more of a paste really – came from far away. More of a sandwich spread that the dipping type, it made you wonder why they needed to add extra mayonnaise. Of course, the menu also listed a fried egg, of which there was none. A definite disappointment. And with the egg, must have escaped the swiss cheese (listed on the menu) as it was also MIA. The sliced turkey and ham were your typical quality, something you’d find in any supermarket. The lettuce was nothing but leaf, something I learned was common in Guam and Micronesia, and the tomato was ripe but sparse. The only thing that saved this club was the quality bacon – an import from the American mainland I have to imagine. On top of all that (literally) were the not-too-crispy fries that one was forced to fill up on when finished eating this sandwich.

There was clearly thought put into this club, and someone definitely picked guacamole for a reason to go with egg, 3 types of meat, and swiss cheese, but with average ingredients used and the lack of certain others, in-room dining didn’t deliver on what might have been a great club sandwich. For obvious reasons, I was less than satisfied.

I learned over the course of 5 days in Guam that Japanese is the cuisine to stick to on this island. Nearly everything is imported, and the seafood wasn’t too special. Steaks were a bit lame, the most highly coveted crustacean was Maine lobster, and most of the fish offered was fried. With the 1000s of Japanese tourists everywhere, it was obvious heading to a restaurant catering to them was the way to go. We had incredibly delicious sushi and I fell in love with the Okinawan-styled restaurants, always saving room for an American dessert after.

With no luck 5 days in, my friend Malcolm, after dining and proposing to his now fiancé at a higher-end hotel restaurant, encountered a club sandwich that sounded too good to be true. After being told the big news, I could not stop thinking about this sandwich (and congratulating them, of course). He had mentioned thick cut angus, overflowing bacon, large fried egg, and a gorgeous setting, so I knew where we would be lunching on our last day: the newly rebranded Henann Alona Beach Resort.

“Two clubs!” we happily told the waiter as we sat poolside for a mid-afternoon lunch. Malcolm was spot on and the menu provided a detailed list of ingredients to this club that would make any sandwich lover excited for what was to come.  And oh yes, they delivered.

While the bread was hardly toasted and quite thick, it did match this juicy club and held together the ingredients nicely. The Angus beef bacon was well cooked and delicious, the egg perfectly fried and not overdone, and the thick slice of ham was well grilled and far from any pre-sliced sandwich ham you find elsewhere. Cheese was delicately melted over the egg and barely noticeable.  The chicken, while present on the menu, was hardly present in this sandwich, although this was probably for the better.  While lacking tomato, sliced cucumber was a nice moist touch along with the small piece of lettuce. The club could have used a bit more French fries, as the current portion didn’t really add much, but by the time I finished this sandwich, I simply didn’t care. And one of the best parts about this club was the excellent cutting job; while not quartered, it was (as seen above) halved to perfection.

The hotel really did offer a perfect scene to enjoy each bite and with no one else around, it was incredibly serene. Add a fresh squeezed mango juice to this meal and it’s easy to label it club sandwich in paradise.

Before heading on the 1.5 hour trip to Narita Airport (where I knew a fantastic sushi restaurant would be waiting for us after security) I decided to take the plunge and fill up on the Bamboo Lobby Lounge’s club sandwich before the trek, complimented by my favorite brand of ginger ale, with a cigar to close.

Tokyo is a city full of perfectionists. Service industry workers strive to perform the best they can at their job and when you have a city populated with citizens like this, everything you experience plays out flawlessly.

The Bamboo Lobby Lounge is a fantastic lobby lounge and I was excited for this meal. The setting is nearly everything I look for when staying at a 5 star hotel: ample tables a perfect distance apart, great drink and food menus, cigar menu, live piano, and a gorgeous backdrop.

Unfortunately the only disappointing part of the early afternoon lunch break was the club sandwich. The bread was nicely toasted – I was glad for that and you can see the proof in the photo. The remainder, well, just plain unsatisfactory. The thinnest piece of chicken you could imagine hugged the top slice of bread, while the tomato, covered in mayo and barely noticeably, was mushed together with some lettuce. The limited amount of bacon didn’t help the situation, and neither did the extremely small plate of heavily fried potato chips. This was not a fine example of Japanese craftsmanship by any means.

Maybe I had high expectations, but the Bamboo Lobby Lounge’s club sandwich just wasn’t anything special and I won’t be ordering it again… I’ll go for the sashimi platter or kobe beef sliders .