Pastel
Lounge - A Little Bit Of Vegas At The Heart of The
City
It came quite unexpectedly to
my friend George, just how to dispose of his mum,
dad, little sister and younger brother. During a
visit to Ban Khun Pah, a restaurant in Siam Square,
George had a revelation that fixed his nagging problem
and had him feeling like a genius by the time he
got home.
It was one of those nights when
he was somewhere downtown he doesn’t often go. On
his way out of the restaurant with his girlfriend,
he noticed how much there was to offer in touristy
Siam Square, with its shops and restaurants, a giant,
tourist-trap shopping mall - Mah Boon Krong at one
end, and a hundred shops in between.
And what’s that over there…the
Novotel Hotel. The strategically-placed Novotel
also has loads to offer by way of in-house eating
and entertainment – that’s where he was going next
– and might just be the perfect base where somebody
else could babysit the family when they arrived
for their six-day stay!
Say no more! He steps inside the
hotel, checks the room rates and Bob’s your uncle!
It
was a fairly wise move. The Novotel Bangkok on Siam
Square features 429 rooms, 4 restaurants, 4 bars,
a nightclub, and a swimming pool, and is only 25
kms from the airport. And like the brochure says,
the hotel is located in the centre of one of Bangkok's
best known shopping and entertainment districts,
adjacent to the pivotal Siam Skytrain station and
close to the subway, both giving easy access to
the rest of Bangkok.
Anyway, once they eventuallty arrived, George got
me down to the hotel to meet his family after not
having seen any of them for more than ten years.
Of all the hotel’s facilities, we chose the comfortable
and classy Pastel Lobby Lounge to while away the
evening with dinner out of the way – for some.
The Pastel is your typical lobby
lounge which does its job as a meeting place for
businessmen during the day and transforms into a
restful entertainment venue of an evening. It’s
just that the Novotel does try harder, and rather
than just sit a piano player down to bore you to
death with sound-a-like standards, the hotel books
acts that actually are there to entertain you. And
some artists try hard to keep your attention and
deliver the songs you want to hear.
SOUNDSATIONS are a two girls one guy trio who dress
like Las Vegas stars, never stop smiling, and sing
like angels as their guests sit riveted to the show.
And you really feel like you are their guests and
that they really do want you to pay attention and
listen - after all the trouble they have taken getting
this good – and to look this good too!
Pastel is really a cocktail lounge
where you can order light snacks too such as a Club
Sandwich or other sandwiches, Chicken Wings, Satay,
Spring Rolls, California Sushi Rolls or New York
Fries and the like or nibble away at Cashew Nuts
as you sip your wine of the month or cold beer.
There is a very impressive Cheese Plate which we
ordered at 300 baht a pop, but most of the snacks
listed are in the 150-220 baht plus plus range.
(Being a French-owned Accor Group hotel, the cheese
plate was suitably tasty.) You can smoke here too.
One feature the kids enjoyed was
the Fruit Cocktail of the Month which is always
based on the Thai fruit currently in season. They
had the delicious concoction of fresh rambutan,
fresh lychee and lemon juice which they eagerly
devoured and re-ordered at least once, at 150 baht
a schooner. There is an alchohol-added version where
they add Havana rum, and that goes for 190 baht
plus plus.
The wines too on offer were carefully chosen to
suit travelers or not-so-well-heeled tourist budgets,
and the Wine of The Month was an excellent Proprietor’s
Red from the Domaine Saint George Winery in California,
and a respectable, robust red it was too. Also on
the wine list was the Chilean Chardonnay Cono Sur
Tolornal 2004 at 1,300 a bottle or 260 baht a glass;
and the Australian Semillion Chardonnay Matthew
Lang at 1,450 a bottle or 290 a glass – both excellent
white wines.
Complimenting the house red was
the Chile Cabernet Sauvignon Cono Sur Tolornal
2004 also at 1,300 a bottle/260 a glass, and the
Australian Shiraz Cabarnet Matthew Lang at 1,450/290
baht repectively.
We had reason to celebrate and
more than a couple of bottles were sampled as we
chatted and enjoyed the group onstage who gave it
their all, delivering songs from Britney Spears,
Kylie, Pink, Celine Dion, Dido and the full range
of recent chart classics. And the girls move and
dance in tandem providing an eye-catching show that
is difficult to to resist and making it hard to
believe you are having such a good time in a lobby
lounge.
Downstairs until the wee hours,
the hotel also has one of the most comprehensive
entertainment complexes in the basement where you
will find a full on nightclub in CONCEPT CM2, the
SENSATIONS karaoke bar and the BOOM ROOM music club.
Musical entertainment in the Pastel
Lobby Lounge kicks off at 7:15 until 11:45 pm with
Sunday nights off.
Pastel Lobby Lounge
Novotel Bangkok On Siam Square
Siam Square Soi 6,
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 255 6888
Music Monday thru’ Saturday
7:15 pm – 11:45 pm
Smoking
