For a quiet retreat
Planning a relaxing city staycation with the family? Book yourself at Sunway Putra Hotel, suggests
THE best thing about my recent stay at Sunway Putra Hotel was the hospitality showed by Chef Mohd Saharuddin Nasran of the Coffee House the morning we came down for breakfast. The porridge I prepared for my son suddenly didn’t look fit for consumption so I panicked.
I talked to the manager, who brought the chef out of his kitchen. “I can make your son’s porridge,” he said. A few minutes later, a bowl of steaming hot porridge came, fine as puree with fish aroma and Murshid enjoyed every bit of it.
Turns out, he is a father of four and he makes his baby’s food himself. “You have to introduce them to a variety of food — chicken, fish, carrots — so they are familiar with the taste and don’t grow up choosy,” he says.
It’s something small that he did but to me, going that extra mile means he has helped put the hotel in my good book.
The Coffee House serves good food too. The breakfast buffet selection can keep you full till lunch. There’s a bit of Chinese, Indian and Western selection. For dinner, dishes are a la carte and we tried the fish head curry promotion the first night.
For RM49.90, you get tenggiri fish head curry with rice, pickles, vegetables and papadom. The meal can feed two persons, so it’s actually quite a steal.
The curry is delicious with a good blend of spiciness and we literally ate every bit of the fish head. It feels like you’re eating street food curry quality but in the comfort of an air-conditioned restaurant.
CITY STAYCATION
The second best thing about my recent staycation was the Japanese meal at Gen, an old-school Japanese restaurant akin to the old Kampachi in the former Equatorial Hotel or Chikoyu-Tei at Jalan Raja Chulan.
The traditional Japanese restaurant serves a mean beef teppanyaki, which is steak, marinated and grilled to perfection. The seafood teppanyaki is great too, with a mix of salmon, prawns and scallop. You can opt for the buffet too but quality-wise, I much prefer the a la carte dishes. Maybe because they are made upon order.
And at night, you can savour the city skyline, including the Petronas Twin Towers as you enjoy your meal.
Sunway Putra Hotel, adjacent to Sunway Putra Mall and in front of the Putra World Trade Centre is largely a business hotel. The Premier Lounge on the 32nd floor is where people have their business discussions.
Children and babies are not allowed in — something I feel is an archaic law in this age on inclusivity — so my husband and I did not have our breakfast there, even when it’s more convenient for us.
A good way to manage this is to have a family corner on one side so those who come with children and stay on the Premier Floor would not feel left out.
Our Premier room on the 30th floor has a balcony that overlooks Chow Kit and the city. The view is quite amazing at night, but my only complaint is the sound of the moving LRT is too close for comfort.
POOL TIME
Pool time is mandatory when we travel with our son. At home, he often looks at his neck float longingly so whenever we go to a hotel, the pool is now a must-go. He has a lovehate relationship with his neck float, but the apparatus allows him to float on his own (at my arm’s length, of course).
There’s a small pool for children at this hotel and it helps parents look after their children. The height is about 0.5m so adults can easily wade through it. We spend 30 minutes accompanying Murshid to play there, under the sun and he loved it.
When we’re bored, we take a stroll to the adjacent Sunway Putra Mall. It has a decent mix of tenants, including the regular Uniqlo and H&M. The mall is on the smaller and quieter side so it’s pretty easy to walk and shop.
Overall, I think the draw of the Sunway Putra Hotel is the service and location - it’s next to the PWTC LRT station and it can take you to many parts of the city. Also, as opposed to the chaotic Bukit Bintang atmosphere, it’s much saner in this part of the city for those who travel with children.