Come and see our Club, said Sherona Shng, MD THE LANGHAM HONG KONG and RVP Ops Asia, Langham, above. It’s different. The chairs are all unique, different from those either side. The result is a theatre set, perhaps for an Agatha Christie mystery.
The thespian analogy is not entirely inappropriate. Sherona Shng was in television production back in her native Singapore and somehow, needing a change of direction, she parachuted into hotels. And THIS industry, as those lucky enough to be in it know, is nonstop theatre.
You never know what is going to happen next. Who will be the next customers coming in through the door? And what will those customers think of the performance?
First-timers are constantly amazed by arriving at The Langham Hong Kong. It’s at the junction of major throughway Kowloon Park Drive and quieter crossway Peking Road. Come in, and you are in a lobby big enough for a dance hall. Lots of pink everywhere supplemented by the colour of Dale Chihuly hand-blown glass flowers.
The Langham is big, 500 rooms but feels much less. A Harmony Suite, one of eight, gives 120sq m of soft blue empathy, with strong elements of culture: the travel books are all Tauschen.
Learn about Cantonese food here, at the hotel’s T’ang Court, one of only five Cantonese restaurants worldwide to achieve the holy grail of Michelin three stars. Like most, we dined in a private room, big enough for a padel court and all for two people.
Dishes came, and went in time to be replaced by others. After appetizer trays holding fried cod with honey, and pan-fried rice cubes, and finger shapes of barbequed pork and patties with fish and mushroom topped by whole abalone – after that overture the music-proper started. The opuses included baked stuffed grouper, and stir-fried Japanese wagyu cubes, and green vegetables, and Riedel stemware holding Chambolle-Musigny 2018 Jean-Jacques Confuron.
The culinary creations continued at breakfast, a musical moment in the Food Gallery, leading off that main lobby. An egg white omelette with do-it-yourself sides, from the buffet, of smoked salmon and salmon caviar. What a way to start another hugely happy Hong Kong day…. But before Girlahead moved on, as is her wont, the one-time television producer wanted to show off the Club’s boardroom.
Listen again to Bob van den Oord, COO of the Langham portfolio:
