JB get away 12 to 13 Dec Grand Paragon

Decided to stay over at JB and booked a room at Grand Paragon Hotel. Waited over an hour for the bus to take us across the causeway and was stuck in the jam for another half an hour. Reached Merlin tower and I bought my medicine from the pharmacy there as it was much cheaper than getting them in Singapore. We then took a cab to the hotel and checked in at around 1.30 p.m. I was quite happy with the room – it was very new and clean with a big LCD TV and a great view overlooking the city and the coast of Singapore. However I couldn’t get the air con and light on so I called the reception. I was shocked when they told me that there is a blackout in the hotel. She told me that the electricity should resume in an hour or two so we went to the Centre point food court which was located behind the hotel for lunch. We took porridge with some dishes. The coffee was so good and I found my favourite goreng pisang.

When we got back to the hotel, there was still no electricity and the staff told us to wait for another 2 hours. It was like a sauna in the room so we decided to walk to Pelangi Plaza. We also went to check out the French restaurant Chez Papa which I have heard so much over the internet. We made the reservation at 7pm and then shop at Pelangi Plaza. I bought a battery for my son’s handphone in one of the shops but I must say there wasn’t much to shop. We then walked along the street outside Pelangi Plaza and found a massage centre next to the no signboard seafood restaurant. The massage was pretty good but not as cheap as those in Batam. When I got back to the hotel at 6.10 p.m., there is still no electricity so we checked out to look for another hotel. We checked into New York Hotel nearby. The hotel room looked older and simpler but the view was equally great on the 19th floor. However, I was quite disappointed that the TV is so small and that there was no safe box in the room. We then proceed to Chez Papa for our dinner. We love the foie gras - it melted in our mouth and the port wine sauce was simply heavenly. The smoked duck was just average - should have tried the stuffed chicken. The butter roasted escargots were simply gratifying - rich butter smell. When we went back to the hotel, we tried the Thai foot massage which is on promotion. The service was good - they served ginseng tea and wash your feet before the massage. However, I feel that the massage was not as effective as those from the Chinese massage centre. We scout the street outside the hotel and bought some satay, otah and burger back to the hotel for supper. I like the satay and burger but not so for the otah.

The breakfast spread in the hotel is something which I definitely recommend - only 1 meat item which was sausage. I would have expected some condiments or salted egg etc with the porridge and some rendang with the nasi lemak but there were none available!