JB Grand Paragon June 2010

Getting into JB was a breeze yesterday. Left my place at 10.55am and reached the Grand Paragon hotel at 1135am - just 40 mins instead of the usual 1.5 hr journey.

After we left the luggage at the conceige, we took a cab to Merlin tower to buy my medicine from the pharmacy and then lunch at City Square. We tried the buffet at Seoul Garden - not too bad considering that the price was almost half for the 4 of us - RM137. They actually allow a free choice of soup such as tomyam, abalone and ginseng chicken but my sons wanted the normal chicken soup. Free flow of drinks - soft drinks, coffee etc.

Shopped around and bought 2 t-shirt for my son and a t-shirt for myself. My son also bought a set of Japanese cartoon DVD.

Took a cab back to the hotel and checked into our D'Paragon room which has 4 queen sized beds. then we went for a swim. We had the whole pool to ourselves!

Breathtaking view as the pool is on the 11th floor - just 1 floor directly below us. Ian was quite exhausted after that and took a nap.

 

We went to Chez Papa for our dinner - thank God we had already made reservation as it was fully booked. We had foie gras as usual with the escargot. My sons tried a little bit of that too. They ordered Bologneise Sphagetti and we ordered roast spring chicken and steam fish. They loved the toast with butter so much that they went for second round! Went to Pelangi Plaza and bought the kueh lapis from lavendar cake shop - my son's favourite. Could not find the cable which we needed for our DVD player to the TV so we took a cab to Danga City Mall where there are quite a no. of IT shops on the 2nd level.

We went back to the hotel and watched the video as we could not get our internet connected (only managed to do so today). We decided to get some supper so we went to this hawker centre that is just behind the hotel - I think it is called Centre point hawker centre. We bought some BBQ chicken wings, satay and oyster omelete. My sons love the chicken wings - I will get some more tonight.

Breakfast in the hotel

Took a cab to Aeon Tebrau City and had lunch at Arashi Shabu Shabu. Hubby had Wagyu Rib Eye Shabu set plus oyster with Japanese Kombu Brooth and I had the Chinese herb broth with tiger prawn and scallop. We also ordered the salmon shasimi and Chris had the unagi set with rice and additional udon. Ian just wanted rice as he was still quite full from the breakfast buffet. I ordered KFC takeaway for him later. Bought some more DVDs from speedy video and also some t-shirts and shorts for Ian in Jusco. Ian also bought another car model from Toy R'us. Bought the kueh lapis again from lavendar and also some egg tarts from a portugese restaurant - their kueh will get you to come back for more!

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!