Swiss Belhotel Mangga Besar

The lobby

Hi everyone…how was your new year’ eve? Had a blasting party with non-stop BBQ, free flow wine or masquerade gala dinner? Well…unlike the normal new year’ eve that we spent at home…this time we spent it at Swiss Belhotel Mangga Besar. Ehm…are you wondering why I chose this hotel. Well, first because it is near with our home. Second, I got really great bargain with this hotel…in which it could be said that we stayed here for free  :-)  Perfect!

The tub

King bed on grand deluxe

 

This four-star hotel looks pretty dressed-up from the inside. Cluster of family filled the lobby with their happy chatter. Though check in took a long time (I wait for the person in front of me for more than 15mins phewww) and we had to wait quite long as well for the elevator to come (they have 3 running elevators but since it was new year’ eve and the hotel had its rooms filled up so those elevators were working at the best it could). Not too mention another long lines snaked outside the restaurant on the next morning for breakfast. We were lucky, at least we didn’t have to queue but we had to wait for 15mins for the waitress to bring another chair (we got table with missing chair LOL). However, I had to skip the egg station (another long line there)…and apparently, the food was dished up the soonest the waitress refilled it…phewww. The indoor pool was crowded with family…no empty chair be seen with smelly worn out pool towel. Check out took the same lengthy process as well (although during my turn, it was only a min or two – didn’t know why others took so long)

indoor pool

Contemporary art displayed

High tea on the lounge

The bar

 

Despite the long queue or crowd, our room had a wide glass window (the whole side) overlooking the city…totally perfect to watch the firework show. It was kinda VIP seat, gotten our Grand Deluxe room on 18^th floor, where we simply sit on our bed and ahhing and ohhing during the count-down with colorful firework exploded outside in various shape…awesome   :-)

Firework show from the room

Breakfast fare

Long lines in front of the resto

Cheers for the new year of 2014...my  best wishes for all of you
*writing from my room at Novotel Bogor   :-)

Yes / No - fashion cum cafe

The outlook

Simple menu book

The bar corner

Last weekend, after the tiring day-out spent at Kebun Raya Bogor, we headed to SMS at Serpong. We had an appointment with a friend and while we were looking for some quite place to sit and talk, we found this lovely spot. At the first glance thru the clear glass separator, I thought it was a fashion shop since lines of clothes in various style and model were hang neatly. However, we read (the glass was decorated with fancy handwriting) that it was indeed a nice blend between fashion shop and a cafe. We stepped into the shop-cum-cafe and we kinda liked what we saw.

 The hanging chair

 

 One corner

 

the wall's decorator

 



Quickly settled ourselves into a corner near the entrance, we read the menu (2pages of menu which made us confused on what to order). The cafe provides a number of beverages in either hot or cold, snack bites, and some selection of food (mostly pasta though). Pity, they didn't have any cake nor pastry (I always crave for cake or two, to accompany my tea otherwise I would have given a higher rate for the cafe).

 Some goodies for sale

 

 Sorry, it was kinda blur...I asked my girl to take the pic

Knick knack for you to choose



While we waited for our order...we browsed thru the shop. The whole wall was in black with high ceiling, some part were covered with brick. They covered all walls with either framed wording or chalk-look-alike-stokes. Awesome...I really liked it a lot. On the corner where we sit, they put lots of small knick-knack for sale. Most of it would be a lovely gift for birthday or any other occassion' present. On the other side of the entrance, there was sort of public phone booth (in white and red like the ones we see on the western movie) which...to my surprise...was made for the fitting room. At first, I wondered on why they put that phone booth there and thought it was some kind of ornament for the shop. At the far back, they put the clothes on display and some goodies here and there, adding a missmatch touch but in a nice looking way. A cluster of chairs occupied the middle of the room, from low couch to hanging chair, love seat to rocking chair, wooden to garden chair as well. It was really nice setting with relaxed atmosphere...BUT...some of the table apparently were rocking tables too. We tried 3 tables there...all weren't stable...we gotta hold the table strongly otherwise our drinks would be spilled out during our animated talk. I didn't know whether it was by design or anything but imho it was just unconvenient to have a rocking table, especially if you are eating some meals. But...if you could put aside the table issue, it was a great place to chitchat...especially when we could use their free wifi :-)

The fitting room

 

 

PS. I didn't know how this post will turn out once I publish it. This is the first time I write my blog using my brand new Samsung Ativ touch screen with Windows 8 and it was quite difficult for me to write a caption on each picture. I just hope it will turn out okay   :-)