Conveniently positioned, overlooking the Chao Phraya River, town centre Salil Lodge Riverside is a hub of power and magnificence. All through the lodge and grounds, lush courtyards and water options carry a way of calm while every visitor room and spacious suite boasts subtle interiors and hi-tech facilities. Eating right here is an beautiful expertise with a alternative of very good eating places and bars; from the unmissable Sushi Itto to the splendid Thai-themed Nava, friends are positive to seek out the right match for any style or event. The spa and wellness centre gives a haven of tranquillity and with a alternative of infinity pool and lap swimming pools friends can soak and swim while taking within the gorgeous views throughout town. This riverside resort is the right Bangkok bolthole. The Luxurious Editor reviewed this property – learn on to find extra.
This world-class lodge is hidden away in an not noticeable location, alongside an industrial canal that seems to be a useless finish, however be affected person and tucked across the nook, there you’ll discover it. Salili, standing in full glowing glory – its facade a combination of what appears like translucent and opaque diamonds, a gem hidden within the tough.
Marble tiles shine. A staircase swirls to the suitable. The ceilings are excessive, virtually non-existent. Verify-in couldn’t be simpler, is carried out not on the reception desk however in a lounge on its left outlined by wood parquet flooring and cozy, gray sofas. Friends are inspired to imbibe the apple cocoa tea which is iced and amber in color; it’s smoky, unique and refreshing. A person in a tailor-made swimsuit takes my passport, comes again moments later with a room key and escorts me outdoors, down a tunnel which reminds of a slender gamers’ entrance to a stadium pitch. While the Salil advanced isn’t fairly that large, its measurement belies its undoubted allure which is a combination of intimate, seductive and other-worldly.
I’m staying in a Deluxe River View suite on the fifth ground. At 33 sqm it’s the right measurement for one or two travellers. The mattress is giant, lined in white linen and overlooks the Chao Phraya River. If the river’s water is a murky inexperienced, its view is gorgeous. The Chao Phraya is consistently busy and watching its site visitors is a mesmeric and edifying move time, particularly from such a vantage level. Be hypnotised by all the things from water taxis to tugboats, from dinner cruisers to huge cargo transporters which snake-like industrial alligators. Day or night time, the river gives breathtaking panoramas.
The sunsets are paying homage to purple or salmon brush strokes dripping down a canvas. On two nights, I witness thunderstorms stuffed with lightning strikes and fluorescent forks. On a few mornings, I even watch small swarms of dragonflies zig and zag by way of the air.
The room is a vibrant and breezy white, offset with a combination of turquoise, darker blue and purple highlights which embody the couch, a superbly distressed rug, lampshades and numerous cushions. The bedhead wall follows the identical color scheme and gives a playful, charming frieze stuffed with legendary creatures which may very well be floating underwater or flying by way of the air. They may very well be butterflies or sea horses and the vegetation they float previous may very well be coral reefs or flowers. It’s not possible to inform which and it doesn’t matter. It’s an harmless and pleasing sight to come across every day.
Towelling folded within the form of an elephant greets me each night. Two units of cosy button-up gray jumpers and black jogging trousers are supplied for stay-in-the-room apparel in addition to dressing robes and slippers.
There’s a microwave do you have to want it and a mini bar which gives a number of snacks and gentle and alcoholic drinks. Harnn gives refreshing Juniper Berry shampoo, conditioner and physique wash for showering and there’s additionally a luxurious-sized, deep soak bathtub.
The Nava restaurant is positioned under my room, on the bottom ground. It’s a protracted, slim, area with 4 completely different compartments. Minimal in design, shiny gray ground tiles mirror a combination of diagonal wood slats and straight wood strains. A few up to date work by native artists, women underwater, goldfish, tendrils of hair, give it color. Torn flags or ripped rugs dangle from the ceiling in the primary room for added texture and a DJ performs uplifting, completely happy home for additional spice.
On a night, Nava serves Thai meals. We considerably over-order. All the pieces comes without delay. It’s a little bit of a blur. It’s a feast however nothing goes to waste. In addition to spicy prawn crackers and prawn appetiser sticks, we now have a papaya salad with crispy gentle shell crab, a rice noodle salad with prawns and mackerel, and particular fried rice topped with extra crab meat.
The Grilled river prawn with tamarind sauce is a favorite, is served in its shell, is nearly as giant as a lobster and with its chunky chicken doesn’t style dissimilar. My different favorite is the Jasmine rice with curry powder, cashew nut, dried pork and raisins. Served in half a pineapple, a refined sweetness is offset by a delicate curry tickling. It would sound prefer it shouldn’t work however it does, resoundingly so. My good friend, who’s lived in Bangkok for over 20 years, says it’s essentially the most imaginative Thai providing he’s ever had.
Nava additionally doubles as a breakfast room each morning, although with out the DJ. Breakfast is served from 7-11 am and when you can’t end in time, employees helpfully supply a takeaway field. The selection is overwhelming and even begins outdoors the restaurant the place a person in a moveable tuk tuk gives Yentafo noodles with fish balls and numerous toppings. Inside, it’s a paean to worldwide delicacies.
Would you like an English fry-up? No drawback. Continental/European? With cheese or salami? How about American? Pancakes with crispy bacon and maple syrup sound good? How about Chinese language dumplings? Or sushi? Or inexperienced curry with Kimchi fried rice? Or simply fruit? Or ice cream? It’s a veritable feast. And hold your eyes open for Chef X who rustles up a imply omelette from an array of elements.
The Salil has a big number of bars and eating places together with the Jumbo Lobster, the Brix Desert bar, the Brix minibar, the Tapside by the River, Mars the Wine House and even the Pacific Cigar Divan.
Its standout, nevertheless, must be Sushi Itto which solely opened 4 months in the past and is a flawless omakase expertise master-minded by Michelin-starred Japanese chef Ronnie Kakizaki. The restaurant is definitely a sushi bar for eight folks solely and as soon as the phrase spreads round Bangkok, it’s straightforward to think about this being booked up for months upfront.
Chef Kakizaki has a wealth of expertise behind him as evidenced by his full quiff of white hair, his sensible, piercing eyes and the lurking of some tattoos underneath his kitchen smock. He has three cooks who both assist him or who he directs. He has one other three ready employees. He chooses the menu personally from Tokyo markets and flies the fish in every day.
We order Hitakami Junmai dry sake and for 2 hours Chef Kakizaki plies us with unbelievable sushi after unbelievable sushi. Virtually all of it’s served uncooked, though a few of it’s seared with a flame grill. Some include essentially the most dainty of toppings, others with nothing. Soy sauce is all the time current and inspired in that case desired. In some unspecified time in the future, Chef Kazkikaki recommends we eat not with chopsticks however with our arms and at one other level we’re a bit of apprehensive to be taught we’ve been given a seal.
We talk about amongst ourselves and realise we’ve each misheard. Fortunately, the seal is definitely eel. There’s Tiger prawn, there’s abalone, there’s scallop, there’s kinki, there’s sea urchin and, in fact, there’s tuna.
The tuna is the most effective both of us has tasted. Ever. It’s chic, it’s delicate, it’s refined and it’s fairly lovely. It’s like waking from a world the place what you thought you knew is nowhere close to nearly as good as what you now know. Sushi Itto has principally redefined my understanding of what sushi is.
Throughout the day, be careful for complimentary snacks such because the freshly cooked coconut milk pancakes or the Coca-Cola or lemonade ice lollies. They’re given away within the area between the pool and the gardens. The pool is lengthy and skinny and stylish and features just like the lodge’s heartbeat. The primary advanced surrounds it like a cosy horseshoe and it’s the very first thing you see whenever you exit the tunnel from reception.
It opens at 7 am, closes at 8 pm and is about 25 metres in size so works not solely as a multitude round area for teenagers and a cool off dipping alternative for {couples} but additionally as an athletic exercise area for extra critical swimmers. Typically a DJ additionally spins uplifting tunes.
If a exercise is extra your factor, there’s a fitness center above reception which has rowing machines, working machines, cycles and weights and if this appears like an excessive amount of effort, there’s additionally the Harnn Heritage Spa which goals to revive the pure stability of physique and thoughts for a complete wellbeing expertise.
Past the pool, luscious gardens supply striped bean baggage to flop on and plastic bunny rabbits glow in numerous colors. The IPA and beer serving Taproom is so hidden behind foliage that from many angles it’s virtually invisible. Past the gardens, there’s the charismatic Chao Phraya River once more with its twists and turns and churns.
Should you really feel within the temper, the lodge water taxi embarks hourly and journeys upstream to the huge ICONSIAM purchasing centre which serves just about each high-end designer from Céline to YSL, from McQueen to Christian Dior. Locations on the taxi, each outwards and return, ought to be booked by way of reception and bumping up and down on the Chao Phraya is a implausible expertise.
That mentioned, in so doing, you break the cocoon that’s the Salil Riverside expertise, the cocoon that protects you, the cocoon that edifies you, the cocoon that nourishes you, the cocoon that rejuvenates you so I ask: do you actually wish to try this?
I really don’t suppose so.
The Salil Lodge Riverside – Bangkok is included in our information to the most effective luxurious accommodations in Bangkok and Thailand.
