The view from the window of the serviced apartment on the 39th floor of the hotel.

Pan-Pacific Hotel from Singapore will encounter familiar elements at any time, such as Chinese painting, orchids and Nanyang cuisine. Outside the window is the invincible high-altitude view of London.

Standing in front of the 30-degree-angle glass of the Pan-Pacific London Hotel Suite in London is a bit like standing at the bow. Norman? Foster's "Pickled Cucumber" building is close at hand, and the traffic in the Financial City is at your feet. Although "Pickled Cucumber" has stood for 18 years, it is still the representative of the new landmark in London. I know this landscape will be the killer of the Pan Pacific Hotel in London; Just like the hotel on the 72-story ruined building built 10 years ago, it attracts tourists from all over the world. Suites with different orientations can also see London landmarks, such as St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge.

Infinite swimming pool at Pan Pacific Hotel London

I also noticed another uniqueness of the hotel: there are few hotels with swimming pools in central London, and even if there are swimming pools, most of them are arranged in the basement. On the fourth floor of the Pan-Pacific Hotel in London, there is a spacious infinity pool, facing the red double-decker buses coming and going outside the old churches, new buildings and French windows. In normal times, it is estimated that the "jiaozi" would have been "swallowed" long ago; But when I checked in, the pool was quiet. The hotel didn't answer my question about the current occupancy rate. Judging from the breakfast and lunch time, it is estimated that it will not be too high. The epidemic situation delayed the construction progress of the hotel by 10 months. Although it is now open as scheduled to welcome guests, it seems that there is still a buffer period before international travel is fully restored.

A number of modern high-rise buildings have been newly developed in the financial city area, which is completely different from the style and temperament of the old city center with cultural relics. The first hotel opened by Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore in Europe is 43 floors high, but the rooms are as high as 19 floors, and floors 20 to 4 1 are serviced apartments "The Sky Residences". Compared with newly-built hotels in China, it is not a "skyscraper"; However, compared with London itself, where modern architecture is still scarce, the newly opened Pan Pacific Hotel in London is one of the few hotels in the city with high-altitude views. Sky Residences has been open since this summer, with rooms ranging from one room to three rooms and one living room, starting at 6.5438+0.3 million pounds, and you can use the hotel's swimming pool and fitness facilities. I looked at the model room with three bedrooms and one living room on the 39th floor. The scenery from "Pickled Cucumber" to Tower Bridge in London is a bit invincible. Of course, the price has soared to more than 4 million pounds.

The hotel is only a few minutes' walk from the busy Liverpool Street Railway Station, and the newly opened Italian food center Eataly is very popular with the public. However, as soon as I entered the hotel, the fully soundproof floor-to-ceiling glass blocked the bustling city behind me. Throughout the hotel, whether in the public space or in the guest room, new york designer duo Ya Bu Pushelberg used soft and neutral colors without fancy treatment. It is said that the design goal is to let the guests "relax instantly". Familiar elements will be encountered in the store at any time, such as Chinese paintings in the promenade; The orchid lounge in the lobby teahouse is filled with small orchids; The cocktail bar is called ginger lily. Hearing this name, I have smelled the familiar fragrance of Lingnan in summer. It is said that florists tried to find ginger flowers in tropical areas in Britain, but they failed in the end.

After all, I think food is the biggest feature of this hotel. This includes not only English breakfast, lobster omelet, but also rice porridge side dishes and shredded chicken rice noodles. There are Nanyang-style meals cooked by Malaysian chefs, such as fried crab with Chili, chicken with shrimp sauce, fried rice with Sin Chew, and homemade cocktails named "Yang Guifei". And Chinese and western afternoon tea hosted by Cherish Finden, a Singaporean dim sum chef from Chaozhou.

Singapore dim sum chef Huang Shurou

One of the characteristics of afternoon tea is that all kinds of tea are available, and there is no limit to refills. Tea brand comes from "rare tea" founded by a British tea lover, and has been sought after by many high-end restaurants in London in recent years. Over the years, I have drunk a lot of this brand of loose tea in different hotel restaurants. Unfortunately, I can't agree with the tea-making method advocated by the founder of dilute tea, and everyone follows it carefully. The freshness and quality of tea are debatable, so I won't show them for the time being; There was only weak tea in the big teapot that was served, and the tea had been taken away. Ask the waiter, and the answer is "make it according to the tea-making instructions". No matter what you drink in your mouth, whether it's frozen top oolong or white silver needle, it's as light as water. In recent years, British people have become more and more interested in tea ceremony. It is hoped that this Singapore hotel will not only enter the European market and bring Nanyang food culture, but also take the lead in breaking the current situation of conformity and inviting the British people to drink real good tea.

Many diners who come to enjoy afternoon tea come to cherish the memory of Huang Shurou, the judge of The Great British Bake Off, a cooking contest of British TV Channel 4. Cherish, who moved to London 20 years ago, was invited to be the chef of the dim sum department of Langham Hotel in London. She pioneered afternoon tea in British hotels more than 10 years ago and became a frequent visitor in the British TV cooking industry seven years ago. In recent years, she has worked closely with Gopa Chocolate Company in Belgium. Originally, she planned to go back to Singapore for a period of time, but just got in touch with Ann, general manager of Pan Pacific Hotel in London, and asked her to be the executive chef of the dim sum department. Cherish worked in the Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore when she was young. When she came to this new "family" store, she obviously had more room for innovation and sharing. During afternoon tea, Huang Shurou thought for a long time about how to combine Asian flavor with British flavor. Finally, she designed an interesting tea meal.

Huang Shurou recalled the afternoon tea dessert part designed by her childhood.

For example, in Ma Shu (Tangyuan), Cherish used cream chocolate sauce to replace red beans that British people were not used to, and she replaced traditional English mini sandwiches and Si Kang with snacks such as shrimp dumplings, steamed stuffed buns with mushrooms, barbecued pork buns and samosa. The dessert part is a "robe" (cheongsam) made of grapefruit, matcha and black sesame. Huang Shurou's favorite litchi-shaped dessert is made of litchi puffs, rose dew balls and cream, and a "coconut shell" filled with mangoes is made of chocolate. Finally, 67% of the chocolate was designed and created by herself, which was filled with pralines and brownies. But the most special thing is that before dessert, Huang Shurou used a small "umami" snack as the transition between salty and dessert: soy sauce caramel was sandwiched between seaweed and sesame butter biscuits, and none of them were particularly delicious, exquisite, harmonious and wonderful. On this snack, Zhen Zhen also put a carp pattern on it, bringing in the tradition of "Goodwill Head" in Nanyang, and the background is paved with "China Red". Before that, every time I had English afternoon tea, I was too tired to look back; I have some unfinished business after having afternoon tea this time.

Huang Shurou's chocolate litchi ice cream dessert.

Huang Shurou said that the homely taste she missed was Hainan chicken rice. I also ate in the hotel's Strait kitchen, but because I had to take care of the tastes of British diners, the chicken skin had been peeled off, and the ingredients were mainly chicken breast, which the locals liked better. After dinner, I tasted the chocolate dessert specially designed by Cherish for the hotel. The Sherpa people next to me made it from the pulp of the tropical fruit, Annona spinosa, which is common in Singapore and Malaysia. It is very unique. The first time I heard that Pan Pacific opened a shop in London, I really didn't expect to have such a cordial feeling.