Sublime spa, So-so food at The Westin Langkawi

The recent company jaunt to Langkawi, while painfully condensed, somehow managed to uplift some heavily sodden spirits.

It helped that we parked ourselves for most of the two days at the very agreeable Westin resort. Before I go on to... uh, showcase a sampling of the fine hotel food within, can I just say that the massages at the Heavenly Spa in the resort are phenomenal? Well worth the $$.

Having rolled out of bed at 4AM to catch first flight out of LCCT, by the time lunch rolled around, I was practically tranquilized by lethargy and in severe need of a pick-me-up. Lunch at Tide, the poolside open-air restaurant had better bloody deliver!

The bread comes in pretty undersized glass bowls but they were stone cold. Is this not Westin? What's it take to heat up a roll, or fifteen?

The prawn cocktail starter was a lot more promising. Freshly crumbed and fried tempura prawns sat daintily on a bed of greens served with pickled ginger, guacamole and a slice of tortilla. Easy enough to applaud.

Main of the day was pan seared sea bass with potatoes, asparagus, lemon butter sauce and mango & pineapple salsa. I felt both sauce and salsa were a tad too commonplace to pair with the distinct taste and texture of the sea bass. Portion could have been bigger too. We were using an awful lot of fuel, what with the early start and all that brainstorming.

Dessert was catastrophic, and did not send us happily back to an afternoon of more neural function. The passionfruit crème brûlée tasted like very pungent cheese gone bad, the cardinal camaralized effect all but missing. The brandy snap wafer could've potentially saved this ending, but having never been a big fan of that sticky sweet dental complication, I left most of mine untouched.

Still, hotel food will be hotel food, so I won't hold it against the resort. The breakfast the next morning was perfectly lovely and the massage that followed, again I stress, sublime! If I do not make it to any of the coveted travel locations before the end of the year, I am booking myself a week here!

Tide

The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa
Jalan Pantai Dato Syed Omar
Langkawi

Meals at Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort

Having been previously less than impressed with dining options around Langkawi, we didn't hesitate to sign up for the Sheraton Beach Resort package with two meals provided daily, even if it meant we'd be eating hotel food for most of our trip.

While the food wasn't exactly mind-blowing, the breakfast & dinner spreads were extremely generous and when paired with copious amount of duty-free alcohol, there was no other way to go but overindulge.

We dined at Spice Traders the first night, perched above the water offering gorgeous views of dusk and an extremely rich, hearty Indian & Middle-Eastern themed buffet.

Our table for the night, where we gorged on foul madamas (bean dip), eridish chermoula prawn in Moroccan pesto, Machili curry fish, subz kalamirchi (vegetable stew), a very excellent tabbouleh, assorted grilled items including very fresh fish, lamb, chicken, felafels and plenty others. I took pics of our individual plates but decided that they simply do not look good enough to do the buffet justice.

I did get a shot of these delightful ice cream flavours - Spice and Rose Petal.

The Spice flavour (top) was light and refreshing, almost a sorbet, with hints of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. The Rose Petal was a richer and milkier dessert; the rose petal flavour was interesting, but I found the milk a tad overpowering.

Breakfasts at Feast, the coffee house, were equally lavish affairs and we frequently found ourselves unable to stomach lunch.

Eggs any way you want them! Really enjoyed the fluffy, puffy omelettes!

Fresh loaves of bread

Smoked fish - they alternated between mackerel and tuna. Both equally satisfying with fresh bread and Lurpak butter.

Tabbouleh & Hummus also made an appearance. Didn't think they went down well at breakfast but they WERE good!

Pancakes & waffles hot off the griddle...

...and all the condiments you can think of

The token Jap section... we didn't go near this though.

Action Station #2 fired up the grill for breakfast lamb chops, sausages, beef bacon; also dished up an addictive porridge with condiments galore.


Cakes, pastries, muffins... MEH!

The hot items changed daily - on the day I brought my camera, they had these plum grilled tomatoes

a passable roesti and many other favourites like baked beans, meatballs, fried rice. There were also fixed stations for nasi lemak section with curries and DIY noodle soup.

I think we maxed out on our annual buffet quotas in those 4 days alone. The resort is somewhat dated and certain parts could do with a spruce-up (the pool area in particular) but service was for most parts quick and affable and the meal package stuffed us silly! It's a little out of the way so you'll definitely need to hire transport but makes for a nice change in scenery from the drab Cenang strip.