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.

Say CHEESE! at Friendly Farms, Langkawi

Langkawi the trip sped by in such a daze. One outing that we managed unaided by alcohol was the visit to the island's very own, very famous cheese-producing Friendly Farms. Due to an inherent deficiency in cheese appreciation (fine on pizzas, not on much else), all opinions on taste & quality henceforth are those of my trusted dairy-loving companions, Mei Shean and Hui Hsien.

Now, Friendly Farms isn't all that hard to get to (where is in Langkawi??), but the lack of proper signage and its ridiculous proximity to its competitor Buffalo Park can be deceiving. It's about 10 minutes away from the airport, follow bright signage to Buffalo Park - which was exactly what we did.

Buffalo Park has a huge welcoming sign up front but study the merchandise and you will find it lacking of the main thing we came looking for... mozzarella cheese! Upon prodding the reluctant staff, we found out that the place we were looking for was actually situated further down the narrow road.

Nevertheless, we did not leave empty-handed. Hui Hsien, ever the generous dairy fiend picked up a single serve of vanilla ice cream, made from fresh buffalo milk. Tasted just like the regular thing, said she.

We took the first left turn further up the road only to reach a very unassuming T-junction. Mei Shean had very wisely saved the number of Yana, the co-owner of Friendly Farms and made a call just as Yana was driving up the same narrow road. The correct direction, as it turned out, was to turn left after Buffalo Park, go up the road and take another left. And lo and behold...

...there stood the humble manor, no welcome door mat, nothing like that. Somehow, the air smelled different. Manure, yes, there was some of that. But there was also the smell of pride, of success attained through real hard work, of the triumph of the underdogs. Or maybe it was just cheese?!

Just about the ONLY promotional signage of Friendly Farms we saw on the whole flippin' island... INSIDE the farm.

Michael, the friendly proprietor was very patient, taking us through a comprehensive explanation of his produce. Neither he nor Yana apologized for the lack of signage and we got the impression that they weren't too hard up for pesky walk-in tourists and casual shoppers. They had, after all, regular orders by the kilos from the kitchens of many a five-star hotels on the island.

Busy as he was, Michael was very accommodating and offered my two hungry companions a taste of his produce. This was a soft and young goat cheese - very mild.

Michael also showcased his version of Camembert, made of goat cheese. Very subtle, could sit around a wee bit longer.

Part of the cheese stash back in the hotel. Both of them bought enough cheese to clog up the tiny fridge in our hotel room, necessitating the urgent deployment of ice buckets to chill our white wine and beer.

Back home, both savoured their collective prizes from the trip with gusto - Mozzarella by the balls. Michael had explained that the real meaning behind Mozzarella was "a thousand tiny bites" which meant that the real fresh stuff, when bitten into, should be toothsome and offer plenty of spring.

The verdict?

"Mild and pleasant on its own. But creaminess came through with the sweetness from tomatoes, fresh ground pepper, olive oil & pinch of salt" - Mei Shean

"...chewy and rather milky but I ran out of olive oil so had to substitute with grapeseed oil which altered the taste...the texture was a tad rougher than the imported ones but nevertheless not bad for a kerbau Kedah!" - Hui Hsien

While I obviously did not get much taste-wise out of this little detour, I was bowled over by how they made cheese Langkawi's very own. Now, how about those booming schemes to realize your own crazy dreams?? Nothing is too far-fetched, anything really is possible!