Accommodation

Penang 2014: Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa

7/28/2014 10:45:00 PM

On this trip to Penang, we splashed out and spent five nights at the Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa. Hooray! It's my favourite hotel in the whole wide world, and after our last stay, I published a very detailed review of the Rasa Sayang here on my blog. So this time, I'll just do a fun little picture post of our stay. Enjoy!

If you're interested in staying there (as indeed, you should be), you can find all the up-to-date information on their website.

Ground of the Rasa Sayang

We'd pre-booked a car from the hotel to pick us up at the airport - a bit extravagant at RM195 each way, but Penang traffic is crazy and I didn't want to make my uncle come out and drive us. We also figured we'd be tired after the flight and would appreciate not having to queue up for a cab. The Rasa car was awesome! It was waiting for us when we got there, with cold towels, bottled water and wi-fi!

Cold towels, bottled water and free wifi

This time we booked a room in the Rasa Wing, and they kindly upgraded us from a Rasa Wing Deluxe Room to a much larger Rasa Wing Premier Room, which is the same type of room we had last time. (You can read about the details of the Rasa Wing Premier Room on my previous Rasa Sayang post).

The balcony of our room - love the jungly views

We didn't get to our hotel room on the first night until quite late (the drive from the airport to the hotel took longer than the flight from Langkawi!), and we were too tired to go out exploring for dinner, so decided to go for the buffet at the hotel's Spice Market restaurant. (As a bonus, they were doing 40% off on Monday and Tuesday nights - score!) The buffet was awesome - so much seafood, sushi, hot dishes (Indian, Western, Chinese, Malay and more!), and heaps of desserts. There seemed to be lots of locals there that night too - what can I say? We Malaysians appreciate good value.

Seafood!

Staying in the Rasa Wing means you can choose between the huge buffet breakfast at Spice Market, or a quieter breakfast in the Feringgi Grill restaurant, which has a smaller buffet selection plus a la carte options, and we chose to eat here every morning. Mamma needs her quiet time!

View from the Feringgi Grill

View from the Feringgi Grill

I love freshly cut fruit! My dad says when he was growing up, papaya was considered a poor man's fruit, but I think of it as a real treat.

Fresh fruit - papaya and dragon fruit

They rotated the a la carte options available each morning. Here was a very perfect and pretty kaya toast with goreng pisang (banana fritters) and a half boiled egg.

Kaya toast, goreng pisang, half boiled egg

One morning, I couldn't decide between eggs Benedict or an omelette, so I asked the waiter for a recommendation. His response? "We can do a single-egg omelet for you and a single eggs Benedict so you can try both". MIND BLOWN.

Mushroom omelette, eggs benedict, breakfast sausage, baked beans

Toast

Speaking of great service - one morning, Sandra wasn't feeling well so I went for breakfast alone, and the waitstaff were all: "Is it just you today? Is she ok? She's not feeling well? You do know we have a doctor at the resort?", and when I left they made up a little packet of pastries for me to take back. How sweet!

Pastries and rolls from the buffet

Most mornings, however, we had voracious appetites and went for the sweet option: fluffy fluffy waffles...

Waffles!

... fruit-filled pancakes or French toast! (The French toast was filled with cream cheese - fabulous).

Pancakes, cream-cheese stuffed French toast

Even though I think you can get a bigger range of items at the Spice Market buffet, I loved the personalised service and quiet atmosphere at the Feringgi Grill, and we certainly had more than enough food!

Another perk of staying in the Rasa Wing is complimentary afternoon tea, served daily in the Rasa Wing Lounge. We had tea three out of the five days we were at the hotel - i.e. when we weren't out shopping or hanging out with my uncle. My favourites were the scones!

Afternoon Tea

Top tier: Choc chip and vanilla scones with strawberry jam and cream
Middle: Pecan nut tart, kiwi-mousse cake, chocolate sachertorte
Bottom: Roast lamb with roasted eggplant & cilantro tahini; smoked salmon, onion & avocado mayonnaise; brie with cherry compote

Scones, sandwiches, cakes, cappuccino

This next picture isn't of the high tea itself, but rather some complimentary nibbles we enjoyed in the Rasa Wing Lounge while waiting for the car back to the airport after checkout. Hot tip: chicken floss crispy spring rolls are a seriously good snack! (They're served at room temperature, like a cracker, and are so addictive).

Latte, chicken-floss spring rolls, chocolate cookies

And who could resist complimentary cocktail hour? In addition to free-flowing drinks, there was a mini-buffet of canapés - love it!

Sparkling wine

Beef skewers; Tomato and cream cheese tart; mini vol-au-vents with pate mousse topped with tomato chutney; prawns with mango salsa

OJ

Strawberry daiquiri, sparkling wine

Kir royale, mocktail, pandan chicken, spring rolls

Papaya, curry puffs, brie vol-au-vent, prawn tartlet

Lest you think the entire holiday was a never ending food fest, we did spend a lot of time chilling out at the pool.

Rasa Wing Pool

Fried chicken burger and chips

I also indulged with a couple of spa treatments at the Chi Spa. I love the beautiful, serene atmosphere there, and can highly recommend the therapist Mr Liang - he did an excellent job! PS look at this amazing outdoor bath. Squeee!

Chi spa

I even visited the Health Club once, and got a workout in - yeah, I was surprised too! Hehe. It was a really well equipped hotel gym - lots of cardio equipment (bikes, treadmills, a stepper), weight machines and free weights (I mainly use free weights), and a yoga / pilates room.

The gym

Let's finish off this post with a few photos of the beautiful grounds and the beach.

Beautiful tree on the grounds

Batu Ferringhi beach

Sunset on Batu Ferringhi

I love Batu Ferringhi beach. Is it any wonder that Rasa Sayang is my happy place?

You Might Also Like

4 comments

  1. You are *completely* selling me on a holiday here! All the breakfasts and little extra things seem so sweet. First to pay off the credit card, then to save for more travel....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Asian resorts are the best aren't they! Nothing quite surpasses the hospitality (well a few in South Africa did but I'm being picky here). Hehe I like the little glimpse into the gym too-a necessary evil! :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Um so I totally had to pause and digest the idea of cream cheese stuffed French toast! Hells yeah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a gorgeous location, and the full service definitely makes it super attractive as a holiday destination! That level of service from staff really makes all the difference.

    ReplyDelete

CONTACT ME

My email address is sarahcooks [at] hotmail [dot] com.