The longtime riverside institution unveils Bangkok's first dedicated cheese room.

The buzz: The Millennium's Sunday buffet was one of Bangkok's original trend setters. Now, after a decade-plus, it hopes to stay ahead of the curve with a new vision for the city’s best brunch.

The vibe: Movement is a key concept for the five-hour experience (11am-4pm), and guests are encouraged to enjoy different parts of the hotel. Aperitifs are offered first, in the hotel’s 32nd-floor ThreeSixty Jazz Lounge. Flow, on the ground floor, serves the main dishes, with a live jazz band and outdoor riverside seating, while The Lantern Café (adjacent) offers desserts and sweets. The Millennium also boasts Bangkok’s first upscale cheese room, with more than 30 imported varieties.

The food: A steadily-rotating menu of more than 15 stations—sometimes as many as 20. Among the highlights: smoked salmon, imported Italian cold cuts, suckling pig, spit-roasted lamb, fresh-made naan, Thai regional classics, Alaskan crab, Australian wagyu, and oysters from Normandy and Fine de Claire, France. Fresh tuna—imported from the Maldives, the Philippines and Seychelles—is carved for sashimi every Sunday at 1pm. The foie gras (in its own dedicated station) comes from a small farm in Castaing, France, which produces exclusively for the Hilton. Throughout the afternoon, portable food stations move table to table; for instance, carving roast Peking chicken, or making fresh mozzarella from milk curd and hot water.

Swiss chef Urs Rohrback handles all the pastries and chocolates. He imports raw chocolate from Vahlrona, France, and even makes all the chocolates the hotel puts on guests' pillows. He oversees a baker’s dozen staff members at the café; making pastries, tarts, cakes, tiramisu, meringue, ice cream, candies and more.  

The drinks: Ciders, punches and fruit cocktails (like the orange and lemon Bahama Mama) Singha, sparkling wines, and gin and tonics are offered free. The free flow drinks package includes both wine and cocktails. The wines include French sauvignon blanc (2017 Pascal Jolivet “Attitude”) and rose (2015 Chateau Moulin De Roquette, Bordeaux); Italian pinot grigio (2017 Le Rime) and chianti (2016 Zonin); Chilean chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon (both 2017, from Camino); and Shiraz from Thailand (2016 Monsoon Valley). The cocktails are classic—amaretto sours, caiparinhas, cosmopolitans, daiquiris, margaritas, mojitos, and more.

Why we’d come back: The views alone—from the 32nd floor and the riverside deck—are worth the trip across the bridge to Thonburi. The cheese room is a Bangkok first, and offers seasonal varieties from France, like winter hay and truffles, or summer grapes and chestnuts. 

Millenium Hilton, 123 Charoen Nakhon Rd., 02-442-2000. From B2,200, plus B1,400 for free-flow alcohol; children (aged 6-11) B1,100
 

 

 

Photos by Narissara Somboon

 

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