Royal Room

Some friends had earlier invited us to watch the F1 practice runs from a private area at Durty Nellys they had cordoned off. But very frankly, the noise from the F1 cars were beginning to get on the nerves – argh cut it out already. When somebody suggested moving onto Royal Room at Pan Pacific Hotel, the rest of us unanimously agreed. Get us away from this racket, and into some air-conditioning please!

Royal Room is a new bar/lounge concept by the same folks behind Filter Members Club. It’s in the same space as the old Stereolounge, but if you ask me, I think Royal Room looks more chic – I am so in love with the designer Philippe Starck, Tom Dixon and Kartell lamps.


Picture courtesy of www.greatnewplaces.com

It was pretty quiet at 10pm on a Friday night (F1 weekend) but the crowds soon filled up the place. Not that we needed a crowd, given the party mood our group was already in. Like at Filter, music was great. And it got better as the night progressed. Some of my friends started dancing on the sofa, thanks to the Magnum Belvedere Vodka Bottle we ordered.

Ever the glutton, I got hungry midway into the party. “Can we order some food?” I whined. The kind manager passed me the menu. Fwahhh. Definitely not your usual pub grub – forget nachos, chicken wings and fries. The offerings here included Blackmore Full Blood Wagyu Beef Tataki, Fresh Canadian Oysters with Caviar, Seafood Ceviche, Seared Hokkaido Scallops, Octopus Carpaccio, Unagi Kabayaki with Ikura (“Kaba-what?”).

I decided to order the least atas sounding items on the menu – sausages and mash, and the crab cakes. They weren’t very cheap but to be fair, the food was really quite good! I love the caramelised onions that came with the sausages and mash. The crab cakes too, hit the spot – kudos for the generous shreds of crab meat.

Happily satiated on supper, I proceeded to dance the rest of the night away. Great place to hangout, I like it better than Filter. At least over here there’s space to dance. And yes, the crowd here is pretty hot looking haha.