| Rewatching 'White Lotus' on flydubai With Four Seasons promoting Seasons 3 of 'White Lotus', & conversations I overheard at Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River that could be part of the script, I had to rewatch 'White Lotus' on the short & easy Business Class flight with flydubai. Rolls-Royce Phantom With The Driver With White Gloves As soon I stepped inside the vast Rolls-Royce Phantom I knew it was going to be a very special stay. A GM Welcome At A Busy Hotel The art deco Lana, Dubai building is reminiscent of the 45 Park Lane building and GM Richard was waiting outside to greet me, along with star Executive Housekeeper Carol. A Suite With A Breathtaking View Of Dubai & A Media Room My suite was so beautiful, refined and classy I almost cried. There was Pol Roger champagne on ice, an art deco chocolate camel and a chocolate model of the hotel, clothes for Issy, a cake to mark 10 years of luxury travelblog www.sifrew.com and my initials on the pillow. The 'SF Martini' On The Cocktail List At 'Bitter Honey' Head Bartender Lionel entered The Lana, Dubai in the 'Epic Trip Martini Challenge' with the 'SF Martini' on the 'Bitter Honey' cocktail list. It is made with a vermouth he spent a month perfecting. This entry came a close second to Four Seasons, Amman making a martini in a moving vehicle and just ahead of Four Seasons Bangkok recreating 'BKK Social Club' in my suite on the 'Last Day of Buddhist Lent'. The 'SF Martini' will stay on the 'Bitter Honey' cocktail list if people keep ordering it. It tastes sublime & so I am hopeful it will. 'Jara' by Martin Berasategui & Jason Atherton's 'City Social' Brunch at The Grosvenor House I ate Basque food on the 18th floor of the hotel on my first night. The anchovies and the croquettes from Martin Berasategui were moreishly delicious. On the Saturday I met friends for brunch. Saturday brunch is an institution in Dubai and Jason Atherton's one at 'City Social' did not disappoint. From the magician to the perfectly cooked steaks, it was flawless. My friends were the best company too. All Happiness Depends On A Leisurely Breakfast The food at my breakfasts at The Lana, Dubai was all sublime but meeting Charlie Thompson, from my Shrewsbury School days, again was the highlight. He is based in Hong Kong but was in Dubai for work. I was so lucky to get spend time with him again. The Lana, Dubai must rate an '8 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) score. My only criticism is the design of the rooftop infinity pool. The steps into it should be more gradual. The final large step makes it treacherous to take your 'phone, or a drink, into the pool. Tips:- the sunbeds at the pool are very close together. Ask to use the cabanas and order an 'SF Martini' at 'Bitter Honey' bar. |    |
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 My face says it all. Adam from Four Seasons Gresham Palace in Budapest preparing cocktails at Four Seasons at Park Lane & eating Hungarian/ Asian fusion food in the hotel's elegant new private dining area. November 2023 was another unforgettable month in my life. My relationship with Four Seasons at Park Lane resumed and my welcome back was beyond belief. I now have green velvet Four Seasons slippers, to wear with my Mandarin Oriental, Msheireb Downtown Doha yukata (robe).
It was a month of more sensational food. The quality of the ingredients in the Claridge’s breakfast could not be better. As an LVMH Ambassador, It was also a thrill to see their Louis Vuitton trunk Christmas tree. Chef Elliott Grover, at 45 Park Lane, astonished me with Beluga caviar & UK Wagyu beef smoked with wood chips from a Jack Daniel's cask. The same day as that lunch, I had a white truffle dinner at Four Seasons at Park Lane. There were some mouthwatering pasta dishes from Chef Yannick Alleno but I now know I am not keen on white truffles in my ice cream. It was an month when Issy's tropical waistcoat from Mandarin Oriental, Miami was shipped to me & The Dorchester gave him a Dorchester Collection staff pin. I also met Sir Cliff Richard, while easting Wolfgang Puck canapes, at 45 Park Lane's Christmas tree lighting party. On the work front, I attended Grant Thornton's 'Banking & Capital Markets Conference 2023' and it was a pleasure to reconnect with Jordan International Bank Plc's new CEO. We worked together in Qatar. Hope the photos below evidence another ''7 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) month. I move to Shrewsbury for Christmas on Tuesday 12 December 2023. Look forward to explaining these photos to people I meet. Still hopeful that my niece Maria, who lives in Moscow, will be in Shrewsbury for Christmas.  On Coronation Day The Dorchester specially created a Veuve Clicquot champagne & Grey Goose vodka cocktail for me. Also note the Dorchester Collection Coronation staff pin I was presented with. This week I will meet Chef Alain Ducasse and Chef Wolfgang Puck, Chef Elliott Grover & he will prepare my dinner together at 45 Park Lane.
Dorchester Collection, & Chef Tom Booton, played a significant role in my May 2023. Watching the Coronation flypast from The Dorchester roof, drinking Veuve Clicquot champagne in the rain, and a Coronation Day lunch in The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester, with two appetisers and three desserts! Four Seasons also played an important role with me spending Coronation Day morning at Four Seasons at Park Lane talking to a charming Saudi mother & daughter and Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square updating Issy's Beefeater outfit regarding our new King. It was also a month where I was given Concorde glasses by another Barbican resident and sat next to a Concorde menu from 1977 at the second Veuve Clicquot Sunny Side Up Cafe. This led to a kind email from my friend Edouard de Nazelle in Reims. I managed to visit Shrewsbury twice during the month. Dad losing his fight with Parkinson's, and mum's falls & diagnosis with dementia/ Alzheimer's, mean it was September 2022 when I last travelled abroad. Do not know what I would do without my friends. I look at a note from Tim in Houston each day and it helps gives me strength. Should also mention Jennifer at Naked Jam. Such a kind & talented lady and a good friend to mum & me. The good thing is mum seems far happier and less anxious. This means planning for my trip to Four Seasons Hotel Nashville can start. Hope the photos below convince you it was a very special Coronation Day; Chef Tom Booton's breakfast is the best in London; mum is safe & being very well-looked-after; & the remarkable job Bruce did with my Barbican window boxes.  I sent Easter lamb to Shrewsbury. This holiday was one of mum's favourites but I ended up spending 10 hours in A&E with mum on Good Friday, after she had another fall, getting out from a car this time.
A difficult time for our family has been exacerbated by Shropshire Council's Social Services. I am still unclear if they are incompetent or lack integrity, or a mixture of both. There are now Royal Shrewsbury Hospital discharge documents for mum that misrepresented my views. This erroneous information must have come from ICS Social Services but they are now trying to distance themselves from the mess they have helped to create. I have made numerous formal complaints to Social Services and PALS at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and a Freedom of Information Request to Shropshire Council. Organising mum's care arrangements (including physiotherapists, that RSH should have arranged); visiting Shrewsbury, while constantly correcting Social Services and undertaking my Board role at Jordan International Bank Plc, has taken me near breaking point. Hope the photos below evidence that I am still doing my best to maintaining a life for myself, while ensuring mum is well looked after.  I returned to London, after New Year, to find my Dorchester hotel hamper. It was a month dominated by the reopening of the ground floor of this iconic hotel.
The Pierre Yves-Rochon refurbishment of the Dorchester lobby & Promenade has to be seen to be believed. From Lalique glass columns under the Promenade's Artists' Bar; to Liberace's piano being played; to stunning original art from various exhibitions I have attended at 45 Park Lane. I found seeing it all the first time almost overwhelming. It was a month where I met Chef Elliott Grover at 45 Park Lane & Dorchester Collection artist Jill Berelowitz. I also attended a Shrewsbury School (Old Salopian) Epiphany Service at St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London; met with the City of London Police again, as part of my Barbican role; had lunch with colleagues I worked with at the Bank of England in the 1980s; ate Louis Vuitton Yayoi Kusama from Harrods and savoured a delicious bacon chop at the Mount St Restaurant surrounded by Matisse, Lucian Freud, Picasso, Warhol etc, before a tour of their exceptional private dining rooms. Chef Tom Booton at The Dorchester Grill's stuffed chicken; Chef Elliott Grover's Sunday lunch at 45 Park Lane; the Wolfgang Puck crispy fried beef & prawn wontons with honey spiced mayonnaise at 45 Park Lane; & the cream tea from Rick Stein at Home must all be tried. Hope the photos below do justice to an unforgettable start to 2023. I am off to Shrewsbury again tomorrow, to help mum again.  Another dream came true being in the Buckingham Palace gardens with mum. Dad's rapid decline from Parkinson's disease is something my whole family is struggling to cope with. It has forced me to give up my new role at the Bank of England after only 4 month, to enable me to deal with this myself and support my family more. The Bank have been so kind and said I should be able to rejoin them for a third time, once my family life stabilises again.
I first started working for the Bank of England when the Rt Hon Robin Leigh-Pemberton was Governor; worked with the present Governor, Andrew Bailey, when we were both in Chief Cashier's Office; and Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist, was my manager in Monetary Analysis, during the period of 'the Ken & Eddie Show', before The Bank was given independence over the setting of interest rates. All this history with The Bank, combined with my experience working in Bermuda, Qatar, Cyprus & Cayman Islands should have made me ideal to help The Bank with its work and it was painful to have to resign. However, it did free me up to take mum to see the gardens at Buckingham Palace. The Farmers' Club made the sublime rare roast beef sandwiches, and Rosewood, London the Yayoi Kusama cakes, for this picnic. I have also been to a Beverly Hills Hotel pop-up on the roof of The Dorchester, where I was presented with more Philip Hammond flowers. Dorchester Collection know when I need cheering up. In a similar vein, I was given 'free' Ruinart champagne at Four Seasons at Park Lane and friends from my Bermuda days sent me Concorde tags from our New York trip on that supersonic jet. I also got to try the new NoMad hotel in Covent Garden. I need to make it clear that I cannot recommend Oystermen in Covent Garden enough, after an unforgettable dinner there with mum. Last week I was taken to a Test Match at Trent Bridge by friends from my Shrewsbury School days. I am so lucky with the friends I have. I am going through an extreme difficult period in my life at present but hope the photos below illustrated there are still some very happy moments within it and my friends are being too kind.  I was elated to find the High Court case I have been working on reported in the Financial Times. September 2020 was a monumental month in my life with my new Banking Consultancy company 'Si Frew Consultancy Services Limited' being incorporated & the Lebanese banking case I have been working on reported in the Financial Times.
At the same time it has been a whirlwind on the travel blog side, with more iconic London hotels reopening, while the Mayfair hotels continue to surprise & impress me. Four Seasons at Park Lane allowed me to try vodka infused with caviar, not yet on their menu; Michael (Managing Director of Rosewood, London) sent us champagne to celebrate the reopening of his elegant hotel; had a drink with Robert (General Manager of The Dorchester) to honour the busy reopening of his historic hotel; I discovered Porsche must be the 'official' car of my Barbican building; I savoured another sensational Tom Booton Sunday lunch at The Grill at The Dorchester; and also got to enjoy a drink with Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park's fabled General Manager Amanda, in their reopened Mandarin Bar. It was also a month where I had the best dover sole of my life at Parsons in Seven Dials; had a memorable Wolfgang Puck brunch at 45 Park Lane, having the pleasure to be joined by their General Manager John & viewed 'FAME at 45 Park Lane' with photos of Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot, Faye Dunaway etc I will never forget; 45 Park Lane staff sent me more of their Noble Isle shower products that I adore; & I continued to be impressed by breakfast & service at Millie's Lounge at The Ned. I also visited the enchanting garden at The Goring for martinis with a friend from my Prestfelde prep school days. There I met their charming new General Manager Michael and had forgotten how beautiful their new bar is. I was also blown away by the steaks at Hawksmoor, Seven Dials in September. I ended the month eating Eggs Escoffier (with lobster meat, caviar & gold) & drinking champagne at breakfast at Gordon Ramsay's reopened Savoy Grill at The Savoy, London and being entranced by the 'full French' breakfast & staff at Anthony Demetre's Wild Honey at Sofitel London St James. On top of all this, I managed more trips to Shropshire to support my indomitable parents. In September my personal training also moved to Energie Fitness, so I can remain with legendary Bart but I still try to swim at Virgin Active each day too. I must also mention my new The White Company electric diffuser I was thoughtfully given by one of my best friends that is now an important part of my night time ritual, along with my Frette sheets, Dorchester hotel bed & Aromatherapy Associates shower oils. Finally I should mention that an incident that I experienced at one of my favourite Mayfair hotels last month, & some that have happened to my caring mother (even at church), have me thinking about Four Seasons' Mr Sharp's mission statement based on The Golden Rule "To treat others as we'd wish to be treated ourselves." again. I fully appreciate that issues related to COVID-19 have left us all very frazzled but I think it is even more important to take the time to talk to people and be compassionate, understanding & flexible. Hope the photos below help to make people feel better at what continues to be such a difficult time for so many people.  www.sifrew.com with awesome Jackie in the Jeff Leatham Christmas igloo at The Four Seasons George V; Veuve Clicquot champagne at the Mandarin Oriental, Paris; the elegant bar at Hotel Plaza Athenee; and charming Mandarin Oriental, Paris GM Philippe. The French strikes did not prevent www.sifrew.com having a spectacular time experiencing Paris at Christmas.
At the Four Seasons George V Jeff Leatham's Christmas decorations were even more dazzling/ opulent than I expected. I was sad to hear Jackie will be retiring next year but this will present another good excuse to visit Paris. At the Mandarin Oriental, Paris I drank Veuve Clicquot champagne with charismatic GM Philippe and then delightful Emilie showed me the spectacular four bedroom The Parisian Apartment. It was interesting to see a piece of Zhuang Hong Yi art in the lobby of this hotel. His work is currently featured at 45 Park Lane. At the Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris Dorchester Collection's charming Louise treated me like a VVVIP. It was interesting that my very dry Grey Goose martini there was better than at the Four Seasons George V. I also drank Perrier Fine Bulles for the first time and was fascinated to see a Lego model of the hotel in their exquisite lobby, Lego is the Christmas theme for The Savoy in London. Hope the photos below give you a taste of how stylish Christmas in Paris is & why it was a '7 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) experience. LVMH, Mandarin Oriental, Dorchester Collection & Four Seasons - London, UK - June/July 20194/7/2019
Stay in a Sumptuous Dorchester Suite at The Dorchester & Meet Their New GM - London, UK - April 201829/4/2018  Issy & Gwyn from The Goring in the sitting room of my lavish Dorchester suite. There were balloons, as well as Veuve Clicquot, to celebrate this Brand Ambassador's return. Problems with emails from my iPhone X to Dorchester Collection email addresses in London & Paris meant I had not stayed with them since my big Far East trip.
I was so glad I did stay at The Dorchester on my last London stay. Emily (Director of Guest Relations) welcomed me back with such warmth; my Dorchester suite brought me near tears with its luxurious, but comfortable, beauty; and I was able to discuss my connections with the Qatari Royal Family with their ex-Four Seasons GM Robert. The warmth of my welcome back; prints by HRH Prince Charles, the Japanese remote controlled toilet in the suite etc; and meeting new GM Robert, and talking to his brilliant PA Janice again, made this a 🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻(7 out of 5 ‘teddies’) stay at this iconic London hotel. Stay at 45 Park Lane (part of the Dorchester Collection) in a Studio Suite - London, UK - June 20165/6/2016  English Chase vodka, Wolfgang Puck steak popcorn, my Four Seasons Park Lane pepper & Parmesan popcorn, gummy bears, vanilla macaroons with paw prints & a teddy bear with Issy's name on his sleeve. 45 Park Lane is The Dorchester hotel's 45 room/suite, more expensive, chic contemporary sister hotel housed in a exceptional Art Deco building with a striking façade, with eco-friendly cooling fins, minutes walk from its stately 'older sister'. All rooms & suites in 45 Park Lane have large windows with views of Hyde Park.
45 Park Lane is famous for being the site of Hugh Hefner's first Playboy Club in Europe, which had the world's most profitable casino in the 1980s. With all my stays at The Dorchester, and knowing John (the General Manager of 45 Park Lane) from his time at The Dorchester, I had to stay at this hotel and John made this possible. |
The AuthorsSi Frew has lived in the UK, Bermuda, Qatar, Cyprus & the Cayman Islands. During this time he met Whoopi Goldberg (in Claridge's), Mike Tyson (in the Concorde Lounge at JFK) , Gordon Ramsay (in the Doha Four Seasons), Chris Eubanks (in The Dorchester), Cherie Blair (in Bermuda & again in the Doha Four Seasons) etc. There are funny stories attached to all these interactions, feel free to ask Si about them when you meet him. Archives
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