Thursday, April 14, 2022

Sahur & Iftar Package at Fairfield Kuala Lumpur by Marriott

For my husband's birthday celebration, we decided to celebrate it by going on a staycation within KL. Since my husband's birthday falls in Ramadhan this year, I decided to look for a hotel that offers sahoor & iftar package. My choice of hotel is always the Marriott Bonvoy brand because I signed up as a member a few years ago. At that time, I was always travelling on work trips so might as well I collect points for each hotel stay. Now even though I'm no longer working and travelling as much as last time, I have became a Silver Elite member in my fourth year.

Back to my hotel search. After browsing through KL hotels in Marriott Bonvoy app, I found out that Fairfield Kuala Lumpur is running a promotion 'Stay & Dine at Fairfield Kuala Lumpur'.

Since the package comes with buffet dinner and sahur, I proceeded to book a room. Marriott Bonvoy members can take advantage of Marriott Bonvoy's latest promotion where members can earn more bonus points and extra nights if they register for the campaign before 20 April and stay at any Marriott Bonvoy's hotel until 4 May 2022. For each night stay, members will get 1 bonus night and 1000 bonus points to add on to their tier.

For those who are not planning to stay at the hotel, they can also make reservation for the buffet dinner at the restaurant at RM138++ per pax (for adult) and RM65++ per pax (for children and senior citizen). The room package however gives more value because it comes with buffet for 2 pax and complimentary sahur. We had to add on buffet for our 2 kids and enjoyed further 10% discount as Marriot Bonvoy's Silver Elite member.

Fairfield Kuala Lumpur is a relatively new hotel which was opened to the public in December 2021. The hotel is located in Jalan Pahang and a few minutes away from Chow Kit monorail station. The hotel boasts of 186 guest rooms encapsulating modern aesthetic in its design. Since the hotel has no dedicated parking on-site, we decided to take a Grab car to go there.

Hotel lobby

We reached there in the afternoon at 3pm to check-in. Upon checking-in, I was given a form to choose sahur menu to be delivered to our room the next day. I also requested to activate mobile key using Marriott Bonvoy app, so I can access the room using my smartphone alone. 

We proceeded to our room at Level 13 which is the highest room floor. There are three types of room available - standard, deluxe and suite. The package that we took was for a standard room with twin beds.

Noting that Fairfield brand is catered for business travelers, I was not surprised to find the room to be basic and with minimal amenity. The designer did a good job maximising the space to fit super single beds, bedside table, sofa, side table, a minibar, coffee & tea station, mini safe, plasma TV panel and open wardrobe. The bathroom is of a good size with separate shower area, toilet and a long sink.

Praying in the room can be tricky due to the Qiblat direction and limited space, however guests can make use of the spacious surau with Moorish architecture located at the top floor (above our floor). Honestly, I was impressed that the surau is located at the top floor because in most hotels you will find surau is either in a small room located at common floor (same floor with restaurant or meeting room) that can fit in maybe less than 10 pax at a time or worse, in the basement parking. The surau is air-conditioned and can accommodate around 60 pax at a time, perfect for couples who wish to tie the knot before convening to the dining area after the Nikah. During Ramadhan, there is also daily terawih prayer conducted at the hotel's surau. And to be honest, I can't help thinking that I probably like the surau better than the room because the surau smells really nice thanks to their aircond scent diffuser!

While waiting for Iftar, I decided to check out other amenities in the hotel. The hotel has an aesthetic lounge complete with coffee maker at Level 1 and also meeting rooms. 

Business lounge

There is also a spacious and well-equipped gym for hotel guests only. There are all sorts of cardio equipment as well as strength training equipment in the air-conditioned gym.

Gym

The signature restaurant called Lesung (inspired by staple kitchen tool in Malay kitchens) where we were having iftar is located at Level 2. The restaurant can accommodate up to 100 guests with menu ranging for local Malaysian dishes to international menu.

Photo credit: Fairfield Kuala Lumpur's Facebook

After 30 minutes workout at the gym, I came back to the room for a refreshing shower before we headed to the restaurant. There were only 30 pax who booked the buffet dinner on that day, so I needn't worry about keeping safe distance from other guests as there were ample of space in the restaurant.

The choice of menu was moderate (hence the lower price), and some dishes ran out fast that we hardly get to sample it because we went for Maghrib prayer right after having a light meal. The restaurant ought to plan better when it comes to food quantity by preparing more of the popular menu (such as kambing bakar / grilled lamb, chicken satay, and sushi and less of the least taken food.

But I did manage to take photos of the food before Iftar:

Sirap bandung, teh susu ais, mango cordial

Bubur lambuk

Bubur pulut hitam

Selection of tea

Nasi briyani

Sushi & fruits

Dessert bar

Boiled crabs

Local appetizers

Grill station

Cheesy pasta

Teriyaki chicken

Mussels in chilli broth

Butter chicken

Cendol station

Fish curry

Sambal petai udang

Daging salai masak lemak

Ayam kuzi

Keropok lekor / fried fish

Fresh & preserved fruits

Caramel pudding

Dessert bar

Overall, the dishes were just average in terms of taste. I liked the grilled lamb's sauce and the cheesy pasta but the rest were lacking in flavour and did not appeal to my palate. The chocolate ganache cake was just too dry and my daughter who normally loves caramel pudding for its light soft texture, couldn't finish hers because it was rather dense. The bubur lambuk was over-spiced so I was glad that I only took a spoonful to sample.

The main dishes also fell short of my expectation. I can tell that the prawns in the sambal petai udang were not fresh as the meat was mushy. I couldn't recall the ayam kuzi and the fish curry because the taste was not outstanding enough for me to remember. The daging salai lemak cili api's broth was a bit too thin for my liking.

The service rendered however was mixed. The restaurant crew was attentive and efficient. Empty plates were quickly taken, and the restaurant manager and crew truly exceeded my expectation when they delivered the cake to our table while singing birthday song (I was just expecting them to deliver the cake without any pomps). My husband was taken by surprise as he did not expect the attention at all!

The housekeeping service was also efficient. I requested for extra towel and a prayer mat which was promptly delivered.

While the front desk staff was courteous and professional, I found the response time was really slow although the hotel appeared to be empty. My calls went unanswered (but they did call me back) and my chat message (via the app) took really long time to be addressed. This is something that the hotel management should improve as the front desk is the first point of contact with the customers. 

I would recommend people to stay here on the same package that we took as there is a huge saving on the buffet package and you can also join terawih prayers at the comfortable surau.