Millennium Hilton Bangkok Review

Located next to the ICONSIAM in the Khlong San district, over-looking the Chao Phraya river, the tall, monolithic Millennium Hilton is a classy but happy and breezy hotel with a lot of space. Staff are ever-present but discreet, attentive but not overbearing and the hotel takes full advantage of its ideal positioning. Expect spectacular views over the sprawling city from many different vantage points, including the swimming pool on the fourth floor. An abundance of bars and eateries offer both international and local cuisine, all of which will have guests keen to order more. 

There are few cities in the world where you can travel to your hotel by boat. Venice is the obvious one, but the mighty Chao Phraya River enables Bangkok as another. Arriving at the Millennium Hilton this way is a thrilling proposition. The only downside is that you miss its main arrival space, which is dramatic to say the least. Ceilings stretch to the 6th or 7th floor and are barely visible. Lanterns hang forever, illuminating what could be Black Hole art or colourful star clusters. It conjures up notions of inter-galactic space hangers or travel, which is apt since, from the riverside, the tall monolithic building reminds of Jeff Bezos’ recent women-only space ship, especially with a slight mushroom bulge at its top. Walk up the pier, past the Ale House on the left and Flow on the right and, for the executive suites, up three floors in a small glass elevator, past Oxbo on the right and into the sanctuary of the executive lounge where Happy Hour is in full swing. 

I don’t have time to get too happy or even take in my suite before I have to go back downstairs to Oxbo for a Cocktail Mash Up, where local mixologists take over the menu, shake it, stir it, poke it, jiggle it, generally make sure everyone’s having a fabulous time. And they are. Defined by its elegant marble slab bar, the space is intimate but fills up quickly and bustles and beats with an in-house DJ. Sponsored by Havana Club, the four special cocktails are rum-based and have exotic titles such as Sunset At Viñales and Caramel Cubano. The most intriguing and charmingly named, though, is When Life Gives You Peanuts. The rum doesn’t dominate but mingles easily with peanut liqueur for a beguiling concoction and a perfect fusion.

The main mixologist is K.Pitt, a tall gentleman dressed like an ‘80s modern romantic auditioning for an Adam Ant or Duran Duran pop promo; black leather trousers and chokar, a white shirt with bountiful frills, floppy hair and, for surgical or serial killer edge, disposable black rubber gloves. When someone shouts “Let’s go!”, he shakes his silver mixer like Tom Cruise in Cocktail and flashes a bright smile as his audience cheers enthusiastically. 

I actually do go, however. 

Down three floors to visit the riverside Ale House. With four wide screen TVs playing sports, a blue baize pool table, eight different beers on tap and a “THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR ANOTHER BEER!’, sign above the bar, it’s unashamedly American in influence and a lot of fun for it. There are also games like giant Jenga scattered around to keep the party going. I take a seat on the edge of the prettily lit terrace, which overlooks the Chao Phraya. Up until about 10 pm music from the glowing candy coloured tourist boats fights with that of the bar, but after 10 pm, the river quietens. I eschew the ‘Pizza Oven’ and the ‘My Thai’ offerings, honouring my surroundings instead by ordering Chicken Wings and Shrimp Poppers from the ‘Game On Small Bites’ menu. My Raven IPA comes in a tall jar and the chicken and shrimp, which come with aioli mayonnaise, are more than what any American abroad could hope for in a bar snack.

My suite is stunning. Located on the front and side of the hotel, it’s the kind of place you want to throw your own cocktail party. A grey two-piece sofa takes centre stage in the lounge area. Decorated with orange and black and white patterned cushions, it sits on a circular faux distressed carpet. A TV hides in a wooden wall opposite, but the real spectacle is the view from the curved, wide screen windows which look North, West and East over Bangkok’s immense sprawl and the Chao Phraya’s immense power. An elongated oval glass desk nestles in a corner next to which the minibar offers various soft and alcoholic beverages. There’s another TV in the bedroom which overlooks the hotel’s next-door neighbour, the ICONSIAM shopping centre.  Decked in beige tiles and dark wooden shutters, the ensuite bathroom consists of a walk-in shower, an oblong, hard-angled bath with water jets. Crabtree & Evelyn provides shampoos and gels.

I take breakfast on the ground floor in Flow, which also has a terrace outside overlooking the river. High ceilings, a pure glass frontage, mirrors on some walls, a mixture of high and low hanging lamps all contribute to what is a large space. Dark blue and ruby porcelain tiles on the floor and walls give it a lively, playful Arabic atmosphere. Like many of Bangkok’s larger hotels, breakfast is a voyage of discovery covering food from most corners of the earth, offering the almost entirely colourful with the exotic, the homely with the sweet and sour. Three chefs work hard in the open-plan kitchen where a sign to the side states the eggs come from cage-free chickens. I stay close to my roots and opt for a wholesome Full English with coffee but also some Pomegranate juice for extra exoticism. The crispy bacon is the best I’ve had for an age and I go back for more before heading up to the pool. 

Perched on the edge of the fourth floor, it also overlooks the Chao Phraya and, as you approach, looks as if it’s D-shaped. In fact, there’s a long, five metres wide rectangular swimming area, which stretches the width of the hotel and forms the straight edge of the D. The curved bit contains little more than five inches of water around which loungers are scattered, offering guests more spectacular views of Bangkok whilst lazing in the sun or, indeed, under the cloud. Turquoise tiles make the concept cohesive, but be careful not to drop your phone/book/glasses/headphones, etc in the water. A bar sits deeper inside, under a roof where a generous amount of beanbags invite guests to relax further, and I recommend ordering a fresh coconut, which has the Hilton’s logo burnt into it. 

As well as being the check-in point for executive guests, the executive lounge also offers a more intimate breakfast as well as a place to work and, from 5-7 pm, a must-visit Happy Hour with a wide range of alcohol, freshly cooked snacks to nibble on and super attentive waitressing. Decked out with grey and white diamond carpet, grey seats and white/grey flecked marble tables, the lounge has an unfussy elegance, a Glacier Mint coolness to it. Happy Hour is busy without being packed and some of the cooked snacks intrigue and are quite special. Expect Polenta Crunch with Tomato Jam, or Potato Gratin with Eggplant Purée and Crispy Kale. My favourite, for its quaint but bold presentation and its Blumenthal-like inventiveness, is Tomato and Feta Cheese Magnum which as, it suggests, is shaped like a Magnum ice-cream with wooden stick but is made of a cold, quince jelly textured tomato body, decorated with a small chunk of feta cheese and a tube of spring onion. I consume a few of these with a vodka and orange but mustn’t over-indulge as I have a table at the jazz lounge.

The clue is in the name; the ThreeSixty Lounge. Yes, it’s the mushroom-shaped bulge at the Millennium’s very top which is thus shaped because its roof is, in fact, a helipad. Walk, or indeed, sit all around the lounge for more jaw-dropping views of Bangkok’s skyline, ones which never fail to impress. The space isn’t dissimilar to Tokyo Park Hyatt’s New York Bar where live jazz is also played. Windows are tall and thin and multitudinous. The space is bathed in a Silk Cut purple lighting.

A piano dominates the stage on which three musicians, including a female singer in a black sequin dress, interpret jazz classics such as Mack The Knife and Blue Moon. I take an Endless Love cocktail, which consists of vodka, Cointreau and elderflower and sit back and enjoy the music. My food comes all at once, so there’s some strategic eating to d,o especially as I’ve over-ordered. The Lobster Roll and the Tuna Tartar are my favourites, the latter especially interesting in presentation with a coral-like black edible design and green, also edible, triangles. The tuna has a citrus piquancy which cuts through the earthiness of the beetroot sauce. 

What can I say? I feel on top of the world.