Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok Review

Based in the heart of Bangkok, on the city’s busiest thoroughfare, Sukhumvit, the Sheraton Grande a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok caters to both business and leisure travellers alike to combine the best of both worlds. With different sections designed by different internationally acclaimed architects including Bill Bensley, the hotel mixes an opulent confidence with magical, sometimes otherworldly, twists to create a space which demands not only exploration but insists on effortless rejuvenation. The Luxury Editor’s, Simon, recently stayed here – read on to discover more.

At 488.4 km, Sukhumvit Road is long. It starts in Thailand and ends in Cambodia. Its heart, the slap, bang middle of Bangkok, is full of clogged arteries which make London’s Oxford Street or New York’s Broadway seem like country thoroughfares. Addressed at 250 Sukhumvit, The Sheraton Grande doesn’t sit in this epicentre but rather hovers above it. This otherworldly detachment ensures the entrance is a good twenty-five metres or so above the street but is still accessible by vehicle.

Doormen are eager to carry luggage and the interior reception glows with a beguiling golden hue. Strips of underlighting, a breathtaking expanse of marble flooring and wooden beige panels provide immediate warmth and richesse. The start of a swirling staircase directly opposite check-in piques the imagination and encourages investigation of what lies above and beyond. 

I’m staying in the Rachada suite, one of four spaces which channel Thailand’s cultural and design aesthetic. Any superlative will work. ‘Wow’ covers it in one word. Sized at over 800 square feet, the suite is large. And almost completely clad in teak for a calm, dark chocolate-coloured elegance occasionally uplifted by burnt orange cushions and fiery red upholstery.

Wooden reliefs and sculptures decorate the space which is half sitting room and half bedroom, informally dissected by a wide-screen TV partially dressed in chunky wooden casing.

A spacious walk-in wardrobe stands in front of the glitzy marble bathroom which shows off a round jacuzzi rimmed with a golden handrail and another, smaller TV. Greenery is strategically placed throughout but pales in comparison with the outdoor terrace which nestles around two sloping trees.

Large enough to entertain thirty or so standing guests, if such is allowed, a dining table stands unobtrusively under a sloped roof, an L-shaped sofa for ten corners the side of the patio and around this, more greenery patterns a border which overlooks the barely noticeable pool. There’s even a shower on the terrace and the suite comes with its own personal concierge service, an allowance of two laundry items per day and happy hour.

As well as The Sala and The Living Room, where happy hour simultaneously takes place, the Sheraton Grande boasts the Orchid Café and Barsu but its flagship is Rossini’s. Designed in the style of a Tuscan villa, the ceiling is high, part decorated with wooden beams, part with arched paving stones.

Food is prepared in a svelte kitchen under a large limestone chimney. Lighting is dusky, piano music is sultry and proceedings are conducted by the genial, Sicilian executive chef, Giacomo Vinci. I stick with the geographical theme and opt for a Negroni to kick the evening off. The Negroni is pretty perfect. The warm, crunchy, homemade bread is served with what look like petit fours but which are, in fact, different shapes of garlic, carrot and black truffle butter. It’s very clear, very quickly, that Rossini’s is no idle boast.

For Antipasti, the Hokkaido Scallops are as large as I’ve seen but come with a sublime, subtle flavour accentuated by pumpkin purée and salmon roe. The Grilled Calamari is served with pea purée, orange and fennel salad and dabs of ricotta; it’s searingly fresh and curiously invigorating.

The final antipasti is as visually exciting as it is flavoursome; Chef Vinci delivers a bell jar full of swirling dry ice. Contents are completely obscured until he takes off the glass container for a slow reveal of salmon and trout slices. Decorated with Snow’s Fancy Pickling Cucumber and fish roe, a mysterious white powder melts in the mouth along with the raw fish.

The Secondi is similarly tantalizing. Black Risotto With Alaskan Crab and other seafood is an absolute winner; dramatic in presentation but with colourful purple flowers and green salad strands. The Grilled Red Snapper With Butter Sauce doesn’t look as exciting or pretty but is delicate and sumptuous and is served on a bed of cous cous and crunchy pistachio crumble. The Wagyu Beef is another winner; succulent, with a depth of flavour served on pumpkin purée with dabs of onion jam for extra zing and a large pointed finger of morel mushroom for a pleasing, salty counterpoint. 

The biggest surprise of the meal and favourite for sheer bravado comes at the end, when our defences are down and it seems unlikely dessert is going to outdo what proceeded. Tiramisu is an Italian classic always presented with personal twists and family idiosyncracies but Chef Vinci’s tiramisu exists in such a different world, it could easily be a tiramisu in hiding or one with seriously effective camouflage. Presented on crumbs of chocolate, it looks like a burger or a faggot. It’s dark and solid and is decorated with a generous portion of sliced truffle. Once the outside is cracked, it’s high on mascarpone, lower, verging on non-existent, on coffee and alcohol, but is a titillating, unique and refined dish which has to be tasted to be believed. 

Rossini’s also serves breakfast and as well as an array of fresh produce which spans a gluten-free corner, a smoothie bar, a pastry selection, an impressively large cheese selection, it also has an à la carte menu. Choose from Grilled Red Snapper Filet, Stir Fried Beef, Prawn Wontons With Silky Egg Noodles and much more. I opt for the more traditional Eggs Benedict with Salmon which comes with salmon roe, a spinach cream sauce and hash browns and is a more than fulsome way to start any morning. 

The Orchid Café is more familial, marginally less formal, closes earlier but has an even larger food selection to slather over. Chefs stand erect, ready to cook your own curated omelette but more exotic choices stretch to Kai Palo, Phad Pak Kwang Toon, Chloe Masala, Sambar and Pongal. I opt for a plate of fresh, juicy mango and papaya with an epic green glazed pistachio croissant. As I eat, I marvel at the room’s central decoration which is a glorious six foot square mix of pink, white and green flowers. The decoration is changed on a three monthly basis and is well worth a quick inspection if you somehow miss breakfast – perhaps because you’ve opted to treat yourself at the spa. 

The Spa menu is almost as extensive as the dining ones and ranges from an epic three-hour Siamese Retreat Experience to shorter treatments which also work as ‘Add-ons.’ These include lip, eye and back treatments but I opt for a pervasive Aromatherapy massage. Opposite the Spa reception, more wooden stairs swirl upwards. They look like a child’s representation of a stairway to Heaven. They curl around a corner, into oblivion. The atmosphere is calm, timeless, almost spatial and, indeed, upstairs the serene corridor practically vibrates like a spaceship’s pacific design of a harmonious wellness centre. The treatment room’s interior feels hermetic, sealed off from not only the rest of the world but the rest of the hotel. Soothing music plays as my masseuse plies her trade and the hour speeds by. The sensation resembles mental and physical detachment. My subconscious is wrapped in a more benign part of its own cocoon whilst my body is pushed and pulled, occasionally prodded to a level of happy exhaustion. 

Apart from heading back to bed, the only option is to hit the pool, which, of course, is no ordinary pool. Designed by famed American but local resident, Bill Bensley, it reminds of a more interactive vision of Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise. One where you swim instead of tour on a boat. Or where you lounge and marvel at this curious utopia.

A miniature Amazon forest of palm trees and shrubbery and mangrove roots teems and bends and drapes by the side of an impossibly serpentuous pool. Midnight blue tiles provide the water with a magicality, an inviting purity which elegantly offsets the luscious greenery and the blush, Aperol clay walls. Sculptures of sitting Buddhas and praying women abound and a large frieze of alligators and fish boldly stands opposite what looks like an uninhabited pool-side shack. Swim through the water and consider what lies around every corner; a journey of exploration through every twist and cranny. Quiet, ambient music soothes but is often overridden by the wind in the trees and the cascading of water from various fountains. A whirlpool sits under a Buddhist temple-like structure for even further relaxation and at night, soft lighting is accompanied by torch-sized flames.

If Thai hospitality is legendary, the Sheraton’s South African General manager, Carl Volschenk, nonetheless inspires a happy ship. Wearing a smart suit, he not so much prowls but parades the hotel with the dignity and quiet confidence of a proud parent. The bellhops want to discuss where I’m from and which countries they’ve visited. The Sala’s barman enjoys suggesting off-menu cocktails that he himself has invented – in my case, a striking black tequila drink coloured by charcoal powder. A receptionist who joins the poolside’s Lotus flower folding activity seems beside himself with excitement at this mindful and strangely becalming activity. This joy undoubtedly rubs off onto the hotel’s guests and contributes to the genuine out-of-this-world experience that the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit provides. 

This property is included in our guide to the best luxury hotels in Bangkok