Singapore is one of the best cities in the world in regard to hotel choices. From a straight luxury hotel to the most minimal capsule hotel, name it, and you will find it. Moreover, Singapore also offers hotels that only caters very specific and discerning travellers that is responsible for the emergence of boutique hotels of various theme in the city. One of them is Naumi Hotel Singapore. Located within the Downtown Core area, Naumi Hotel is the top alternative for those seeking luxury and personal experience when staying in Singapore. As the name suggests, this hotel's most distinctive facility for those discerning travellers is the ladies-only floor. And yeah, since I am not of them, I had only been enjoying the other facilities like most of the hotel guests.

One of the best aspects of Singapore as a city that I would like to talk about here is how pedestrians are very well connected with public transports. Be it MRT or Bus, from most part of the city, it should be accessible within 10 minutes of walking. Naumi is located just some steps away from a bus stop, and 10 minutes walk to the City Hall MRT Station. Naumi is also very well connected to shopping centres, food centres, museums, galleries, parks, and everything you could think of as destinations while in Singapore. The best part is that the hotel is tucked away from the main road so that it is peaceful at night.

It has been eight months since I went to Langkawi yet I still vividly remember the last day of our stay in The Andaman Langkawi (check out my review about the amazing hotel here!). In the evening of our stay there, we decided to go to The Japanese Restaurant. It is kind of weird, but yes, the name of the restaurant is literally "The Japanese Restaurant". Until now, regarding my experience eating there, I believe that this is the best Japanese restaurant I have ever visited. If I would ever come back to Langkawi, I will surely visit this restaurant again for sure!

The Japanese Restaurant is located within the main building of The Andaman Langkawi. When we were there in January, the restaurant was fully packed and we could get the seatings on the Teppanyaki area. Thank God we booked our seats before that we could still experience this gastronomy marvel in this resort.


The Japanese Restaurant is heavily decorated with lots of Japanese themed objects. Moreover, the interior is mostly furnished with wood finishes for the floor, ceilings, walls, and even the furniture. The ambience is set to feel like we are in a traditional Japanese house. The warmth of a home was furthermore elevated by the superb service of the restaurant staff that happened to be an Indonesian working there! It turns out that there were quite a number of Indonesian staffs working in The Andaman.


After being seated, we still decided to choose one menu from the Teppanyaki Set as it was rumoured to be very delicious and should not be missed while staying here. We were served with beverages in the moment while we waited for the foods to be prepared. To be honest, the drinks were forgettable but yeah, we were here for the food!

Sunshine (MYR 25), Gloomy Day (MYR 25), Ice Tea (MYR 16)

After being served with our foods altogether, I am quite amazed by the food presentation and especially the portion. And before visiting Langkawi, I was not quite a fan of salmon, to be honest. Perhaps, the reason behind that is that I had never eaten a decent salmon before. Here, in The Japanese Restaurant, particularly at the time we stayed there, the salmon was amazing. For instance, we ordered a Salmon Salad and the salmon was smoked to perfection! The texture and the savouriness of the salmon, combined with the fresh vegetable made this salad flawless. If you followed and read my blog before, this was the first time I discovered how tasteful sesame dressing could be in a salad. This salad had it all. A pure delight to start our scrumptious meal!

Salmon Salad (MYR 33)

More salmon to come. Yes, we ordered two plates of salmon for our Japanese dinner! The next salmon dish was Salmon Teriyaki. The dish was served with a bowl of steamed rice. The salmon itself was coated with sweet and savoury teriyaki sauce that went perfectly with the salmon. For an amateur like me, this was also the first time I ate a perfectly grilled or cooked salmon. Usually, I would find cooked salmon to be overcooked, too flaky, and dry. But not in this dish. I could easily recall the perfect texture of the salmon—moist with a hint of flakiness. Thanks to this dish, I now know how a perfectly cooked salmon should be!

Salmon Teriyaki (MYR 55)

We also ordered Yaki Soba for some umami carbo intakes. It tasted OK, not that quite memorable, yet not disappointing at all that I didn't remember to have any dislike towards this dish.

Yaki Udon (MYR 36)

Since we had eaten quite a lot of meat before staying here, we opted to eat mostly fish on our last evening, hence, the Teppanyaki menu we chose also consisted of fish. We ordered Seabass Set that came with a bowl of salad, garlic fried rice, miso soup, and sauteed vegetables. For your information, in Malaysia and Indonesia, Seabass is called siakap or kakap. For me, this is one of my favourite fish and to be able to taste this fish in Japanese style cooking was a great experience! Even though the portion of the fish was quite limited, I pretty much enjoyed this dish the most. The sauce was a perfect match for the fish. Along with all the condiments, this dish was the winner for the evening. Again, the Seabass was cooked to perfection. This dish is surely a must-try!

Seabass Fillet (MYR 120)

Yokan (MYR 22)

Nestled in one of the most pristine spots in Langkawi, The Andaman, to me, is the greatest, most scenic resort I have ever been to this date. The resort, which is under the management of Luxury Collection by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, is surrounded by millions-year-old tropical rainforest with its own stretch of isolated beach. There is only one access to this area and momentarily, there are only two resorts residing in this piece of heaven.

As this was our family last stop for our yearly vacation, I could have never thought that my experience here would be the most memorable, the most scenic. After checking out from The Westin Langkawi, we headed to the Northwestern part of the island. Getting to this resort was quite easy since there is only one route to get there by car. Reaching The Andaman, the landscape slowly transitioned as if we were to enter a jungle, an exotic one. I could easily remember the ambiance—the sound and the smell of the rainforest— right when we stepped down from the car.

The reception area of The Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort

Entering the resort, I was astonished by the scale and the grandeur of the lobby area represented through the massive pillars that support the gigantic wooden roof structures. Looking at the ambiance, this resort looked quite old but seemed to age very nicely. The combination of stone and wood material in various forms and patterns with some touch of traditional wooden decorations make this resort feels not outdated at all, or some would call it timeless.

We were then greeted by one of the resort's staffs, Mr. Uvarajah. He knew what's best to cater our one-night-stay and I was really thankful for him to go the extra miles by upgrading our room to Luxury Seaview Room. Again thank you, Mr Uvajarah! After a small explanation of the resort facilities, direction (yes, the resort IS THAT HUGE), and stuff, we were escorted to our own 'haven' for the rest of our stay.


The walk to our room was not a short one for sure. We were given the room at the very last building to the north of the resort. On our way, I could feel more seclusiveness of the rainforest and better yet, I could start to hear the sound of the sea. We entered the room and directly felt more in love (I know there are a lot of exaggerations, but it's true!) with the resort. As The Andaman had undergone a massive renovation couples of years ago, the room is represented in a much more modern look, without any traditional wooden ornaments.


After being explained with more stuff regarding the room, the first thing we did was to immediately go to the balcony. The perfect, secluded beach that directly aligned with an undulating landscape of tropical rainforest, to this date, shaped my very own definition of what a perfect beach is. Despite the "meh" weather, the panoramic sight was still so enjoyable! I could imagine myself sitting on the rattan chair, just to gaze the perfect scenery for hours! Even at the moment of me writing this part brought me back to that very moment—yeah, it was SO tantalizing to the point of myself being able to remember the scene vividly!


Back to the room, we enjoyed and relaxed in our upgraded room for several minutes before heading down for some beach walk. I could not waste much time relaxing while our one-night-time was running out and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world was right in front of the resort, waiting to be explored.


Walking along Datai Bay shoreline is one of the most relaxing experience ever! At one side, my sights were pampered by the lush jungle, while at the other side, I was totally refreshed by the sight of the emerald-colored water body of The Andaman Sea. At the same time, I could also listen to the soothing sounds of the crashing ocean waves along with the chirping crickets in the jungle. It is said that this idyllic bay was once a private hideout for pirates!


One of my rituals, whenever I visited and stayed at a beach resort, is to take a sunset/sunrise photo. Again, this is the most perfect sunset photo spot to date. I went to the rocky part at the end of the beach for a more dramatic shot especially when the waves crashed the rocks. From the information I got, when the tide is low, the sunset would be even more magical as more corals would be revealed and the wet sand perfectly reflects the sky. Nevertheless, I was still more than happy to be able to witness a gorgeous sunset after going through all those cloudy dusk days before. The sunset happened around 30 minutes to an hour long with an unbelievably majestic change of sky colors.


Contented, we went back to our room just to find the same, majestic end of the sunset through the room's balcony. Looking at those photographs, I realize that there were numbers of stars visible among the moving clouds. I could not imagine how beautiful it would be if the sky were clear and all the stars were visible. It would be surreal!


We ended our last night in Langkawi enjoying a great Japanese dinner in The Japanese Restaurant, which, hopefully, I could write about in the mean time. The dinner was THAT great to have its own blog entry.

In the next morning, I woke up quite early to see whether there was any sunrise visible or not. I was not disappointed at all only to find the absence of the expected sunrise as I could witness a glimpse of glittering stars! Moments later, the most perfect weather for this landscape started to come around. Blue skies, some cumulus clouds, and crystal clear water illuminated by the sun—such a beautiful ending to our vacation!


We enjoyed the last sight of Datai Bay from our room before heading to the breakfast buffet. The buffet was quite packed despite the huge restaurant capacity the resort provides. The spread was great, with a wide variety of cuisines to choose. Taste-wise, The Andaman breakfast buffet was similar to The Westin Langkawi's. I enjoyed the smoked salmon pretty much that I came back several times for more slices.


I finished my breakfast promptly to get a glimpse of the swimming area and the beach on a clear day for the last time. It really couldn't get any better. The blue skies contrasted with the green shades of the trees around the naturally-shaped swimming pool exquisitely. If we had more time, I could spend my whole morning swimming! The unique shape of the swimming pool is the result of how the hotel was designed to preserve the existing trees.


Walking past the swimming area, I finally understand why Datai Bay was once a pirates' hideout and named as one of the best beaches in the world. The pictures speak for themselves.


At the end, we went home with delighted hearts and a vivid memory of this magical piece of land in Langkawi Island. Again, all those exclamation marks through this entry are not an exaggeration! Thanks to The Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort, we could enjoy the alluring tropical beach without sacrificing any comfort. Through this very prompt stay in this property, I could already feel their much well-known hospitality and the effort to preserve the nature. Surely, there were A LOT of facilities in the resort we haven't covered yet, for example, their popular coral nursery, nature walk, and more. Thus, for me, it should be a must to go back and stay here in the future. Finally, The Andaman is a MUST VISIT when in Langkawi!