Jul 10, 2010

SLS Hotel @ Beverly Hills Trilogy, First Chapter: Bar Centro

Last night was the beginning of my interesting food journey at the SLS Hotel,
Started out with a few bites and drinks at Bar Centro,
Then changed venue to SAAM, the intimate chef's tasting room,
Well well, that was a "journey" indeed,
Our dining experience went from 7 p.m. till after midnight,
You see why I had to made my blog entries "trilogy" style?


SLS stands for Something Lovely's Started,
It's one of the luxury collections managed by the renowned Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
Besides standard extravagance hotel services, SLS also offers exquisite food and beverage venues such as:
The Bazaar (Chef Jose Andres's creation in a lounge-like environment)
Bar Centro (cocktails and mostly Spanish influenced food)
Rojo y Blanca (tapas)
Patisserie at SLS (sweets!)
SAAM (Chef Jose Andres' prix fixe menu)

6:45 p.m. @ Bar Centro


The entire space (including SAAM) was born under the creative eyes of Philippe Starck and Moss (Murray Moss, Franklin Getchell),
Unique details can be found not only in large piece furniture, but also various small objects such as menu and candle holders.


Feasting our eyes with SLS' amazing interior design and furniture selections weren't enough,
It was 7 p.m. and our dinner reservation at SAAM was at 8:15 p.m.,
Our stomachs were rumbling,
To make our time go by faster, a few drinks and tapas will do the trick.


7 p.m.


Pardon my blurry pictures, everything happened too fast.
Our waitress brought over this cotton candy drink - magic mojito,
Well, she actually brought over a glass of cotton candy and the alcohol part on the side,
As she quickly (really quickly that I wasn't fully prepared to take pictures) poured the mojito over the candy, my drink was completed, in a blink.


It's not as sourish as regular mojito,
Yet it comes with a slightly burned cotton candy aroma,
Very good, delicious for both the eyes and the taste buds.

My friend's monkey drink (beg for forgiveness again, what is thy name!?)


The waitress noticed we had 3 gigantic cameras sitting around,
Nice of her, she specially pointed out the monkey face so we can take pictures before the drink gets devoured.

7:30 p.m.

Drinking alcohol with empty stomach is not recommended,
So two orders of small bar food were sent to us,
"Bunuelos (cod fish fritters, honey aioli) -


Solid balls of fish, seriously, I got a full bite of fish meat in that tiny round thing,
The sauce has a strong honey aroma, can't really taste the garlic at all.

7:50 p.m.

Sea urchin sandwich -


A wee bit Asian influenced dish, using Asian buns instead of Western bread for the sandwich,
P.S. Sea urchin is like garlic to me, they're both good with everything!

8:10 p.m.


Bill arrived. Closed the tap and we're ready for our real food treat, SAAM.

To be continued...

*Cindy's Rating for Bar Centro: 8

Bar Centro @ SLS Hotel
465 South La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 246-5555
http://slshotels.com/
http://www.sbe.com/sls/bazaar/

12 comments:

  1. To Cookie Chomper~
    Yeah thanks!
    The drink finally gets its name back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The eating continues in Cali, huh? ;p

    ReplyDelete
  3. To Tigerfish~
    Ha yes you're right!
    Endless eating "tasks!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. To Latte~
    Yeah SLS is occupied with that monkey~!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would like to exchange links with your site foodmakesmehappy.blogspot.com
    Is this possible?

    ReplyDelete
  6. *** Just a word of Caution! -- SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA and it's "The Bazaar" restaurant!

    --

    Petty theft is thriving there!

    I actually used to enjoy coming here mostly for some good food. Until the
    night my purse was stolen from my table, by someone who was sitting
    next to us with his group of friends. The security camera was right
    above us. However, management REFUSED to show me the tape, call the
    police asap and try to track this person down via the credit card that
    his table paid with. They were uncooperative and plainly uninterested ( the nicest possible words I can find ) in resolving this issue and in helping me getting my property back! This hotel and restaurant should give their 4 stars back and keep only 1, maybe even only half of the star that they actually deserve! The management is clueless and has no idea what a 5 star experience truly is! I have never been so mistreated in my life!! There are plenty wonderful 5 star hotels and restaurants in Beverly Hills, who treasure their customer's well being, privacy and security! My advice to you is to stay as far away as possible from this one!

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete