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This holiday season, Palace Hotel Tokyo is presenting travelers with the opportunity to celebrate ‘A Tokyo Christmas’ in splendor and style, replete with artful Christmas cakes and a host of fine-dining experiences to choose from. Photo credits: Palace Hotel Tokyo As one of the city’s most lauded hotels, Palace Hotel Tokyo is also one of the most elegant each festive season. This year, the centerpiece, 16-foot Christmas tree standing tall in the lobby moat-side will be decked out in red and gold baubles while elsewhere, installations inspired by snow-kissed treetops reflecting the golden hues of moon-lit nights bring a hint of the outdoors in. Designed to bring a touch of home to a luxurious holiday getaway, ‘A Tokyo Christmas’ includes: One night’s accommodation in a choice of a Deluxe with Balcony or Grand Deluxe room Choice of breakfast in-room or at Grand Kitchen An assortment of home-made Christmas cookies presented in a limited-edition tin A 5.5-foot-tall, in-room Christmas tree decorated with lights and red and gold ornaments Available for stays between December 20-25, rates for ‘A Tokyo Christmas’ start at JPY 183,000.* *Inclusive of consumption tax, excludes 15% service charge & accommodation tax of JPY 200 per person, per night Additional festive touches on offer include Champagne or a beautiful Christmas bouquet in-room as well as a Gâteau aux Fraises resembling a snow-kissed flower and made with strawberries grown at a farm in Ibaraki prefecture especially chosen by the hotel’s pastry chef. At Esterre, the hotel’s one-Michelin-starred contemporary French restaurant in partnership with DUCASSE Paris, a six-course Christmas dinner menu will feature lobster bisque, steamed ezo awabi (abalone) with barigoule-style vegetables, and beef tenderloin with truffled winter vegetables. At Wadakura, Palace Hotel Tokyo’s signature Japanese restaurant, its exquisite winter kaiseki course menu will be all about crab – including Kobako hairy crab, crabmeat dumpling, sashimi with Matsuba crab, and grilled Taraba crab with crab cream croquette. At GO, the hotel’s popular teppanyaki grill, a Christmas menu featuring seared red bream, Zuwai crab and Matsusaka beef will be served up. Those who enjoy European-style Christmas breads and cakes but expect to miss out on them while spending the holidays in Japan will be delighted to discover that the hotel’s pastry shop, Sweets & Deli, presents an array of home-baked stollen, kugelhopf, berawecka and panettone each December – including some with a uniquely Japanese twist. In addition to classics – such as berawecka packed with nuts and liquor-soaked dried fruits, and panettone with orange peel and sultana raisins baked with home-made panettone yeast – there’s a bohnen stollen made with yuzu-flavored marzipan and kinako (soybean flour), a ruby stollen made with dried rambutan, cranberries and almonds, and a limited-edition praline stollen featuring fruits soaked in litchi liqueur. There’s also a kugelhopf de Noël baked with sweet chestnuts mixed into its moist matcha dough and finished with a raspberry chocolate glaze. Located in the city’s upscale Marunouchi district, Palace Hotel Tokyo is situated a stone’s throw away from Marunouchi Naka Dori, the tree-lined boulevard that’s breathtakingly illuminated each winter season along the 1.2 kilometers that stretches from the hotel past the landmark Tokyo Station to Yurakucho, at the edge of Ginza. For more information on Palace Hotel Tokyo, please visit: www.palacehoteltokyo.com.

Immerse with Marine Exploration and Eco-Conscious Adventure in Paradise

Situated in Vietnam’s north, centre and south Viet Deli’s three HOME restaurants have launched exquisite menus underpinned by fresh, locally grown produce, paying tribute to the country’s rich agricultural traditions. Photo credits: Viet Deli Nguyen Gia Thien, the executive chef of Viet Deli, the company behind some of Vietnam’s most popular dining establishments, and chef Nguyen Thanh Tung, the executive chef overseeing HOME Hanoi, HOME Hoi An and HOME Saigon, have crafted the a la carte menus, each of which bring together street food, home-cooked favourites and refined dining dishes. Highlights from HOME Hanoi’s new menu range from the likes of street food favourites ‘Bun Cha’ (grilled pork and noodles) and ‘Pho’ (noodle soup) to home-style classics such as ‘Than Bo Xao Ngong Toi’ (stir-fried beef with garlic bud’) and refined dishes including ‘Ca Chinh Nuong Rieng Me’ (char-grilled Eel fish with local spices). Located at 75 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in a grand, four-story French villa, down a quaint lane that gives way to a private courtyard strung with lanterns, HOME Hanoi’s meticulously maintained villa’s interior is defined by brickwork, timber beams and Vietnamese art. HOME Hoi An’s new menu brims with local specialties like ‘Cao Lau’ (traditional Hoi An noodles with char-siu pork), ‘Mi Quang’ (traditional Hoi An noodles with prawn and char-siu chicken) and ‘Thit Nong Heo Chien Mam’ (caramelized pork jowl with mam sauce) and refined options such as ‘Cua Sot Ot Hoi An’ (stir-fried crab with Faifoo chili sauce). Photo credits: Viet Deli At 14 La Hoi Street in Hoi An’s Ancient Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Vietnam’s central coast, HOME Hoi An is near many of the town’s famed attractions including its street markets and Thu Bon River. In a villa bathed in a distinctive golden-hue, like most of the Ancient Town, the restaurant’s 19th century-themed interior is adorned with lanterns, vintage photography of Hoi An and more. ‘Hau Nuong Trung Muoi’ (grilled oyster with salted egg), ‘Tom Su Sot Ot So Diep Kho’ (steamed prawn with lotus leaf and hot rock salt), ‘Heo Quay Kho Nuoc Dua’ (glazed pork belly in coconut juice), and ‘Tom Hum Nha Trang Nuong Tieu Xanh’ (grilled Nha Trang lobster with green peppercorn) are among specialties served on HOME Saigon’s new menu. Nestled in an alley at 216/4 Dien Bien Phu in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3, HOME Saigon calls an historic French colonial villa home. Once the abode of South Vietnam’s vice president, the storied building’s preserved architecture and tasteful décor are rounded off by a green, shaded courtyard. “As we welcome diners into our friendly, family homes, offering authentic local dishes to be shared between family and friends, each dish on each of our three new menus embraces the daily bounty of Vietnam’s fertile landscape,” Viet Deli country general manager Nguyen Quoc Hoa said. “From fresh herbs and vegetables from nearby markets and our partnerships with local farmers to sustainably sourced seafood and meats, our new menus have a deep connection to our lands. Every bite at HOME celebrates Vietnam’s rich agricultural traditions and supports local farmers and communities.” HOME Hanoi and HOME Hoi An are open daily from 11am-2pm for lunch and 5-10pm for dinner. HOME Saigon is open from 11am-10pm. The HOME restaurants have been recognised in the 2024 Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice Awards, placing them in the top 10% of restaurants worldwide. Since Viet Deli, headquartered in Hanoi, began in 2015, it has launched a diverse mix of successful restaurants in Vietnam. For more information or to make a reservation visit homevietnameserestaurants.com or call HOME Hanoi on +84 889 038 822, HOME Hoi An on +84 2439 588 666 or HOME Saigon on +84 857 275 999.