JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok

Situated in central Sukhumvit and just a few hundred metres from both Ploenchit and Nana Skytrain, JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok boasts a super convenient location. The grand entrance and lobby are both inviting and impressive, a perfect preview of what to expect from this luxury Bangkok hotel where you can enjoy impeccable service during your stay from a staff team that are both personable and professional. After a day exploring Bangkok you will find a wide range of food and beverage options, excellent spa, refreshing pool and modern 24 hour gym awaiting your return, meaning that your leisure time is well and truly taken care of whilst staying at JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok.

JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok has recently completed a complete renovation of all guest rooms and suites. We appreciated the light and modern style that’s been implemented with the Thai artwork, artefacts and sculptures throughout the room adding both culture and colour which we enjoyed. As you might expect from a newly renovated room there is plenty of tech connectivity from USB charging points to the ability to connect your device to the 55″ LCD TV which had an excellent selection of international channels.

The Vegan Food

As one of the original partners of Green Monday Thailand you will find vegan items on the menus, vegan labelling on the buffet, a staff team that understand what veganism means, and of course you’ll find both OmniMeat and the Beyond Burger available at JW Marriott Bangkok. A multitude of fruits and fresh juices were on offer during breakfast at JW Café. These included chrysanthemum, pandan and butterfly pea which was our choice. We created our own trio of juices by also selecting coconut water and a freshly prepared apple, carrot and ginger creation. Our breakfast experience was the perfect example of how the chefs and their teams can create a varied selection of vegan breakfast upon request. Dishes from the extensive buffet display a small heart for vegan friendly options. To be honest, these were slightly limited but as soon as the staff knew we were searching for vegan dishes they called the chefs to assist. Chef Manoj (the Indian chef) and Chef Big (the Thai chef) immediately offered to prepare something for us. A rich and fragrant aloo bhaji was served with basmati rice, pickles and two types of papadom. One was baked and the other fried, they were the ideal crunchy contrast to the perfectly cooked rice and the intense tomato based curry that we were served from the Indian kitchen. Next up was mushroom tofu pad kra pao and ‘Omnimeat Thai Style’ with a side of jasmine rice. The fried OmniMeat was in a flavourful tamarind sauce then sprinkled with ground peanut and fried garlic. They were excellent, one of the best dishes we’ve tried using this game changing meat alternative.

On our second day we fancied something light and refreshing as we had an early lunch reservation at Man Ho. Please read below to realise just how lucky this was as our Man Ho lunch was a veritable vegan extravaganza! We asked the super helpful team at JW Café to prepare two of our favourite plant based breakfast options; dim sum and sushi. Both of these items were available from the breakfast buffet but not vegan so we got to enjoyed fresh platters of each which alongside a salad bowl from the salad bar was just what we desired. Fresh, healthy, light and full of goodness.

The Chinese fine dining restaurant at JW Marriott Bangkok is called Man Ho and that’s where we enjoyed a vegan lunch. There are a number of vegan options on their a la carte menu but upon request we enjoyed a multi course tasting menu. And when we say multi course we mean multi course. Upon being seated and offered oolong tea we were presented with a menu featuring no fewer that 11, yes 11 course. Let the battle commence. We were served white fungus with asparagus and sweet corn soup, also a hot and sour Sichuan soup. We were expecting this to be spicy but it wasn’t, the sour notes were ever present and it was packed with finely sliced tofu, mushroom and carrot. We would have happily eaten it all but with nine more tasting dishes to come we declined. The starters were all served together with a variety of dipping sauces. They were all good but it was the steamed ‘Cheng Fun’ rice flower noodles with vegetables, mashed taro and sweet corn that won our hearts. Kind of like a steamed spring roll these were excellent.  From the main courses which were also servd as a set the ‘Longevity Wok Fried Noodles’ with mixed vegetables and beancurd skin were very good, as were the lightly fried silken tofu, dusted with a vibrant red, chilli salt and served with matchstick cut deep fried taro sticks. The star of the show was the ‘Eggplant with Chilli Sauce’, chilled fillets of the most succulent eggplant topped with garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander and spring onion. This dish was outstanding. Our dessert was ‘Chao Zhou ‘Oni’ with Gingko Nuts’. A sticky rice with pandan and taro paste dome in a gingko sugar syrup. A trio of gingko nuts surrounded the mini dome and the dish was topped with a candied cherry. Very sweet but very tasty indeed.

BBCO or Bangkok Baking Company is a casual cafe style eatery that opens directly onto Sukhumvit Road. It’s here that you’ll find a separate menu for both OmniMeat and Beyond Meat. The OmniMeat dishes are Thai influenced and the Beyond Meat options feature both burgers and a hot dog. Please note that a little caution needs to be excercised with your orders as not everything is 100% vegan with some dishes being vegetarian only. We selected Phad Ka Prow OmniMeat and Preaw Wan OmniMeat and both were delicious. The Phad Ka Prow (order with no egg) had plenty of chilli spice and Thai basil flavours, the accompanying rice and crunchy cucumber made for a very enjoyable dish. But it was the Preaw Wan (sweet and sour) that stole the show. The fried OmniMeat, vegetables and the juiciest pineapple combining to create a bowl of food so good that we didn’t want it to end. Now onto the Beyond burgers and hot dog where we have good news and bad news. The good news is that you have 4 burgers to choose from and that this is the only place that we found in Bangkok serving the Beyond sausage as a hot dog. The bad news is that the buns are not vegan. However, for hotel guests just let them know in advance and they may just conjure up a freshly baked and perfectly vegan burger bun for you. That’s what they done for us and OMG the burger / bun combination with French fries and side of slaw certainly hit the spot. Hopefully with enough demand we may well see a vegan burger bun available as some stage in the not too distant future…

The Vegan Essentials

We loved the bathroom amenities from Aromatherapy Associates who are 100% cruelty free but use beeswax and honey in some products. However, our belief is that the body wash, shampoo and conditioner available at JW Marriott Bangkok are suitable for vegans. Both the duvet and pillows were feather but upon requst these can be changed for synthetic alternatives. The spa uses products from Biodroga, a UK based company who are 100% vegan and organic so you can even enjoy a vegan friendly facial during your stay!

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

We are big fans of JW Marriott and have stayed at many of their properties throughout the region where we have always enjoyed a variety of plant based food. However, JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok have raised the bar with their comittment to Green Monday and inclusion of dishes featuring OmniMeat and Beyond Meat. So if you’re looking for a modern, stylish and recently refurbished vegan friendly luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok with plenty of vegan food you won’t go wrong by checking in here.

We were guests of JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views.

JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok
4 Sukhumvit Road
Bangkok

Telephone: +66 2 656 7700
Email: bookjwbkk@marriott.com
Cost From: £130 / $170 (February 2020)