Staying at the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort in Malacca

Having a luxurious stay in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort

The Royal Villa is so comfortable that the urge to just close the curtains and ‘laze about’ is almost irresistible, I had to keep reminding myself, we are on vacation, so let’s use the Philea Resort Facilities to the fullest and enjoy ourselves.

One of the main advantages of staying in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort is if you so desire, you can have your vacation in complete privacy.

Outside and next to the swimming pool, you have a large covered Gazebo with twin beds and somewhere to dine; guests staying in the Royal Villa can have Spa treatments and Dining organised for them in the comfort of their own surroundings.

On request, the Philea Resort will send over a culinary team to prepare and serve your meals at the Royal Villa, either inside or outdoors; the same is also available for selected Spa Treatments.

Food and beverage at the Philea Resort in Malacca
As wonderful and enticing as the Royal Villa is, we were curious to explore the rest of the resort and use other quality facilities on offer. For dinner, our preference was to put on some smart clothing and dine in the Cravo Cravo Restaurant; it’s our opinion that making the effort to go out to eat is always a little more exciting than dining within our own surroundings.

Earlier that day, the Philea Resort Management had asked what we would like to have prepared for Dinner; we said, ‘Surprise us, let the Chef use his ideas and skills to give us a memorable meal, please’. During our three days in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort, we had the joy of sampling the skills of three highly trained Chefs: Chef Fazerin bin Senafi, Chef Jackie Halmante and Chef Wang Huee Suan.

Each Chef was given the chance to impress us; the first meal we tried was a ‘Chef’s Speciality’ menu created by Chef Jackie Halmante. As this was to be a surprise, we had no idea of what we would be eating and had no expectations when it comes to quality and presentation.

The great news is that the food served was of very high quality, flavoursome and well-plated; highlights of this particular menu were the Pan Seared Blue Ocean Cod, Roasted Marinated Spice Lamb Rack and Cajun Chicken with Spinach Salad.

Over the next couple of days, we had the pleasure of Chef Fazerin bin Senafi’s traditional Fish head Curry and the huge Chinese Menu from Chef Wang Huee Suan; again, service levels were high, and the food was delicious.

I can’t recall any negative areas; perhaps the only minor gripe was that the portions were so generous, and I was so keen to eat it all that I literally ‘Stuffed’ myself to the point of exhaustion!

I asked my wife what her memories of the dining at the Philea Resort were, and she agreed with me that the food was far better than expected, and the friendliness and attention of the staff helped to make dining a pleasure.

As we mentioned previously, staying in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort has ‘extra’ privileges, one being the opportunity to dine within the ground of the Royal Villa.

With that in mind, we decided to bring the chefs to our doorstep and continue our culinary adventure by our pool, all we were asked was our preferred time, and the rest was going to be another Surprise.

On the morning of our breakfast, we got up and opened the curtains to find a range of tables already laid out under the gazebo and a team of seven culinary chefs and staff waiting to cook pretty much whatever we wanted.

A huge eight-foot table was already waiting, stocked with fresh fruits, pastries, cereals, meats, cheeses, and everything that you would expect for a traditional high-quality breakfast buffet.

A second large table was set up with a stove and Chef waiting to provide almost every type of cooked breakfast imaginable. We sat down with the wafting scent of freshly brewed coffee permeating our nostrils, surrounded by a banquet of food, I turned and said to my wife, ‘This must be how the Royals eat breakfast’, as it was better than any breakfast service I had previously experienced.

As we sat there eating the freshly cooked breakfast, the staff carried on with their tasks without being too intrusive; it was obvious that the ‘Breakfast team’ wanted to make it a memorable experience, which, when you are staying at the premier property in any resort is a must.

Looking back at our stay, we were always made to feel important. The staff knew who we were and looked after us accordingly, a great credit to the management team.

Another must-try at the Philea Resort is the Spa Services; we had the option to either have our treatment at the Royal Villa or at the Tanjung Wellness Spa Centre.

We decided to have our treatments at the Spa Centre itself and duly made the 30-meter walk over at our appointment time.

The Tanjung Wellness Spa has a good range of relaxing and therapeutic treatments to choose from. After browsing through the list of wonderful-sounding treatments, I decided to go for a mammoth two and a half hour Spa treatment consisting of a 90 Min full body massage, 30 min foot massage and an ear-candling session.

My wife went for a 90-minute aromatherapy massage, foot massage and full body exfoliating body scrub.

The Tanjung Wellness Spa experience was wonderful; in many ways, I would say it was the best Spa session I had experienced due to feeling more relaxed post-treatment than I can remember after any other Spa session.

The Spa centre is not the most beautiful we had ever been to, nor had it been lavished with $000s worth of glass, chrome and mirrors. It was in keeping with the rest of the Philea Resorts Eco-friendly design; perhaps the best phrase I can think of to describe the Tanjung Wellness Spa would be ‘More substance than style’, far better than ‘More style than substance’.

Whenever I have had a memorable experience, I always spend time questioning whether it was quite as good as I originally thought and if the chance arises, I will try something again to make absolutely sure.

So the following day, I was booked in once more for a 90 min full body massage and, to my delight, came out feeling as relaxed as the first time, absolute confirmation of the quality of the treatment.

Final thoughts on our stay in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort
Our stay in the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort was both enjoyable and relaxing; the Royal Villa is a beautiful ‘Home away from home’, and the layout and design were both luxurious and comfortable.

We found the staff to be polite and enthusiastic, with a high level of service predicting our needs, exactly the type of service we would expect for guests staying within the premier property at a Resort.

One thing that became apparent during our stay at the Philea Resort in Malacca was the unsaid ‘Unique Selling Point’ – the ability to react to guests ‘needs and wants’ and do whatever they can to ensure that guests enjoy a luxurious and memorable stay.

Although almost all of our stay was within the sprawling 15-acre grounds of the Philea Resort, we could’ve ventured out onto one of the three high-quality golf courses close by or taken a limousine into Malacca Town Centre to look at the beautiful heritage and, for some retail therapy.

The fact that we chose to stay within the resort and enjoyed ourselves is a testament to the efforts of the management and staff at the Philea Resort.

Click here to go back to page one of our feature on the Royal Villa at the Philea Resort.