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City of Dreams certainly knows what flair means.
Robert de Niro, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have appeared on giant billboards and TV commercials to promote the casino. Ne-Yo and Kelly Rowland performed at its grand opening.
Quite fitting for a a US$1.4-billion venture that sits on a 6.2-hectare complex.
The casino resort — a euphemism which means that apart from gambling, you can also go here to shop or check in at one of three hotels — marks the entry of Macau-based developers Melco Crown Entertainment to the country.
It is a joint venture between Filipino billionaire Henry Sy, Australian billionaire James Packer and Lawrence Ho, son of Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho.
Packer said jokingly that the resort was inspired by Hollywood movies like Casino and Oceans Eleven. It is the second of four mega resorts to open on reclaimed portions of Manila Bay, just a few hundred meters from the city’s slum communities.
The new casino is an imposing structure with six gleaming golden towers surrounding a giant egg-shaped dome — called the “Fortune Egg” — which houses two exclusive nightclubs, including Pangaea, where Picasso copies hang beside pictures of safari animals on walls covered in fake snakeskin.
When you enter from the parking building a huge torch-shaped chandelier welcomes you: It juts out of the ground and reaches the second floor, where it explodes in a spectacular light show.
City of Dreams Manila is decked in so much gold we won’t be surprised if people end up keeping their sunglasses on while inside the premises.
HOTELS. There are three hotels in the casino resort: Crown Towers for the high rollers, Nobu for the “fun luxury” crowd, and Hyatt for business travellers (Metro Manila’s premiere business hotel, Mandarin Oriental, closed last year and is not set to reopen until 2020).
The lobby at Hyatt (above) and pool area in the middle of the gold buildings (below).
SHOPPING. Some 14 retail shops are spread out on the upper ground floor, an area that’s called Shops At The Boulevard, and most of the shops are open from 10am to 10pm. From sportswear (Porsche Design and Paul & Shark), designer labels (Hugo Boss, Canali, BCBG Max Azria) and luxury brand accessories (Montblanc, Rolex and Rimowa) to high-end specialty shops like Art of Scents, a fragance boutique, and Linda Farrow Gallery, which sells expensive eyewear, there’s plenty of game for those who win the jackpot.
DINING. Restaurants are located both in the hotels and Shops At The Boulevard level. Red Ginger looks the snappiest, running a 24/7 kitchen that serves pan-Southeast Asian cuisine. Hot tip: Get the beef rendang. There’s also Ruby Jack’s for the carnivores, Hide Yamamoto for Japanese, Dian Xian for Chinese, Taiwanese and European fusion; Godiva Café for dessert; Apu for Filipino, Goubili for short-order dumplings, and O Kitchen for Korean.
With excerpts from an Agence-France Press report.
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