Entree Kibbles

Monday, May 11, 2026

Mercure Danang French Village Bana Hills - Family Deluxe Room at Hotel De Strasbourg in Vietnam

Many visitors to Bana Hills would just pop by for a day trip, take pictures with the iconic golden bridge, and then return to Danang City that's less than an hour away! That's absolutely not preferred!

For me, it's a minimum of two-night stay and just in case you are wondering if there is any hotel at Bana Hills; there's only one and it's under the Mercure brand under Accor group! Today, I shall start by stepping into Hotel De Paris; for our check-in process!

Despite its mercure name, there were a total of seven buildings in the collection, and they came with seven different hotel names! Day visitors would be surprised to know that the facade for the European buildings actually served a practical purpose.

Let's have some self-serviced infused water, while waiting for our key. Honestly, the lobby was crowded with people and pretty small for a hotel with a total of 461 rooms spread out.

Thank god it wasn't raining; although we had the help from the hotel porter who was tasked to bring us to the building assigned to us, and diligently pulled our two pieces of 28-inch luggage along the uneven stone flooring. Of course, a small tip was necessary.

Arrival at Hotel De Strasbourg; which was located at the base of the Spiritual Zone of Sun World Bana Hills, and within the French Village although not exactly "village centre".

Corridor seemed alright.

Not creepy like some hotels.

Room 7104

Located on basement one of the building, it's actually the first out of four levels of Hotel De Strasbourg and given there were three of us; we had to go with the slightly pricier family deluxe room.

Photographs of the hotel room for your reference; with a queen sized and single bed, a small television, and a ceiling fan with no carpet flooring. Oh well, just a place to sleep.

Do you like paintings in your hotel room? I am actually okay if they show sceneries or even abstract art; and less alright when it comes to portraits and facial expressions would be something.

Other amenities; bottled mineral water was provided but hardly sufficient to make the recommended liquid intake for a hotel. If you need more, I would recommend D-Mart - The Convenience Mart, located next to Hotel De Toulouse.

Our "windows" were actually doors leading to an external passage that's creepy as hell at night! Imagine hearing knocks on the door when you sleep, even though that absolutely didn't happy throughout our two-night stay.

p.s. not much view also.

Washroom might seem alright at first with two sinks. Problem was that this would be the only place with mirrors when it should be common to have at least an extra vanity mirror in the living section.

Another issue was that the doors were only reserved for the shower area and the toilet, and the latter didn't even have a shelf to put my bottles of anti-dandruff shampoo and sensitive facial foam! Space for the two enclosed areas was also small; even I found it hard to change clothes in the shower cubicle!

Swimming Pool

Housed at La Piscine (not exactly easy to find but always ask the staff for directions, this would likely be one of the most beautiful indoor pools I have been, although the design was a bit tacky. Nevertheless, kids would likely have a great time here.

Fitness Centre

Our room at Hotel De Strasbourg was pretty close to the fitness centre, and this meant a daily visit for my routine jog! p.s. location was incorrectly indicated as within La Piscine even though it's closer to the breakfast buffet restaurant at Hotel De Nice.

You can choose to sign in.

Opening from 6.00am till 9.00pm, equipment was basic but sufficient for my needs. I am bit puzzled as to why I didn't choose to jog outdoors since Sun World Bana Hills were not crowded in the early morning when the sun rays were still comfortable for the skin.

Note to fill your empty bottle water using the water dispenser in the gym!

Buffet Breakfast

Provided complimentary as part of our booking, the breakfast was at La Cote D'Azur on the ground floor of Hotel De Nice. I am not going to say too much here as there's a separate posting specifically talking about the buffet breakfast; click here!

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Useful information as above.

Transport service provided by the hotel; prices were actually not unreasonable and we eventually opted for a one way trip from Bana Hills to Minh Toan SAFI Ocean Hotel at Da Nang City.

One big advantage of staying over at Sun World Bana Hills is the above; the golden hour at golden bridge, where you can beat the massive crowd before they arrive past 8-9am! Earliest timing is at 6.00am and you can say goodbyes to the usually many heads, bodies and photobombs!

Address

Sun World Bana Hills,

Thôn An Sơn, Hòa Vang,

Da Nang, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Website

https://all.accor.com/hotel/8488/index.en.shtml

Pricing

Family Deluxe Room (for two nights)

7,893,905 Vietnamese Dong

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Pung Pung Kitchen (香喷喷小厨) @ Sin Ming in Singapore

Pung Pung Kitchen, also known as PPK, is not as well known as the chef said to be their advisor (Chef Pung) but with eight tze-char branches spread across our little red dot; it's just a matter of time before we were to check it out!

While there was a branch in Yishun, we made do with the branch at Sin Ming area instead as since it was more convenient for the rest of our friends. When it comes to tze char, the more diners, the merrier the meal would be since we can order much more!

Assam Fish Head - I love both curry fish head and assam fish head but when this assam fish head was priced at just S$12.00 for a promotion; the stingy yet logical mind would kick in.

A heavy spicy kick of sourness with pulpy fish meat, this didn't disappoint at all, and I regretted not ordering a bowl of plain white rice so that I can fully savour the sauce! The only thing of complaint was that some of the lady fingers were a tad undercooked.

Pumpkin Paste Fried Prawns - eight small prawns for S$20 but I was more disappointed with the weak, non-crisp batter and that the creamy paste didn't bear any hint of pumpkins; more like butter cream prawns.

PPK Signature Charcoal Tofu - one look and I thought I was having hunan stinky tofu, without their abhorrent stench, and interestingly topped with meat floss, minced meat, dried shrimps and pickled vegetables.

Without a doubt, this was appetising for the palate despite not being visually appealing, and the texture of the tofu was so smooth and soft. Again, this would be fantastic with plain white rice!

PPK Signature Bee Hoon (S) - I honestly don't understand why was this a signature bee hoon, and who put green peppers in bee hoon!? Said to be a white bee hoon in Chinese, this was incomparable to the original one at Sembawang. To save this dish, please use the gravy from the assam fish head.

Hor Fun (S) - even though much better tasting than the bee hoon, this was at most slightly above average and honestly, failed to stand out in the midst of competitors from other tze char stalls in Singapore.

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Address