Shenzhen sojourn

FOR A CITY WHOSE VERY existence is built around technology and the future, Conrad Shenzhen is strangely fixated with the past. But in a good way.

From the outside, driving in from Hong Kong to Nanshan’s new business district Qianhai –  which looks as if someone trucked in a load of shiny buildings and plonked them into a man-made green landscape like a giant Lego metropolis – this just-opened luxury hotel looks exactly as you would expect: gleaming and polished like its neighbours.

But at its heart is an old soul –  manufactured but very much in the right place – one that is inspired by Shenzhen’s history as a fishing village, the dreams of the immigrants who built it, and aspires to be a conduit for modern day dreamers to create stories of their own.

A romantic notion no doubt, but one you have no problem subscribing to in this virtually self-sustaining, no-expense-spared ecosystem that gives you little reason to leave once you enter.

Art lover’s playground

As designed by the wunderkind duo of Yabu Pushelberg who imagined Conrad Shenzhen as “A Story of a Dreamer”, the hotel is filled with visual cues – from artworks to light installations – that elicit an emotional response at every turn.

The symbolism of an abstract sculpture in the hotel driveway is as strong as its striking gnarled curves that represent the evolution of the world. By Chinese artist Zhang Xian, Two Forms has its roots in yin and yang philosophy and depicts the rise of Shenzhen from its fishing village origins.

BT in your inbox

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign Up

Sign Up

Water features from the driveway to the first-floor lobby lull you into a relaxed state, although its connotations of wealth aren’t lost on you either. On the reception floor, you’re drawn to this inexplicably detailed brass sculpture behind the check-in desk. It looks like a medley of traditional Chinese houses constructed out of very long toothpicks – it’s a work by another Chinese artist Huang Qicheng titled Chen Yun, which fuses the eight schools of traditional Chinese architecture into one cohesive whole. The detail is incredible.  

The hotel is an art-lover’s playground, with over 100 pieces distributed over its 23 floors and 300 rooms. Both traditional and contemporary, each one has a deeper meaning, from the mirrors in the lifts that symbolise “ruyi” or wealth, to the ceiling-high LED screens of colour-changing, swirling images that represent high mountains and flowing water.

Even a wall of brilliant light bulbs behind a grand spiral staircase changes colour according to the time of day and apparently your mood – green in the morning when you’re feeling refreshed, and blue in the evening as you wind down for the day.

SEE ALSO

Melbourne’s restaurant revival

Food for all

For all its buzz as Shenzhen’s new economic zone, Qianhai is surprisingly quiet. Developments around the Conrad are either still under construction or in the very early stages of opening, so there isn’t really a lot to see or do nearby, unless you make the trek to Shenzhen proper which is about a 20 to 30-minute taxi ride away.

But the calm of Qianhai has its pluses if you’re averse to the exuberant human activity in the throbbing city centre. And being so close to Hong Kong, Conrad Shenzhen styles itself as a one-stop staycation for locals or a quick stopover to savour the lower prices (and very good Chinese food) before returning to the familiarity of Central and Kowloon.

Food, therefore, gets top priority here and it shows, from the heaving variety at breakfast, to the French-leaning menu at the Common Room, or the barbecue specials at the Collective Bar. Leading the culinary direction is executive chef Chuck Xing, who once worked with chef Andre Chiang in Singapore and has cooked on TV with Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse. The effervescent chef is all hands-on and equally adept at French and Asian cuisines, not to mention very good at sourcing local ingredients that would give their foreign counterparts a run for their money. Namely, very sweet Chinese shine muscat grapes and nutty, fragrant black truffles from Yunnan province.

Heading the Chinese kitchen is Owen Ou, a 23-year veteran who was last at the two-Michelin-starred Jiang in Guangzhou and now brings that same flair to Ch’ao, which pays tribute to Chaozhou or Teochew cuisine. Eating Chinese food in China is a different experience from Singapore or even Hong Kong, and Ch’ao doesn’t disappoint with its refinement and clean flavours.

Marinated raw seafood is a specialty here and instead of crab you can have raw mantis shrimp steeped in a special soy sauce with lots of garlic. There’s always a cold dish to start, and here you get crisp-gelatinous goose web, pickled cucumber and deep-fried shrimp fritter. The kitchen also specialises in crispy fried chicken and lovely roasted pigeon with crackling skin and tender flesh.

Home away from home

While Conrad Shenzhen has a firm grip on its cultural identity, it’s all modern comfort in your living and leisure spaces. Spacious rooms look out to the sprawling view of Qianhai Bay where planes fly back and forth from the airport every few minutes.

If you’re so inclined, the gym is one of the largest and most well-equipped we’ve seen, and the pool gives you that instant resort feel with outdoor cabanas. At night, stroll along the outdoor dining area of the Collective Bar and take in the city lights and a twinkling ferris wheel in the distance.

Stepping out

Shenzhen has a thriving dining scene, which you may feel compelled to explore, or leave it for another time when you base yourself in the city proper. But an occasional trip downtown is worth it, especially if you check out Xirongji at Ping An Financial Centre. It’s not cheap, but it prides itself on quality ingredients and it doesn’t take short cuts. It’s known for its yellow croaker but if you don’t want to splurge, it serves the best roast squab and Mongolian lamb which you won’t find elsewhere. And later you can go outside and goggle at the height of the 115-storey building the restaurant is housed in.

Alternatively, there are two shopping malls just across the street from Conrad Shenzhen. One of them, MixC, is said to be the equivalent of VivoCity. There’s also a food court with eateries that are fascinating for the first timer for its mind-boggling range of local cooking that’s new to us.

For now, the real attraction of Qianhai is the Conrad Shenzhen, which is probably a few years ahead of its time as the area slowly grows its infrastructure and population. But until then, sit back, relax and dream a little of what’s to come.

The writer was a guest of Conrad Shenzhen.