Latest news with #Hakkasan
Wales Online
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Wrexham's wild Las Vegas party pictures emerge as Hollywood stars join them
Wrexham stars have been partying hard in Las Vegas after achieving their third successive promotion, and the pictures have now emerged. Next season, the north Walian outfit will be getting their first taste of Championship football since 1982. Birmingham won League One with 11 points, with Phil Parkinson's boys finishing second place on 92 points. This meant Wrexham did not have to take part in the play-offs, securing their place in the English second division automatically. Their achievements have earned them yet another all expenses paid trip to Sin City, courtesy of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The players flew out on a private jet on Thursday with trips to a pool party, the Bellagio Hotel and Hakkasan nightclub. After spending the day loading up with beers, some of the players reportedly got a little over excited and started jumping in the elevator, causing it to break down. It took firefighters an hour to get the players out, but after being released they had one of the best tables at the venue, with onlookers claiming they tipped their waitress £3,000. Read more about that here. The entire trip is estimated to be costing around £500,000, with McElhenney and actress wife Kaitlin Olsen joining them. Regular visitors of the famed Hakkasan nightclub, the players were welcomed back again on Thursday with Instagram footage and photos showing the club paying tribute to their success with the crest emblazoned on the LED screens with the speakers blasting: 'Wrexham FC, red army'. Wrexham's stars could be seen pictured with superstar DJs Steve Aoki and Diplo at two different venues. House DJ Cedric Gervais was also pictured with the boys. Dan Scarr could be seen driving a luggage cart through a Las Vegas casino as guests looked on dumbfounded. Scarr arrived from Plymouth Argyle ahead of this season, so it was his first trip to Vegas with the club. Below is a selection of the best pictures from the last few days in Vegas.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Wrexham stars 'trapped in a lift for one hour during £500k Las Vegas celebrations' as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bankroll the Championship promotion party
Wrexham players got stuck in a lift for an hour during their wild promotion celebrations in Las Vegas, as per a report. Phil Parkinson's side returned to Sin City for their third promotion party in a row after booking their spot in next season's Championship cohort. The Welsh side pulled off the previously unthinkable with their third consecutive promotion as they finished second on 92 points behind League One's runaway leaders Birmingham City on 111. The latest instalment of the Hollywood fairy-tale was watched at the Racecourse Ground by co-owner Ryan Reynolds and his wife - actress Blake Lively - with both of the A-List stars leaping to their feet as they celebrated moving from outside of the Football League to the second tier in just four seasons. And the mammoth achievement was followed by equally grand celebrations, with this year's promotion bash costing Reynolds and his co-owner Rob McElhenney a staggering £500,000, according to The Sun. After flying out to Las Vegas on Thursday, the fun kicked off at a pool party. The players then headed back to Bellagio Hotel to get ready before making their ways to Hakkasan Nightclub. After drinking for most of the day, they were in high spirits when they got into the elevator to head to the club on the fourth floor. They began jumping up and down, until the elevator suddenly stopped and left them stuck. They had to wait about an hour for firefighters to come and get them out as they sobered up. The squad will certainly hope their festivities go smoother if they enjoy another promotion to the Premier League next season. Wrexham's third straight promotion was a feat that had never been achieved in the top five tiers of English football. A record-extending fourth consecutive move up would see them play in the top-flight for the first time in their 160-year existence. The club's first promotion in 2023 back into League Two saw the players flown out to Las Vegas, with a similar party booked for the end of last season, as the club celebrated their second-consecutive ascendance. 2023 saw the players begin the party with a night of festivities at Hakkasan, before starting the next day of revelry with a poolside bash at the Wet Republic Ultra Pool at the MGM Grand Then came dinner at famed Las Vegas eatery Spago alongside McElhenney and his wife - and 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' co-star - Kaitlin Olson. There, they were met by an ice sculpture in the shape of Wrexham's club badge, as well as an all-expenses paid dinner including a seasonal seafood tower, which features poached Gulf shrimp, Maine lobster, green-lipped mussels, East & West coast oysters, seasonal poké, and king crab legs. After dinner, the players moved onto OMNIA nightclub where they were greeted in bombastic style, the packed house in the cavernous nightclub jumped up and down waving sparklers and enormous Welsh flags were waved in a tribute to the team's achievements. The final leg of the party took them to poolside again, this time at TAO Beach Dayclub. Cabanas and daybeds at the opulent Asian-inspired beach club can range from $1,500 to $6,000, and bottles of champagne range from $375 for Tattinger Brut to a staggering $1600 for a bottle of Jay-Z-owned Armand de Brignac 'Ace of Spades'.
Time Out
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Silver Waves by Boon
'Once you have the right ingredients, you know how to play.' That's what Chef Ho Chee Boon told us. He's not much for polite niceties – he's utterly unpretentious and a bit blunt. Using the wrong kind of mortar and pestle? He'll let you know. He was born in Malaysia, and while we won't make comparisons to a certain Malaysian-Chinese YouTuber, we understand if you might. It's what we expect from a master craftsman with 30+ years in the kitchen. Having opened Hakkasan, London's first Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, as well as operations on four continents (including Breeze at the Lebua State Tower here in town), he has played a major role in getting Chinese food the respect it deserves. While, to Western ears, 'going out for Chinese' once meant suburbanized flavour profiles, faux-Ming screens, and cloudy fishtanks, Chef Boon's outlets are mingling grounds for the smart set, with the cuisine to match, inspiring countless Chinese chefs outside the Sinosphere to step up their game. Now he's back in Bangkok to open Silver Waves at the Chatrium Hotel Riverside. Some of his projects are awfully glitzy – the Wikipedia page for Hakkasan has a photo of the Chainsmokers performing at their Vegas club location – but Silver Waves is thankfully more restrained. The sunset river views are glam enough, some of the best in the city, and the vermilion-toned dining room foregrounds the location. Tables are intimate, and private rooms are available too, including a massive 40-person round table complete with a karaoke stage – in case you want to see your sales manager slur his way through 'Proud Mary' at the company dinner. The best dishes are rooted deep in the Cantonese canon, but delivered with precision, creativity, and style. Mixed dim sum (B460) goes hard on the visual impact, with a rainbow colour palette in the steamer basket and bold flavours to match, and Iberico ham xiaolongbao (B320) is as awesome as it sounds. We also adored the tofu with wild pepper (B380), clearly inspired by the always-addictive mapo tofu, but with an earthy, pungent spice blast contrasting against the gooey soft tofu. Passionfruit cheesecake (B340) breathes new life into a modern Asian staple, balanced and playfully contained within a passionfruit shell. To pair, the after-dinner Chinese herbal drinks remind us of a motorbike ride through Yaowarat in the best way. The more luxurious mains, while impressive, are perhaps a bit too classic. The sauce on the tiger prawns (B680) is just a bit too similar to standard Thai-Chinese pat pong garee, and the black cod with shacha sauce (B1,680) didn't differentiate itself from the black cod that is the signature dish at a global Japanese high-end restaurant brand whose name rhymes with 'no, you.' Both of these dishes are unquestionably delicious, but they seem less like originals than competent cover songs. That quibble aside, with that right mix of photogenic setting and serious craft, don't be surprised if Silver Waves becomes the next jam-packed hotel dim sum spot. And don't be surprised if we steal your xiaolongbao while you're snapping selfies.
The Independent
10-04-2025
- The Independent
I was conned out of £300,000 by my own mother. This is how I survived
Perhaps one of the most haunting things about the year my life came spectacularly crumbling down was the cot, propped up in the hallway, sealed up in its box. It belonged to my newborn son and became a symbol of how different things were just one year earlier, when we were happy. When we weren't in financial ruin. It had been the happiest time in our relationship, but it was all taken away by one woman: my own mother. I had never known my mum prior to receiving her email in late 2020. She said that her name was Dionne, formerly known as Theresa; that I was her son, and that I'd been born in Germany before being taken away from her to England. It was true – I was brought up in St Albans – and, more than that, it was not common knowledge. I wrote back, 'Is this for real? No jokes, scams, etc??' The irony of that first exchange, now, is not lost on me. I was right to be sceptical but, for a good time, Dionne seemed to be the real deal. I'd never known anything about her. She was never mentioned by my father, a violent man who beat me as a child. As soon as I could, I threw myself into my career, working my way up to the top of the food industry as head pastry chef at Michelin-starred restaurants like Hakkasan, in Fitzrovia, London. I earned respect for my work and integrity. Life was good. Often I wonder where I might be now if I'd never clicked 'reply' to that email. Still, I was curious of course. I tested her knowledge, asking her, for instance, what my middle name is. She replied with all the right answers. I started to trust her and, later, a DNA test did confirm she was my mother. The opportunity to meet a birth parent is, I suppose, an opportunity to know parts of yourself that were previously not only out of reach, but invisible. After 45 years, I was going to know who I was. The feeling I had when we first met at a hotel in Liverpool, shortly after our initial exchange, was of being a child again. She was so welcoming, there was an instant connection between us. My partner, Heather, was heavily pregnant at the time and Mum, who seemed younger than her 85 years, was over the moon. Later, she would take me to one side to talk privately, where she confessed what had driven her to contact me: she had just six months to live. She had a brain tumour and marrow bone cancer. Naturally, I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, to find out about her as much as I could. She'd lived in Singapore, she said, and she had businesses all over the world: in farming, fruit, palm oil. There was no doubt in my mind that she was impressive: she spoke 18 languages, constantly took calls from her 'business associates' around the world, showed me videos of her generosity and philanthropy, giving money to villages to help provide them with sustainable food sources. It turned out she was rich, too. Dionne told me that she was the illegitimate daughter of the former Sultan of Brunei. Hard to believe? Yes. But then, when we visited The Dorchester hotel on Park Lane – owned by the Brunei royal family – everybody knew her enough that we got special treatment. At Rolls Royce, the head of sales told me that she'd previously bought two Phantoms from them. She bought me gifts – expensive clothes, suits. A Land Rover, straight off the forecourt. For Heather, a brand new BMW. 'Son, I'm going to buy you a present,' she told me, 'and take away 45 years of pain.' After a violent childhood with my father, I felt something unusual – a sense of being cared for by a parent. Yet, she is still dying. And, by the time my son was born two months later, I became acutely aware that I was being pulled in two different directions. I moved Mum in – it was my attempt to do right by everyone. Things moved fast from there. Her wealth seemed infinite yet, the pandemic, she said, had made it difficult for her to move money around. She wanted to give my best friend millions, too. Things started to creep in that, at first, I thought little of: she asked me to pick up a £25,000 bill at one of her hotel stays in London. She was writing these 'loans' down – 95 per cent of the time she paid for everything and, besides, I believed her that it was all coming back to us and much, much more. Shortly after my son was born, Mum and I went to Zurich, Switzerland, for a few days where she told me she was was entrusting me with her multi-million fortune. A few days there turned into a week, then weeks, then two months, the first of my son's life. The lawyers were delayed. The bank managers were delayed. When I insisted I needed to leave, she turned up the manipulative tactics: the illnesses, the guilt of 'abandoning' her. My mind was warped by her; emotionally I was all over the place. I finally got home to the UK on Christmas Eve, to a home that was slowly but surely breaking, and scores of text messages from Mum, detailing her heartbreak that I left her. In hindsight, it was the beginning of the end. But it wasn't until a few months later that I began to become suspicious. Those luxury cars? She'd given the hefty deposit, but the finance agreements – for upwards of £180,000 – were all in my name, despite her transferring the cash to me each month. Until she wasn't. There were credit cards, too, that she convinced me to take out. Heather and my best friend – who Dionne had started calling 'grandson' – talked and eventually confronted me. I had been 'trained', they said, by my own mother. Brainwashed. In a trance. I was still convinced. In many ways, I had to be – Dionne had caused so many arguments, so much distance between Heather and I that she and my son were now with her family in New Zealand. My home life was falling apart. I had to show them I was doing the right thing. But my confidence was waning. And then another one of her victims reached out to me – Peng, in China, who had been scammed out of €150,000. Via Dionne's Ponzi scheme, it was Peng's money that we had been using in London. I started recording her, trying to record evidence of her cruel deceit. When I confronted her, she disappeared from my life, and I lost her all over again. In fact, I lost almost everything. When Heather and I eventually split up over Dionne's malice, our home became just an empty house. I lost a lot of my dignity. When you're scammed out of thousands online, there can be some sympathy – you're seen as an innocent party. But when it's your own mother, or anyone, playing with your vulnerabilities face to face, people think that you should have known it was 'too good to be true' or see the 'red flags' they can. It wasn't that simple. Not at all. The years since have been some of the most difficult of my life. I had already suffered significant traumas: not only my difficult childhood but also losing two brothers in a car crash when I was 32. The thing is, men are brought up to 'get on with it'. We're told that 'big boys don't cry', so we don't talk about our dark thoughts. It's easy to turn to drink when you feel you don't have a voice – to block out or soften reality with a nightly bottle of wine, because showing vulnerability would be a weakness. It's a vicious cycle. I now understand fully why these conditions contribute to the high levels of male suicide. I got to a point where I was thinking about ending my life: the thought of starting all over again, with £100,000 of credit card debt was too much to bear. In the end, the successes in my career and colleagues kept me going – I co-founded Longboys, where I make and sell luxury long doughnuts, and plunged every ounce of energy I could into it. The disparity in how I was living before and after Dionne was enormous: one year you're jetting around the globe eating world-class food and drinking champagne, the next sleeping in fields at festivals trying to get a new business off the ground, knowing that it's your last hope. Luckily it worked. I got some professional help and my work family, propped me up throughout all of it. The stress of Dionne's deception was too much for my and Heather's relationship to bear. I've remained single since then and now I concentrate on making sure I'm setting the best example I can for my son – of having integrity, being open with my emotions and encouraging others to speak up without shame. Really, that is the point. There are so many others who have been ruined by Dionne – that's why I wanted to make the documentary about my experience for Netflix. She has now been arrested in Singapore as a result of the film – after watching it, three more people came forward to say that they too had been duped by her. Often I've wondered if it's just me, that I attract this chaos; it seems to keep finding me. But I've done a lot of soul-searching. That's why I've remained single since then – I needed to look inside and do some of that work. It's not just the external world that can cause you problems, but sometimes the people you attract as a result of your personality traits and unresolved trauma. Some who used to be in my life retreated after everything came crashing down. They were never friends, I realised – now I know that word is thrown around way too liberally. For every bad thing that happens, there's always some good. For me, that means justice being served and being able to move forward a little wiser – I didn't get the 'dream come true' when my mother found me. Instead, it became a living nightmare. Now, all I can do is keep speaking out and, ultimately, break Dionne's vicious cycle – one that almost broke me.
Muscat Daily
26-03-2025
- Muscat Daily
Hakkasan unveils 'Taste of Hakkasan' menu
A journey through flavor and elegance Muscat – Hakkasan Muscat at The St. Regis Al Mouj Muscat Resort invites guests to embark on a captivating culinary journey with the launch of 'Taste of Hakkasan' menu. This specially curated dining experience masterfully blends signature Cantonese flavors with refined craftsmanship offering a true reflection of Hakkasan's culinary journey. Set within a sophisticated and alluring atmosphere, where modern luxury converges with timeless Cantonese tradition, Hakkasan provides the perfect backdrop for memorable moments with family and friends. Available from the first day of Eid Al Fitr, the 'Taste of Hakkasan' presents a carefully curated menu, where guests can begin their culinary journey with a choice of delicate dim sum combinations, rich traditional soups, or fresh crab bites. The main courses highlight a bold fusion of Asian and Omani influences, featuring Spicy Curry Prawn Balls with Lily Bulb and Almond, Omani hammour with Lao Gan Ma sauce, and a comforting Tofu, Aubergine and Shiitake Mushroom Claypot Bake, accompanied by seasonal sides. To round off the experience, a selection of fruity, sour, and decadent parfaits and sorbets provides the perfect sweet finale. The menu itself is a celebration of flavor, craftsmanship, and atmosphere embodying the spirit of unforgettable dining experiences. Guests are invited to indulge in Hakkasan Muscat's exquisite culinary journey, where every visit promises to leave a lasting impression. Pre-book now at or WhatsApp +968 9662 8592.
