SQ318 SIN-LHR in New Y (77WN), Terminal 2, The Shard, and Perfect Fish & Chips

[yflyer]

First impressions of the new terminal, Heathrow T2, were positive: modern, clean lines and elegant, understated design...



Be prepared for a lot of walking from the B Satellite Concourse to the A Concourse, where UK Border Control and baggage claim is, though...





Immigration queues were very light that day, and I was through in minutes.



This is the landside arrivals area...



There were F&B outlets in the landside arrivals area, as well as a WH Smith outlet selling newspapers, magazines, books and snacks/drinks.

There was also a left luggage service.



I headed outside towards the Heathrow Express Train Service...







Even more walking to get to the Heathrow Express station...



And from there, it was just a short 15 minute train ride on the Heathrow Express train service to Paddington Station, where I caught a taxi to my hotel, the Hilton London Hyde Park.

[yflyer]

Overall impressions of my SIN-LHR flight? Superb!

SQ have updated an already great Y product on the 77W and made it even better. The hard product is one of the in best economy class I have experienced, and I found cabin service on my flight to be wonderful as well.

Heathrow T2 made a positive impression as well, however I spent far less time in T2 on arrivals than I did when I departed from London T2 slightly over a week later on SQ321. More on my week in London, and the departure experience at T2, coming up next.

To be continued!

[yflyer]

Good start

I recently flew A380 upper deck in Y to HKG

It was fine accept for the leg rest that serves more to restrict my legroom than help in any way ( for balance, my wife likes it )

Fortunately upgraded on the return leg so no complaints there

Looking forward to the new premium economy in 2015!

Thanks, 9V-SIA!

Agree that opinions on the leg rest are divided. On my part, I find I sleep much better when there is one.

Must have been a nice return flight from HK in J. I love the peace and quiet in the A380 J cabin...

[yflyer]

Nice, yflyer! Can't wait for the fish and chips part! Am heading to LHR next week!

Thanks, CarbonMan, and enjoy London!

[yflyer]

Can't wait for the rest of the report. I can confirm that the 54 and 55 rows on the older 77Ws have less leg room, especially at aisle seats due to the tapering of the fuselage. I sat at those rows and was shocked by the limited knee room. However, the window seats in row 54 actually have more leg room (I could comfortably cross my legs while it isn't possible for me to do so in row 53).

...

Do the new seats still have the mirrors on the tray table? I don't find them useful at all, but just wondering if they have removed them.

Thanks, icn.sg!

I didn't think to check out the mirror on the tray table, though ...

[jammed]

thanks for the detailed report yflyer. For those of us who find ourselves at the longer part of the plane, as opposed to the pointy end, these details go a long way in assuring us that the next ride is going to be just a tad more bearable For a 13 hr (or even lesser) every single inch of recline, every single cm of width, make for an ever more slightly more comfy ride. Wonderful TR

[CarbonMan]

Overall impressions of my SIN-LHR flight? Superb!

SQ have updated an already great Y product on the 77W and made it even better. The hard product is one of the in best economy class I have experienced, and I found cabin service on my flight to be wonderful as well.

Heathrow T2 made a positive impression as well, however I spent far less time in T2 on arrivals than I did when I departed from London T2 slightly over a week later on SQ321. More on my week in London, and the departure experience at T2, coming up next.

To be continued!

Glad you had a really good experience on the 77WN, yflyer! It's my first trip to T2 next week, so it's great to see that it's quite nice. I hope the immigration queues in the morning are as light as the evening (yes, not on the 77WN this time, as I'm heading to work in the morning instead of arriving evening as I normally do).

[eminere™]

Another immensely enjoyable TR! Looking forward to the next instalment.

[LHR]

Thanks for the wonderful TR as always. I always get nostalgic reading about London. Waiting eagerly to read more!

[yflyer]

The Hilton London Hyde Park is a very unusual Hilton.

It is beautiful converted townhouse, overlooking Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, first built in 1907. It has a wonderful location close to two tube stations, and is just a few minutes to Oxford Street by tube or double decker bus.







It is at the junction of Bayswater Road and Queensway, a street full of restaurants and convenience stores, including many Chinese restaurants, as well as Indian, Middle Eastern and other ethnic cuisines.

The historic building itself is not large, which means there is no gym, no lounge, and a single restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner). The rooms are also very small, including tiny single rooms.



I’ve stayed at this hotel in the past, and while I loved the location and the rate (lower than the other Hiltons in the city), the rooms were very old and in need of refurbishment.

A refurbishment is now underway, and there are now both deluxe rooms as well as small single rooms which have been refurbished.

In my view, the room refurbishment has been very successful: I stayed in two different single rooms during my stay, and loved the new styling so much that I cancelled my stay at another hotel and extended my stay at the Hyde Park Hilton for the duration of my stay.

[yflyer]

This was one of two different single rooms I stayed in during my trip...



The rooms were quite small, but because they were so new, and the styling so fresh and bright, the small size did not become an issue.



The two different rooms (next to each other) I stayed in during my trip had slightly different layouts. One room had no writing table, just a dual purpose round table that would serve as a work top as well.





The bathrooms were small, and had no tubs, but I thought the styling of the bathroom, with top quality Grohe fittings, was superb.



This was the other room layout, with a work desk and proper chair, but no round table.





I had a wonderful stay in this hotel. The fact that I had a room facing Kensington Gardens, with a wonderful view of the park, especially with the morning sun streaming into the room at dawn, probably had something to do with it.





On this trip, the refurbishment was still in progress, with many non-refurbished rooms still in use. I had to pay an extra GBP 10 per night for a refurbished room but I felt it was well worth the expense. By next year the refurbishment would have been completed.

[yflyer]

Another major plus point was the easy availability of wonderful roast duck rice from Kam Tong restaurant just down the road…





A very generous takeaway portion...



Other eating options included Manoush, which served very good Middle Eastern cuisine…





This was the breakfast spread in the hotel restaurant…

[yflyer]

Queensway tube station, on the Central Line, just a few stops from Oxford Circus, was right round the corner, with Bayswater station a 5 minute walk away.



The unique thing about Queensway tube station was the 123 step spiral staircase leading down (and back up!) from the train platform. Of course there were lifts too, but what better (and faster) way to make up for the lack of a gym at the Hilton than to walk up and down these stairs each trip (which I did for all except one occasion.)





Down the stairs at Queensway Station, and onto the Central Line train, you could be on Oxford Street and Soho in 15 minutes.

When I was there, the Christmas décor was already up, but the light-up had not yet happened.

[yflyer]

There is a lot of great food in this part of London.

One new store that has recently opened is Enrique Tomas, the first branch of this well known Spanish Jamon Iberico specialist establishment to open outside Spain. This was along Wardour Street, and opened just 2 months ago in September.



This store (with both eat-in and takeaway options) looked like it was transplanted from Barcelona…







Even the guy slicing the jamon was from Spain. He spoke minimal English but he had impressive slicing technique, and encyclopedic knowledge of the product.



What were those chalky white spots on my ham? “Crystals, it’s good…” he explained. These were a harmless byproduct of the curing process, and far from being a flaw, was an indication of quality and adherence to the proper way of curing the jamon.

The jamon went perfectly with the toast with rubbed tomato and olive oil.

At least now I knew where to get my jamon fix outside of Spain.

Other interesting eating places included “Jerk City”, a Caribbean restaurant, which served traditional Caribbean cuisine, including Jerk Chicken.





Their mutton soup tasted reminiscent of local Singapore kambing soup.



Jerk chicken…

[yflyer]

It was Halloween when I was there…there were actually queues outside costume stores where young and old were getting themselves dressed up and made up for an evening of fun and horror.



And all over the city, people were walking through the city and catching the subway dressed as ghouls, vampires, werewolves…

On another occasion, I chanced upon a Patty&Bun outlet in another part of town (Near Liverpool Street station). This was recommended by Kyo and chisquared and boy do our SQTalkers know their food…





I ordered an “Ari Gold” Cheese Burger, at GBP 7.50 (about SGD 16)...

This came wrapped in paper…





If I recall correctly, they also ask you how you want your burger done…which is another hallmark of a serious burger joint. Can't imagine McD ever doing that…

”Medium” I replied…



Heavenly…