Out with the old and in with the new

The time has come for us to say goodbye as Victoria & I are sadly off to our next challenge in the Maldives. We have enjoyed our 2 1/2 years here at Casa del Mar and have very fond memories of our time here.

However rest assured that you will be in very good hands with Tom Blachere coming in as the new General Manager and I am sure you will make him feel as welcome as I have been. Tom comes with 15 years of hospitality experience and has recently been the Resort Manager of Rihiveli in the Maldives and the Operations Manager at Hard Rock Penang. Tom commences on the 3rd March 2010.

Please feel free to contact him on tom.blachere@casadelmar-langkawi.com

Going to school is not a given

Here at Casa del Mar we take social responsibility serious. So when we heard of a local charities scheme to assist in sending children from under privileged families to school our ears perked up.

The Butterfly Club is a Langkawi charity that assists needy locals in many ways, providing food, second hand clothing and bedding, assistance in acquiring government welfare and more. They also now oversee the funds acquired from people to allow children the benefit of education. The cost for this is surprising low, between RM400-500 depending on the age of the child.

We personally sponsor an adorable little girl called Mala. If anyone is interested in the scheme and would like more information please contact thejarvs@streamyx.com

CDM gets the Blues

That's right, we here at your home by the sea have come over all Blue. We have had a new delivery of pool coloured beach towels. Yes that's right the massive beach towels that you all know and love now match our beautiful blue pool.

To add to your relaxation experience we have also added some beach bags in your rooms to use while you are here. And if you fall in love with it as many already have you can also purchase it to take home as a reminder of your holiday.

Adding more blue to our theme will be our out of the blue beach butler. But you will have to wait until the next edition for more information.

Its time to move inside

As you know we love to continually improve so after completing our recent external areas upgrade, it's now time for us to focus our attention to inside the rooms. Starting on the 1st May, we will be taking a few rooms offline at a time for a 2 week period.

During this time we will be busily repainting the rooms, putting the flat screen TV's on the wall, adding new artwork, increasing storage space in the bathrooms, purchasing IPod Docking stations, updating the lighting, bricking up the interconnecting doors, extending balconies and adding day beds just to name a few things. Phew that will keep us busy. All these improvements will be completed with minimum disruption to the resort but with maximum enhancement to your in room experience.

Food Food Glorious Cocktails

It's that time of year again, when we put our figures on the line to taste test a new and exciting menu for dinner and our soberness at risk to test out new cocktails. It's a tough job but someone has to do it!

Without letting the cat out of the bag we can tell you that the new menu will feature many more local products including Langkawi buffalo mozzarella, goat cheese and Sarawak Red rice.

In addition the Bar team have been busy infusing interesting spirits to make up concoctions such as the Tom Yum Martini and Spiced Strawberry Mule. After the success of our Cocktail Degustation Dinner this year (see September's issue of Asia Wine and Cuisine) we will be offering you all the chance to also share in some unique cocktail and food pairing.

La Sal Restaurant Menus