Hotel & Tours Group

Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa has brought on a Norwegian chef and a Dutch food and beverage manager to spearhead development of the most versatile collection of restaurant concepts between Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.

The 30-storey, 284-room hotel is scheduled to open in October.

Tom Drange, 40, who most recently served as executive chef at the Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, will take command of the Sheraton’s three main kitchens - Feast, Steam n’ Spice and Toastina. And Michiel de Kleer, 31, who formerly spent three-and-a-half years in Vietnam as an assistant director of food and beverage (f&b) and most recently worked as director of f&b at the Sofitel Silom Bangkok, will coordinate all f&b activities.

The hotel’s flagship restaurant is Feast, a 180-seat international concept that celebrates the foods of Japan, China, Vietnam, India and the West. The 102-seat Steam n’ Spice revels in the glories of dim sum, Asia’s favorite comfort food. And Toastina will stand as a vibrant, retail food venue that will emphasize fresh and healthy fare.

The hotel will also unveil a purpose-built culinary academy with five cooking stations.

One of the chef’s priorities in Nha Trang will be on the seafood, for which the seaside resort town Nha Trang is justly renown.

Drange is no stranger to the ways and means of pre-opening activities. He opened the 250-room Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa and groomed a reputation there as someone who could marry his hotel’s branded concepts to local culinary attributes for a one-of-a-kind dining experience. Within a year, the hotel’s flagship restaurant was hailed as one of the best 100 in the country by Tatler.
Prior to his stint in Hua Hin, Drange opened five-star restaurants in Krabi and Phuket. He’s also worked as an executive chef in Oman and Cairo. Earlier posts include Norway, the United States, France and Italy.

As a complement to Drange, de Kleer is a seasoned Vietnam hand with a wealth of experience handling the most discerning travelers to Vietnam. At the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, he led a staff of 110 as acting director of food and beverage for 18 months.

With towers in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Sheraton Nha Trang will stand as the brand’s third property in Vietnam. Its eight categories of accommodation range from deluxe rooms to 70 square-meter executive suites and a single, stunning 182-square-meter presidential suite. Its food-and-beverage outlets also include the Wine Bar.

For business and leisure travelers alike, the hotel’s full-service spa offers nine treatment rooms, as well as separate locker rooms for men and women, each with steam, sauna and whirlpool. The 21-meter lap pool on the hotel’s 6th floor provides an infinity effect, blending with the bay of Nha Trang beyond. On either side of the main pool, deck chairs sit in the shallow waters of a reflection pool, tempting guests who want to be both in and out of the water simultaneously.

The main pool will be complemented by a children’s pool. And a state-of-the-art health club is shaping up as Nha Trang’s most ambitious fitness center by far.

Given the proximity to Ho Chi Minh City by air (45 minutes), the hotel anticipates robust business traffic. The Sheraton’s nine meetings rooms — including a ballroom and an equally large function room — open up to 1,600 square meters. The Executive Club Lounge will offer spectacular ocean views.

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