Weil Hotel Review: A Treat in Ipoh, Malaysia

We were looking forward to exploring Ipoh. With its old centre, street art, temples and truly amazing food, we heard rumours that Ipoh is like a little Georgetown on Penang Island, one of our favourite cities. We were also looking forward to visiting Ipoh for another reason; staying at Weil Hotel.

As soon as we left the middle Malaysia humidity and made our way into Weil Hotel’s air-conditioned lobby, we knew we were somewhere special. Doors were opened for us, smiling men hurried to take our luggage and we felt extremely welcome by the friendly front desk staff. The huge lobby area is also impressive with an epically tall ceiling, retro Scandinavian furniture and a relaxing atmosphere.

Weil Hotel – The Location

Getting to Weil Hotel was easy. It’s joined onto the modern Ipoh Parade Shopping Mall so any taxi or bus driver will know where to drop you off. The hotel even has its own private entrance into the shopping mall with 5 levels of shops, restaurants and a multi-screen cinema.

If you’re in Ipoh to explore the city’s old town, then Weil Hotel is perfect due to being located just on its outskirts. After a short 5 minute walk from reception, you’ll soon be surrounded by Ipoh’s old Chinese shops and heritage buildings that are putting Ipoh on the map. Ipoh’s famous Desert Street is also just around the corner for your fill of Ipoh’s many gastronomical delights.

Weil Hotel – The Room

Weil Hotel has 313 rooms and we stayed in one of the Premier Doubles. The room was huge, with an awesome king size bed, large flat screen TV, long desk area, a gigantic bathroom with free-standing bathtub and the most powerful shower we have ever used. Weil Hotel also provides free tea, coffee, bottled water, soft drinks and savoury snacks that are replenished daily!

We’re not used to as much space as these rooms provide so it was a luxury to be able to spread out and really relax. We don’t usually work in hotel rooms but the comfortable desk area and other seating enabled us to enjoy hours of blogging in our room.

Weil Hotel – The Food

There are a number of restaurants and bars to chose from at Weil Hotel.

Breakfast at Tiffin Restaurant

The words ‘buffet’ and ‘breakfast’ said together in any order sends Shelley and me into overwhelming excitement. So we were ecstatic to hear that Weil Hotel offers an amazing buffet breakfast included in the room price.

The entire length of ground floor Tiffin Restaurant is lined with a never-ending assortment of breakfast items. There are plenty of local Malay dishes to choose from but we prefer to stick with Western food for our first meal of the day. We enjoyed bowls of muesli, porridge, fresh fruit, eggs made to order, bread, pastries, pancakes, waffles, juices and delicious coffee. One morning we felt a bit adventurous so topped roti bread with eggs and curry sauce. Delicious!

High Tea at the Tea Lounge

Coming from London, we’ve tried plenty of high tea’s, and Weil Hotel provides a quality of high tea that you’d expect from London’s top hotels but at a price of just £12 for two people! Sitting in the comfort of the Tea Lounge, overlooking the hotel’s lobby, we enjoyed three tiers of mini charcoal bun pork burgers, crab meat salad filled crab shells, chicken terrine, smoked salmon, French macaroons, chocolate slices, strawberry mouse, fruit custard tarts and of course, scones with cream and jam. We were sad to finish.

Dinner at The Deck

On the very top floor, overlooking the nocturnal lights of Ipoh town is The Deck Gastrobar. A funky space with a 1 am licence for late-night drinking and dining. We enjoyed an evening at The Deck to try some of the Chef’s incredibly tasty dishes.

We started the evening with small plates of seasoned fried chicken (Buffalo, Korean and Taiwanese), juicy Moroccan meatballs, stuffed mushrooms and deep-fried calamari. All plates were delicious.

We both chose one of our favourite dishes for main. I went for Australian rib eye beef steak while Shelley opted for grilled seabass. WOW, they were both full of flavour and perfectly cooked.

With our sweet tooths, we couldn’t finish there, so were keen to try the Opera cake. We hadn’t had Opera cake before. In fact, we didn’t even know what it was until it arrived on our table. The wafer thin vanilla and chocolate layers must be must be a challenge to create but the Head Chef at Weil Hotel obviously knows what she’s doing. We were not disappointed!   

Weil Hotel – The Facilities

There are a number of other facilities at Weil Hotel, including open-air terraces, lawns and ballrooms for events. But for us, it was all about the rooftop infinity pool. There’s no better way to end a long day of blogging than with a swim at Weil Hotel’s gorgeous pool. The pool offers awesome views of Ipoh town and beyond to the nearby mountains. It was a welcome different experience to the usual sea view infinity pools all over the world. 

Weil Hotel – The Service

Weil Hotel is a 4-star hotel so provides the excellent service you’d expect from that level. The staff attended to any request we made instantly and they wore genuine smiles at all times. Fruit was occasionally delivered to our room without request. Rooms were cleaned and tidied every day and restaurant staff were very attentive.

You might be thinking ‘there must be something wrong with this hotel?’, but we honestly cannot fault Weil Hotel. We haven’t had many 4-star hotel experiences to compare to our stay at Weil Hotel but there are no complaints from us. We’d certainly recommend staying at Weil Hotel if visiting Ipoh.