Haskell’s Cafe is located at the Golf Club House, adjacent to the lobby.  Overlooking the Jack Nicklaus Seaview Course,  this cafe is a favourite hangout for golfers before or after tee-off.  

 

Set in a casual and cosy ambience,  Haskell’s Cafe serves delicious drinks, fresh gourmets, sandwiches, pastries and snacks available all-day.

 

A must-try when you are at Haskell’s Cafe is Sup Buntut. Sup Buntut (Oxtail Soup) is a famous Indonesian clear oxtail soup. Flavoured with a variety of aromatics and spices, the soup is boiled with chunk of potatoes, carrots and oxtails slow-cooked till perfection and garnished with shredded parsley. It is served with rice, chili sauce and bitter nut crackers. Don’t miss this tantalising dish.

Other than Sup Buntut, there are lots more other dishes, from traditional Indonesian dishes to American style burgers and sandwiches to Italian style pizzas.

For example, you can make your own Haskell’s Pizza choosing from a variety of ingredients ranging from seafood, chicken, capsicum, olives, sausages and lots more. Our chef will then “tailor-bake” your pizza.

For the sweeth tooth, the western-style Banana Fritter might just be your pick.  It is deep-fried sweet battered ripe banana served with cinnamon sugar and ice-cream, leaving you craving for more!

 

Cool down with a refreshing watermelon juice.�

“The Golden Bear”. “Jack Nicklaus is a golfing god who did far more for the game than against it” - Golf Asia Magazine.

When the name Jack Nicklaus is mentioned, most people at least know the name if not what he does for a living and why he’s famous. For those people of questionable mental health who don’t like golf or care about the game whatsoever, they won’t get anything out of learning that Nicklaus won 20 majors or that he can hit a 1-iron better than anyone on the planet.

He is widely regarded as the greatest professional golfer of all time, large part because of his records in major championships. These days, Jack Niklaus builds golf courses around the world. Some of his tops ones that you can play are Cabo del Sol (Ocean Course) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, The Challenge at Manele in Lanai City, Hawaii, The Ocean Course at Ginn Hammock Beach Resort, Palm Coast, Florida and the Jack Nicklaus Seaview Course in Bintan Lagoon Resort.

Bintan Lagoon Resort has got two exceptionally designed championship 18-hole golf courses. The Jack Nicklaus, designed by the “The Golden Bear” and The Ian Baker-Finch designed by the Australian born professional golfer, best known for winning the Open Championship in 1991.

Jack Nicklaus’s sea-view golf course is most unforgettable for it’s signature hole #12 and #13. If you were on the golf course, hole #1 will be the start of the challenge, on the left side is the sand block and to add on to the obstruction, on the right is the creek block.

The design of the golf path is so facinating that it will actually cause parallax error and yet another challenge for golfers. But what is a beautiful golfing experience without any challenges?

 The Jack Nicklaus sea-view golf course.

 

 The Ian Baker-Finch golf course.

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Recently, we organized a familiarization trip for our clients. The main objective of the familiarization trip was to let our clients and the media learn about the newly refurbished rooms in a relaxing and fun way.

“Very tasteful decor”, “practical furnitures”, “great bathroom”

The upgrade has been defined by “bright colours, mod-style furniture, and iconic artwork.” Below are the photos for the garden terrace, deluxe room.

 

 

Here are some photos for the lovely bathroom which was so nicely renovated I guess you would love to stay in there for hours soaking up a bubble bath before that romantic dinner or sweet dreams night.

 

A reflection of the whole bathroom on the the full length mirror, (my apologies for having the photographer in it, it was the best way to capture the whole bath room by the reflection.) The idea of the full length big mirror is perfect, it brightens up the whole bathroom and the feeling was spacious but yet cozy. Whatever we do, we take into consideration what our guests want, as we want our guests to have the best.

 

Dinner was supposed to be the highly-rated Lagoon Dining - a private dinner on our signature hole #12 on the Jack Nicklaus course fronting the South China Sea; but for uncompromising Mother Nature. The weather was wet and though we’d have dinner with goggles and flippers, it wouldn’t have been fun. Below, a beautiful view from Haskell’s cafe at the Golf Club House on the Jack Nicklaus golf course. As you can see from the photo, the sky was filled with big cumulonimbus clouds.

 

It stopped raining at 6pm, and at the 11th hour, the food and beverage team expertly arranged a pre-cocktail at the Lagoon Dining venue.
Everyone was hugely impressed with the gorgeous set-up and enjoyed the calming breeze blowing in from the South China Sea. The silver lining?

 

Our charming bartender, concocting his house specialty.

 

Dinner was arranged at the Golf Club House!

 Everybody was anticipating a pleasurable gastronomic experience. The flower petals on the carpet… the lovely music the strollers played…the gentle, soft lighting…makes the overall ambience lovely and romantic. We believe the dining ultimate experience is one in which all our senses are stimulated - the ambience and the surroundings are imperative to our enjoying the dinner. Our expert catering staff designed a special theme dinner with a tailored-made menu ensuring only one outcome -  our guests will be at ease and enjoy the sumptuous spread of dinner.

 

Our guest enjoying themselves while waiting for the first course of the dinner to be served.

Upcoming will be a series of photos of the mouth-watering dinner courses. Get yourself prepared!

The appetizer was Crab and Buffalo Mozzarella. A combination of citrines tossed crab meat with asparagus on bed of buffalo mozzarella served with saffron mayonnaise. The placing of the food was so artistic it was a masterpiece.  

 

The taste of the clear ripe plum tomato in our tomato consomme made the soup refreshing. After finish the whole bowl of it, it just opens up our appetite and made us crave for more.

Here’s Helen with her garlic bread. Her bat-woman pose! She’s just so cool.

 

Our thirst was quenched with the next refreshing course; it was Orange & Vodka Sorbet, another elegant course from the chef.

 

 

The main course was a brilliant combination of grilled prawn stuff into the tender chicken served with lemongrass scented broth and butter vegetable rice, topped with seared lobster flesh.

 

For dessert, we had Lemon Mousse. The content was grand marnier marinated ripe papaya on lemon mousse served with lime and champagne sorbet. See that curvy stick on top of the sorbet, it’s cashew nut caramel! Can you believe it? The chef definitely puts his heart into making some cashew nut into a waving ribbon. Lastly drizzled with raspberry coulisse, the sourly taste just balance so well with the sweet taste.

 

However that did not end the day, as the night was still young. At least some ladies wanted to burn off the calories consumed during dinner and let their hair loose for this special occasion.

 

 

 

 Yeah! And that completes the night at our last stop for the day - Silk, our disco/club.

 

The 2nd day was “activities day”. First of all was the the site inspection that was held at the earlier part of the morning. Then we wanted to let our guest have some fun - so we trooped for some LASER QUEST!

Here are the teams, all geared up and ready to “fight” for their team! Don’t you think they look like Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sarah Connors in Terminator?

 It was a session filled with laughter, screams and fun!

For those of you who haven’t played before, it is all the fun of paintball (i.e., you get to shoot people) but with none of the pain or mess. Just ask anyone who tried this for the first time and is now hooked.
Laser Quest combines the classic games of tag and hide & seek with a high-tech twist. Donning the most sophisticated laser tag equipment available, the game is played in a large, multi-level arena featuring specialty lighting and swirling fog.
Players wear laser receptors and use “guns” that project harmless laser beams — when you hit your opponents’ receptors, you get points. If you are hit, you lose points. High score wins. Everyone has fun.

This can be a strenuous activity… or not — lurking in the dark corners and shooting passersby is a great strategy, enhanced by the dark playing room.
Sorry, this event is not wheelchair accessible.

 

One squatting and one standing, but both of them have the same aim which is - to get the other party down!

 

 

The next activity was the All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV).

Everybody was listening so attentively and giving their 110% attention to the instructor while he explains about the vehicle.

All terrain vehicles, known as ATVs, are amazing machines that people use for recreational purposes and also for work on rough terrain. They’re vehicles that have been specially designed to run off-road, in areas where the land is exceptionally rough, uneven, gravelly, muddy, or otherwise inconsistent.  ATVs is extremely fun and help bring the driver closer to nature.

 

The participants rolled up their pants and got ready for the exciting and adventurous ride to the “jungle!”

 

 

 

 

The ride, I believe was the best thing for some of our guests, memorable and filled with surprises.  During the ride, they come across a mini monitor lizard, nobody freak out, but it just made the whole experience even more thrilling.

Here is a video, their warm-up before really heading out. And coincidentally some commotion was caught on the short-clip. Do check it out.

 

After the whole breath-taking experience on the ATV, it was lunch time!

 It was Underwater Theme Lunch, as the whole conference room was decorated in such a way that made all of us felt like merfolks under the sea. Wall-to-wall was silky blue and when the blue spot light shone on it, it sparkled like water. Our own Underwater World was wonderful and special.

 

 

The mouth-savoring spread of food was an array of roasted potatoes, grilled beef, prawn fritters, black pepper crab, barbeque tender chicken, salads and appetizers and a well-spread of desserts.  

 

After lunch was free & easy session for our guests to explore around the whole resort before heading back to Singapore.

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Indonesia’s finest golf resort, Bintan Lagoon Resort (“BLR”) heralds the arrival of its new Club Manager.  Mr. Mark Steele Isley, a golf veteran with more than 25 years experience will lead the Club Management of the resort’s two 18-holes championship golf courses, Jack Nicklaus, and Ian Baker-Finch.

“I am honored to join BLR, it is an absolutely superb golf venue rated amongst the best in Asia.  Golfers come from all over the world to play on our two golf courses.  Both golf courses are carved right out of a pristine jungle with stunning panoramic views of the South China Sea. They are a golfer’s dream come true.  I am very proud to be here and I hope that my previous experience within the golf industry will be of great contribution to the resort.  We have a great group of people working here who have made me feel very welcome.  So far, the members that I have met care tremendously about the resort and they have all offered me their support and willingness to help.  That’s a great a feeling,” commented Mr. Isley, the newly appointed Golf Club Manager of Bintan Lagoon Resort on 10 June 2008.

An avid golfer himself, Mr. Isley will not only be overseeing the two-designer  18 hole courses, but also its golf club and Pro-shop.  He is responsible for 180 staff who maintain the high standard courses, golf facilities and take good care of its 1,000 golf members and 30,000 yearly visitors.

“Mark brings with him not only his wealth of experience in golf course, golf club and tournament but also a great deal of passion.  I am confident he will build on the excellent reputation of Bintan Lagoon Resort,” said Mr. Robert Ramey, Group General Manager of 3 Degrees Hospitality Pte Ltd, the holding company of Bintan Lagoon Resort.

Prior to joining the resort, the 46-year-old American golf enthusiast has a long distinguished career with high-profile golf resorts in Bali and Florida.  Mr. Isley began his career as Golf Course Superintendent at Bali Golf and Country Club in 1990. From there, he worked his way up to Director of Golf Course Maintenance, followed by General Manager of the Common Area Services Department. In 1999, Mr. Isley was promoted to General Manager overseeing two properties, Bali Golf and Country Club and Watilan Golf Villas Bali.  Under his leadership, Bali Golf and Country Club was chosen to be one of Asia’s 5 best golf courses by Fortune Magazine, USA.

Before graduating with Summa cum Laude achievement in Associate of Science in Golf Course Operations, Lake City Community College, Florida in 1990, he built his professional development in Indian Pines Golf Club, Rockledge Country Club and Suntree Country Club.  All of the clubs are located in Florida, USA.

Mark was also a guest speaker at the 1998 Golf Asia Show sharing on topics such as ‘Wildlife Habitat Management and How to Manage a Successful Composting Program’.  Mark is also a scholarship recipient of the prestigious Florida Turfgrass Association and Central Florida Superintendents’ Association.