Now, they can just pop down to the basement. Until recently, if they wanted something to eat between spins of the roulette wheel or a roll of the dice, they had to head outside to the Chinese restaurants on Lisle or Gerrard Street. But given the proximity to Chinatown it is perhaps unsurprising that the Chinese community is strongly represented. Tonight, there’s a mixed crowd on the brightly lit gaming floor at the heart of what was once one of London’s grand theatres. The Hippodrome on London’s Leicester Square is not Las Vegas, but it does now seem to be operating on a similar principle. The $3.7bn Fontainebleau Las Vegas has just opened. Sure, the punters might win occasionally at the tables, but they would then spend it all on dinner. It seemed as if every big-name chef both inside the US and out had a restaurant there: Joël Robuchon and Guy Savoy, Tom Colicchio, Thomas Keller and Gordon Ramsay. Now it was all about the theatres, the rides and most of all, the restaurants. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observerīy the time I returned to Las Vegas a decade later, the idea of the adult theme park that had begun to sprout with the Luxor was in full bloom. ‘Use the dark sweet soy liquor as a lubricant for your rice’: Cantonese roast duck.
