Excited to be able to try out this brand new SilverKris Lounge at Incheon!
On my last trip to Seoul in June, I was mockingly devastated that I was only eligible to try the Asiana Business Lounge as the SilverKris Lounge had closed in end 2018 as part of some airport planning (yes, I don’t know what exactly that means too).
So imagine my delight when I found out that Singapore Airlines has quietly re-opened their SilverKris Lounge at Incheon on 28 Oct 2019.
Hours – 0630 to 1230 / 1330 to 1700 / 2000 to 2359 (subject to flight schedule change)
Location – Main Passenger Terminal 1, Departure Level 4 (via escalator opposite Korea Traditional Cultural Experience Centre). On your boarding pass, it will be indicated as located near Gate 29, but its easier if you look out for this:
To its left you’ll see the signage:
Make a right U-turn at the end of the escalator and you’ll see the familiar sight:
The lounge dragons were friendly, swiftly checked our boarding pass, and we were in!
There are actually 2 spaces in this SilverKris Lounge. Most people turn right to head to where the food and the bar is – and the space is really pretty! I thought this was a excellent interpretation of their Home Away From Home and I could already see some consistency with what I saw at the SKL in Hong Kong Airport.
General seating area – nicely laid out spacious seating probably designed to give people a tremendous sense of space regardless of where you sit. At 1030am, it was not crowded at all which allowed me to take some nice pics without human heads.
Close up of some of the seat types: really cushy for solo travellers and the iconic high-back with orchid motifs and work booths were a fixture in this space too:
In the middle of this area was the bar serving champagne, wines, beers, spirits, as well as cocktail menu. Tip: the espresso martini is.to.die.for!
(forgot to take a pic of the bar proper but you can catch a glimpse of it from the seats pics above).
Food wise, there was a good selection of hot food, appetizers, cheeses, and even desserts. There seems to be some thought given to not having it look like your standard airport lounge fare which was nice, though I was a little disappointed there was not more Korean or even Singaporean flavors. It was also December so some of the desserts were made to look Christmasy which was a cute touch.
There was also a decent looking coffee machine and some juices at one corner:
Along one side of this space is some sort of advertorial space where we saw things that look like very fancy coffee machines but in actual fact they were a skincare helmet of sorts – you can ask for help from the staff and they’d help explain. You basically put this on your head like Ironman would, pick your choice of lighting which carries different functions (anti-ageing, tighten pores etc), and leave it on for 20mins. Any guest can bring the equipment back to their seats to try and you’ll leave it on your desk after use for the staff to clean it before placing it back on the display stands.
Remember I was saying there were 2 areas to the Lounge?
One of the staff saw me fervently taking pics and told me there is this other space to the left of the reception where she thinks will make for good pictures. She was not wrong!
So I headed back to the other side to check it out:
And what a beautiful space indeed!
It’s a much smaller space and (I think) is meant to be Singapore-influenced deco with many traditional Singaporean artefacts on display in a beautiful glass case. There is also a small counter offering snacks and coffee / tea (not sure if it was meant to be kopi and teh?).
From there, it was about a 5mins walk to Gate 32 where the boarding gate was.
In Summary,
I was sad to leave the space. It was super nice to be able to enjoy an actually welcoming airport lounge and I do feel that with these new SilverKris Lounges, they have really upped their game in giving premium travellers a well-deserved land experience. The absence of a crowd made the space even more inviting. This is now my favourite J lounge in Incheon!