No hotel group does peaceful quite like Mandarin Oriental. Across the globe, its forty properties offer tranquillity on tap and its newest launch, Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, continues the tradition. Inspired by the surrounding Georgian terraces, the new build slots like a Jenga brick into London’s historic Hanover Square. British firm RSHP (founded by the late, great, Richard Rogers) utilised complex bridge-building techniques to create two interconnected pavilion buildings with one grand-yet-serene façade housing the 55-bedroom hotel as well as 77 residential units. It is the latest in a slew of grand new hotels in the city that have reasserted London's position as a mecca for the luxury traveller.
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Entering the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair lobby is a very different experience to the scale of the city’s sister hotel Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park: there it’s all sweeping Edwardian staircases and colonnaded grandeur; here it’s a dramatic cleave between the two buildings topped by a glass-roofed atrium casting sunlight over the triple height space. It is credit to Tokyo-based interiors firm Curiosity that the tight space has such impact, coming alive with a vast laser-cut 3D timber wall that weaves across the expanse. There is no lobby scene as such, instead, the action is at the bottom of the atrium, accessed by an astonishing floating Verde Ming marble staircase.
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Globe-trotting chef Akira Back’s first UK restaurant occupies the full length of the bright basement, while the seductively-lit ABar lounge sits behind, its jewel-toned upholstery shimmering beneath copper tiles that hang from the roof like kinetic art. This is the perfect roost for a cocktail or two inspired by Back’s Korean heritage; expect yuzu, shiso and nashi pear to make appearances. The taupe and ecru tones of the restaurant are subtle in contrast, with the flair coming from the dishes — celebratory styling abounds with flamboyant sushi platters, volumes of wagyu and sushi rolls with names like Hot Mess and Cow Wow. Breakfast brings engaging, elegant surprises: pine nut and mushroom porridge, kimchi and ham rolls, and yuzu honey toast all offer jaunty starts to the day.
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Upstairs, the bedrooms and suites are an ode to quiet luxury — quite literally thanks to window glazing that cuts out all city noise, giving the rooms a calm hush that feels enveloping. Cosseting continues with cloud-like beds, deep bath-tubs and hand-painted silk wallpaper by de Gournay in every room.
Design firm Studio Indigo has a reputation for creating some of London’s finest residences, as well as yacht and jet interiors, meaning that function, as well as form, has been thoroughly thought through. There are plugs in the right places, wardrobes that can take a ballgown and desks that, well, work, all wrapped in a material palette of burl wood, buttery leather and richly veined marble (the Rosso Levanto marble throughout the Mayfair Suite is particularly sensational). There are charming touches sprinkled through each room, too, from the Vivienne Westwood-designed fan gifted to each guest to the silk kimonos in the bathrooms.
Don the kimono as you head down to the spa and wellness centre, whose crown jewel is a 25m semi-Olympic swimming pool (the longest in Mayfair). If its blue-to-black graduated tiles and celestial lighting mean you give it your Esther Williams’ best, you can recover in the teal-accented treatment rooms. As well as the usual raft of treatments, we are intrigued by the binaural vibroacoustic power nap offering – just what’s required before heading out into the Mayfair night with a Mandarin Oriental spring in your step.
