Review: Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London: First In

Why book Mandarin Oriental Mayfair?

To experience Mayfair’s sleekest new address, tucked into a corner of the neighborhood’s most storied square.

Set the scene

The Mandarin Oriental Mayfair occupies a coveted corner of London’s most sought-after postcode. Despite their recent facelift, Hanover Square’s curbs hold some of London’s most extravagant stories. Supermodels, film stars and nobility have traversed these concrete slabs over the centuries, with the new opening counting Vogue House as a neighbor – now under new ownership and renovation. “This is your home”, we’re assured as we enter the lobby. From here, we stroll past a kaleidoscopic floral arrangement and peek into Akira Back’s sprawling restaurant, where stealthy chefs slice through fish and adorn canapés with coal-black caviar.

The backstory

Mandarin Oriental’s second London hotel – the Hyde Park property opened in 2000, and a third is under construction on the South Bank – is Mayfair’s first new-build hotel in 10 years. Opportunities to redevelop land in the capital’s glitziest area are rare, and the group has seized the chance to create something extraordinary. Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners designed the property, following previous projects including the British Library extension and the glitzy entrance to The Berkeley. It’s a contemporary structure that mirrors the elegance of the Georgian terraces surrounding it. Studio Indigo is responsible for the interiors, continuing their winning steak for impeccable design, having crafted some of London’s chicest residential addresses, while Tokyo-based designers Curiosity worked across all other spaces. The brand’s Asian heritage is captured with locally-inspired elements, resulting in a series of homely haute couture hideouts in emerald green, calming turquoise and sheeny metallic finishes.

The rooms

Our Hanover Suite is more Mayfair pied-à-terre than a regular hotel room. A boxed-in walk-in wardrobe divides the bedroom and open-plan lounge-kitchen, stocked with everything guests need for an extended stay. Hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper lines the walls, magnificent magnolias climbing towards the ceiling in shades that complement the suite’s marble greens, soft creams and cool coffee tones. Copies of London Explored and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre adorn coffee tables and shelves: classic page-turners for kimono-wearing guests while bubble baths run in the marble tub, Natura Bissé products scenting the calming haven. However, our suite is overlooked by surrounding apartments and office blocks – shield the floor-to-ceiling windows with sheer nets to block out the keyboard-tappers in the distance.

The second signature suite, The Mayfair Suite, is the largest at 1,517 square feet, while other categories range from deluxe rooms to spacious deluxe suites. Besides the gargantuan restaurant on the lower ground floor, the hotel feels boutique. There are just 50 guest suites across five floors, plus 77 plush private residences, which, I’m informed at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, were snapped up sharpish.

Food and drink

Akira Back’s 148-cover restaurant is at the hotel's heart, the award-winning chef’s fitting UK debut. Light floods the atrium, where guests tuck into sumptuous a la carte breakfasts before curious diners arrive for long lunches and suppertime feasts. Akira brings his Korean heritage, Colorado upbringing and experience in some of the world’s best Japanese restaurants to his project, presenting a menu of meaty mains and fancy sushi spreads. We dive into a crunchy Cornish seaweed salad, munch on mozzarella miso aubergine and fawn over the rock shrimp in a creamy gochujang sauce – one we’ll be sure to replicate as best we can at home. The eringi pizza, layers of cold meaty mushroom laid on a tortilla base and doused in truffle oil, isn’t to my taste or textural preference, but neighbouring tables savour the umami flavours. Head sommelier Andres Ituarte deserves a special mention, guiding us through a tongue-tingling array of new world wines and rich sake. At breakfast, we devour canary-yellow scrambled eggs and an assortment of side dishes, from plump sausages to pots of overnight oats and chia seed pudding. Undoubtedly, it’ll soon be a popular spot for informal business catch-ups.

ABar Lounge is an elegant spot for pre-supper cocktail sipping, where clashing vivid colours and decorative touches draw eyes to all corners of the room as fruity concoctions are shaken and stirred behind the bar. Small plates of fried chicken and Wagyu beef tartlets soak up arty martinis and sweeter long drinks – the 2.30am close between Thursday and Saturday is the perfect excuse to pop in for after-dinner drinks. Dosa, a 14-seat Korean chef’s table offering theatrical feasts, opens in the summer, followed by ABar Rooftop later this year.

The spa

Assistant director of spa and wellness Michelle Matthews guides me around the subterranean spa, beaming as she runs through the elegant space. I’m ushered into a treatment room for the ‘Tranquillity of Mayfair’ signature treatment, a 90-minute session that sees two therapists navigate my tired muscles in a choreographed performance of joint pulls and pummelling. The post-massage binaural biohacking treatment equipment, which offers a unique stress-busting 22-minute fix using soundwaves, hasn’t arrived in time for my stay. Still, I’m intrigued enough to make a return visit. I forget about the throngs of shoppers and workers just a few metres above me as I glide from end-to-end of the 25-metre pool, swimming between dark and light sections as starry lights illuminate the tepid water and tranquil music plays. There’s enough time before check-out to switch between the sauna, steam room and gym, a surprisingly spacious set-up filled with the latest Technogym equipment.

The neighborhood

Mayfair needs no introduction. London’s most elegant neighborhood has fashion house flagships from Gucci to Hermès beside Michelin-starred restaurants, under-the-radar speakeasies, members’ clubs and some of the most extraordinary residential sites in the country. The late-night dens of Soho are within easy reach beyond the eye-catching shop windows along Oxford Street, while the verdant expanses of Green Park and Hyde Park nearby attract sun-worshippers during the summer months.

For families

Families are welcome at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, but Mayfair is an adult’s playground full of world-class restaurants, entertainment venues and pretty cocktail spots. Interconnecting room set-ups are best should families wish to share a space while having some separation.

Accessibility

Wide corridors, multiple lifts and gargantuan doorways make the hotel a wheelchair-friendly space, with adapted rooms across the building. Other thoughtful touches include a doorbell feature that flashes for hearing-impaired guests, vibrating pillows, and hoists in the spa for access to the swimming pool.

Sustainability

Staff undergo intensive sustainability training, and initiatives go beyond the surface-level efforts of banning single-use plastics and quality food produce. A paper-use strategy ensures only sustainable-certified paper is used when digital documents won’t suffice, efforts for at least 60 per cent efficient energy, and a partnership with online sustainability software company Greenview allows the team to manage, review and assess all sustainability-related data in one portal.