THERE was a time – oh at least five years ago – when checking into a hotel was a formal, official, tight-lipped kind of affair.
Inevitably you would make small talk about the weather while reluctantly handing over excessive amounts of personal information to the concierge including an update on your neighbour’s vicious-looking cat.
But times have changed and in 2015, the idea of a check-in desk is very much old hat. Or at least it is at the Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel in London where suited and booted staff who look like they’ve just stepped out of an Nepresso ad are ready and waiting, armed with iPads.
We arrived just after lunchtime at the five-star boutique which is housed in a grand Victorian building a stone’s throw from the hustle and bustle of Liverpool Street station.
As first impressions go, the lobby is quite stunning. Its grandeur – ceilings that could house the BFG, eclectic art installations and pillowy soft mood lighting – mean the whole affair is effortlessly cool. In short, it’s like being on the hotel set of a Bond film; minus the secret agents and scantily-clad women. More’s the pity. “Would you care for a glass of wine sir?,” one particularly suave member of staff enquired and for a split-second I was tempted to ask for it shaken rather than stirred. Instead I turned it down on the grounds that it was barely 1pm and the idea of necking it in the time it would take to check-in could make me feel a little light-headed.
Before long we were escorted to the lift and shown to our room before the inevitable “guide to facilities” commenced which usually involves a staff member pointing out where the hairdryer is and reassuring guests the custard creams are complimentary.
On this occasion, however, our room was a little out of the ordinary with a huge, and quite magnificent piece of wall art, dominating the space. London-based illustrator Chris Price has weaved his magic to produce it, paying homage to the famous Pearly Kings and Queens of the East End and their 19th century costume.Fittingly the room has been named ‘Pearly Room’ and it’s one of four rooms in the hotel which feature pieces of work by a diverse selection of street artists, celebrating East London’s past, present and future.
Although we could have gazed at its intricacies for hours, we decided to explore the hotel’s facilities instead. It’s huge. A labyrinth of corridors and grand staircases connect each ‘wing’ and you often stumble on pockets of space that have been set aside for those who want to read, simply relax with a drink or quietly build their Nespresso empire.
Elsewhere, there’s an original Masonic Temple which occasionally hosts events as well as several private dining areas. Guests are spoilt for choice when it comes to making plans for dinner; the breathtaking 1901 restaurant and wine bar (housed in a Grade II-listed former ballroom) is your pick for fine dining and afternoon tea or else tuck into Japanese cuisine at trendy Mikayo. We didn’t find time to make it to either sadly after being seduced by the cool blue lighting and trendy cocktails at the hotel’s Catch Champagne Bar and Lounge.
We did leave eventually; soaking up a bit of culture at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, browsing the boutique shops on our doorstep and stopping off for a slice of Italy at Pizza East in the hipster resort commonly known as Shoreditch.
The next morning – feeling a little delicate after cocktails – we made the five-minute journey through the hotel’s corridors to the Eastway Brasserie to sample its new brunch menu. It’s a cracker too. We ate like king’s; fruit smoothies served in small glass bottles to start with, followed by spicy Merguez sausages with pepper and onion caponata and THE best French toast with maple syrup I have ever tasted.
Other dishes include Eggs on Brick Lane – soft poached eggs with mild curried potatoes on a Dosa pancake – and there’s even a Bloody Mary station where you can concoct your own cocktail. Instead, we ordered a couple of espressos – at the Andaz Liverpool Street it seems like the right thing to do.