Mandarin Oriental Paris

Highlights & Reviews

• Location
• On exclusive rue Saint-Honoré, one of the city’s most prestigious shopping streets, flanked by designer boutiques including Emporio Armani, Ballenciaga, Hermes and Dior. The Louvre, Tuileries gardens, banks of the Seine and Place Vendôme are all within easy walking distance. The journey from Gard du Nord to the hotel is either 30 minutes on foot or half that, depending on traffic, in a taxi.

• Style
• If rue Saint-Honoré is all about conspicuous consumption - more than once I was forced off the pavement by a wall of tottering teens weighed down with over-sized designer shopping bags – Mandarin Oriental Paris itself is a haven of elegance and understated luxury. The verdant courtyard garden and its wall of cascading foliage provide a soothing sight on arrival in the marble-clad lobby. The look throughout the hotel is cool and contemporary, served up with a slice of the Orient in the form of cherry wood panelling and fine silks. Whimsical touches include the butterfly motif that appears on carpets and artwork and the delightful over-sized bird cage –a folly of French fancy – for see-and-be-seen dining in the garden.

• Rooms
• Designed for lingering. Soft rugs, silk throws, warm colours and wonderfully comfy, over-sized beds lend a cosy and homely feel. The standard rooms are a good size with generous wardrobe space (complete with yoga mat). Opt for a room that overlooks the courtyard garden. The hotel has its own in-house florist and fragrant displays appear throughout the hotel, including in the rooms (a posy of glorious pink camellias during my stay). A fruit platter also awaits guests in the room on arrival and fabulous cakes from the hotel’s kitchen are delivered daily. In-room entertainment includes a Bang & Olufsen television and iPod dock. The use of an iPad is available on request in the standard rooms and included in the suites. The vast bathrooms contain sunken baths, separate shower area, Frette linen bathrobes and Diptyque toiletries – a heady scent created especially for the hotel

• Dining
• Sur Mesure par Thierry Marx is a three-Michelin-starred affair where foodies pay homage in an all-white room that has been designed so as not to detract from the ‘sensory’ dining experience. The hotel’s website warns: ‘With each dish he [Marx] aims for a profound response.’ Those wishing to sample Marx’s food without sobbing into their purse/wallet can instead dine at the hotel’s excellent Camélia restaurant, also overseen by the chef extraordinaire. The ‘Daily Marx’ is available from 12.30pm to 2.30pm on weekdays, and guests might find beef hanger steak with kale cabbage and ginger, or marinated red label salmon with horseradish cream on the seasonal menu (two courses from €48pp). Camélia, with its honeycomb-effect floor tiling and cute bee hive-shaped lamps (the hotel roof is home to a colony of honey bees), also overlooks the lovely courtyard garden - a great spot for drinks or dinner alfresco.