boutique design hotel | cheriecity.co.uk

Competitions, Hotels, Hotels - Design, Restaurants

Win a Meal for Two at Evoluzione, Hotel Xenia – London

October 2, 2014 by cheriecity

Hotel Xenia opened in chic South Kensington last year, set across a row of charming Victorian townhouses. It boasts an enviable Cromwell Road address and is close to the V&A, Natural History Museum, Kensington Gardens and Knightsbridge designer shopping.

The cosy, contemporary boutique hotel houses Evoluzione, a stylish Italian restaurant with a bar counter and outdoor terrace. It’s overseen by Michelin star chef Andrea Angeletti, who gained the prestigious accolade for his cooking at Le Busche in the Marche region of Italy.

Angeletti’s culinary philosophy focuses on respect for tradition and using seasonal products, while exploring creativity with new tastes and flavours.

The menu is full of tempting dishes such as Roasted octopus with potatoes, aubergine and crispy sesame waffle and Hereford tagliata with sweet and sour onions and rocket pesto, followed by Hot orange sponge with aubergine cream and extra-virgin olive oil.

Chérie City has partnered with the lovely folk at Zomato to offer the chance to WIN a voucher worth £100 for a meal for two at Evoluzione at Hotel Xenia.

To enter, simply head over to Twitter and retweet the following message:

Win a meal for two worth £100 to @EvoluzioneLDN compliments of @Zomato & @cheriecity. Simply RT & follow http://bit.ly/1pIbhhN #zomp

Zomato is one of the fastest-growing websites and social networks purely for foodies. It’s a fun, user-friendly place to share reviews and photos of your dining experiences across the world. I use it to share my favourite restaurants, find the latest openings and keep track of the restaurants on my wish list – it can become a little addictive!

So what are you waiting for? Enter the twitter competition and be sure to share your dining experience on Zomato.

Terms & conditions:
Competition closes end of 10/10/14
The winner will be offered a voucher worth £100 to dine at Evoluzione at Hotel Xenia, London.
The voucher can only be used once and if the full value is not used, no change will be given.
No cash alternative will be offered
Travel and transport are not included
Voucher expires 15/11/14

All photos by Hotel Xenia

Hotels, Hotels - Design, New York

A Stay at The Nolitan Hotel New York City

March 19, 2012 by cheriecity

The Nolitan is the first boutique hotel to arrive in downtown New York’s up and coming Nolita neighbourhood.

An urban, concrete-luxe landmark, The Nolitan is a world apart from the district’s romantic six-storey walk-up buildings yet somehow it just works. The minimalist, industrial-chic style comes courtesy of Grzywinski+Pons, the ultra cool design group behind Hotel on Rivington and private residences.

The Nolitan boasts the perfect downtown location on the corner of Kenmare and Elizabeth Street – in the heart of Nolita, just a few blocks from SoHo, Little Italy and the Lower East Side.

Arrival

When we arrived we were checked in by Ben, a friendly fellow Northerner who moved to New York for the love of a good woman (a cool New York story if ever there was one). The lovely Kevin then took our bags and showed us around our room.

The Room

The Nolitan has just 55 rooms and three room categories with different design features – Neighbourhood, Cityscape and Suite. We were given a Cityscape room with a balcony on the seventh floor, with fabulous views over Nolita and the Manhattan skyline (the top of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building were in sight).

The room was a mix of textures – concrete ceiling and walls, stripped wooden floor boards and fuzzy wool furnishings. The floor to ceiling glass sliding doors filled the room with natural daylight and the open plan bathroom gave it an airy feel, making good use of the space.

Despite the minimalist leanings of the room, it was filled with some great amenities. There was a 37-inch flat screen HD cable TV, iPod enabled stereo system by Vers, interesting artwork and an affordable mini bar with stylish aluminium bottles of Coke for just $2.

We were also provided with three different types of glasses on Nolitan-branded coasters, two red Nolitan yoga mats and a stack of glossy mags including Vogue, GQ and Time Out New York.

Free Perks

The Nolitan is generous with the complimentary features, offering guests free wifi, access to the nearby 24 Fitness, free skateboards and bikes to hire, use of a Wii, Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, free local calls, shoe shine and a continental breakfast included in the room rate. Unlike most hotels, check-out is at 1pm and staff are happy to arrange a late check-out without charging a fee.

The Bathroom

The Corian accented open-plan bathroom features a rainfall shower, light-weight bathrobes and bright red Nolitan slippers and Moroccan Rose bath amenities by Red Flower and some cute Nolitan-branded boxes containing shower caps and cotton wool. But there’s no forced exhibitionism rule, as you can section off the glass bathroom with a large curtain and there’s a separate toilet room.

Turndown

The queen-size bed was extremely soft and dreamy, the kind that you could easily set up camp in, were the sights of New York not calling. At turndown, we were brought a weather card and the cutest parcels of chocolate and peanut brittle clusters.

When we visited, The Nolitan was in the process of planning a new restaurant to replace Ellabess, making way for an even cooler dining concept. The hotel has teamed up with 15 esteemed local restaurants and cafes to deliver dishes from their full menus straight to your room – genius!

Most excitingly, Cafe Gitane was among those listed and judging by the queues on a sunny Monday lunchtime, you might want to avoid the scrum and get some of their Orange Blossom Waffles or Chicken Satay to eat in peace on your own private balcony.

Breakfast

A complimentary continental breakfast is a real perk of staying at The Nolitan and they do it very well. We enjoyed some delicious honey granola, toasted bagels, mini pastries and brioche buns filled with crème pâtissière, fresh juice and a selection of teas. They even provide take-out cups, so you can grab one for the road or have a quick breakfast on the go.

The Nolitan really goes out of its way to make the hotel a ‘home away from home’. The T.A.I.L.S Pet Program welcomes furry friends with a goodie bag and offers services to make them feel as pampered as their owners. Guests can also customise their stays with in-room spa treatments, specially selected pillows and a packing and unpacking service – nothing is too much for The Nolitan.

The Nolitan has the downtown lifestyle locked down and everything is aimed towards the comfort of the guests. The style of the building has been a hot topic among residents, but never have I seen a hotel make so much effort to integrate with the community. With affordable prices, thoughtful touches and an enviable location, The Nolitan is a smart choice for design-conscious travellers.

Rates start at $143 per room per night. For more info and booking, visit: nolitanhotel.com

Chérie City was a guest of The Nolitan (all photos by Chérie City).

For more New York travel ideas, read my review of:

Barcelona, Bars, Hotels, Hotels - Budget, Hotels - Design, Restaurants

Notes From Barcelona: Market Restaurant

June 3, 2010 by cheriecity

Eating in the hotel usually seems like a pretty boring option, seeing as the city is full of amazing tastes and flavours, but in this case, I couldn’t wait to try out the Market Restaurant. In fact, it felt very decadent just slinking downstairs in ridiculous heels that couldn’t withstand the rough terrain of Raval, and then rolling back upstairs without worrying about catching the last metro back.

Like the rest of the hotel, the restaurant is beautifully designed, all white-washed wood, black lanterns and mirrored cabinets. Despite stretching over three separate dining areas, it has a buzzy, intimate atmosphere and the clientele appear to be Catalan locals, which is always a good sign.

The menu is extensive and Catalan bistro-style, with a good selection of meat, fish and rice dishes and salads. As usual, Steven and I went for mostly the same dishes (well, it avoids food envy) and started with onion soup and cheese bread croutons. The soup was well-seasoned and chunky and appeared to be never ending.

We ordered a bottle of the recommended Rioja red wine, which came with hotel’s logo on the bottle and was incredibly reasonable at just 7.50 Euros! It was medium-bodied and very easy to drink, possibly one of the best house wines I’ve ever had.

Next up was a generously-sized pork escalope with fried potatoes. The escalopes were thin and but not dry, with fine breadcrumbs and seasoned with rosemary and black pepper. The chips appeared to have been cooked in nut oil and were not at all greasy. The meal was satisfying and had some interesting flavours, although it needed something to lift it slightly, so we asked for some mayo.

With hardly any room left, but a dedication to foodie reporting, Steven ordered his longtime favourite, Tiramisu, and I went for the white chocolate cake – a creamy mousse on a biscuit base with raspberry coulis and topped with crushed pistachios.

The white chocolate cake was pretty much perfection and I managed to polish off the whole thing. The Tiramisu went down well too and the mark of a good chef often lies in this dessert – get it wrong, and it’s a disaster.

Our bill came to a respectable 47 Euros for three course, bread, wine and water and we were able to charge it to the room. Many of the restaurants in the Fork & Pillow group offer set menus with all of the above for around 19 Euros each, but it seems that it wasn’t available when we were there.

After the meal, we needed a super long walk around the neighbourhood to get over the three course feast but on the second night, we had a nightcap at the hotel’s Bar Rosso.

Once again, gorgeous design with seductive red walls, mirrored doors, crystal lamps, Surrealist artwork and oriental touches. There are plenty of plush sofas and nooks for lounging and the outdoor terrace is perfect for making the most of the warm, balmy evenings.

We ordered a Whiskey Sour (7 Euros) and a Martini (4 Euros), which came with a big bowl of cashew nuts to munch on. The drinks were well mixed, the bar staff were polite and attentive and we weren’t rushed, even when the bar was closing.

The bar stays open until 2am and there is a wonderful night porter in the reception until this time, who helped us with the air con and found me a big bottle 0f water from the restaurant when there was none left at the front desk.

Market Restaurant is a must, whether you’re staying at the hotel or not, as it offers excellent quality food in a chic, comfortable and airy environment at an affordable price. It doesn’t have the tourist/business atmosphere of a regular hotel restaurant and is mostly filled with ‘in the know’ locals, so it’s best to reserve a table when you check in, or call in advance.

Market Restaurant, Comte Borrell 68, 08015 Barcelona. Tel. (+34) 93 289 01 30