Living in wonderland at Claridge's
Richard McComb finds Claridge’s simply enchanting as he follows the Yellow Brick Road to a magic kingdom in Mayfair.
Standing outside the floral-decked entrance to Claridge’s, taking a pre-cocktail bask in the late afternoon sun, a vignette illustrates the dreadful burdens of the agonisingly rich.
Three youngish folk dressed in faded jeans and T-shirts, designer gofers to a Saudi prince or an international recording star (both are in residence), scuttle along Brook Street laden with gargantuan Louis Vuitton shopping bags.
The contents of the cord-handled “carrier” bags exceeds the value of most domestic homes and yet one feels a pang of sympathy for the perspiring trio as they try to negotitate the hotel’s revolving main door. It’s a tricky proposition, slotting a few hundred thousand pounds of luxury leather clobber through a spinning aperture. And yet they pull it off with a little help from the porters, who are never flustered. They see this every day.
With such wealth on show, you might imagine popping into Claridge’s, let alone dining and bedding down for the night, would be a less than relaxing experience. I’ve been in hotels where the reputation of the place instils a frozen reverence among all those who come to worship within, be they globe-trotting CEOs, celebs or rubber-neckers.
The picture could not be more different at Claridge’s. Somehow the palatial Mayfair retreat manages to fuse an oozing sense of Britishness with something terribly modern. Rightly proud of its heritage, Claridge’s is outward looking, not shackled by a time-capsule mentality.
History and royal associations are tastefully celebrated – the Queen Mum regularly popped in for drinkies and a nibble – and there are black and white portraits of illustrious former showbiz residents. Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are among the Hollywood greats who were drawn to the hotel. More recently, Kate Moss celebrated her 30th birthday with a bash in a penthouse suite. David Walliams and leggy new bride Lara Stone had a post-wedding party.
The building may date from 1898, the work of Harrods’ designer C W Stephens, but its aesthetic appeal endures. The Art Deco flourishes of Basil Ionides and Oswald Milne, the stunning mirrors, the updated Foyer and Reading Room, everything is a visual feast.
We enjoyed a two-night stay with our daughters – who are 11 and 14 – and neither of them, and, crucially, their parents, felt anything over than totally, utterly relaxed. And pampered, obviously. Oh yes, hugely pampered. We had inter-connecting king deluxe rooms on the seventh floor, in the newest part of the hotel.
The delightful porter-operated lift, the oldest in London, only gets as far as the sixth floor, so I’d suggest taking advantage of the “in-flight” seats, to preserve energy for the gentle steps up to the top rooms and suites.
The sixth floor is home to Claridge’s beauty and fitness rooms, where you can be waxed, plucked and pummelled in readiness for your Vanity Fair shoot or summer ball. They also run “assisted stretching” clinics and escorted jogs around Mayfair. It’s very Madonna. (She was there last week.)
But if this sounds too strenuous, do what we did – and follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Claridge’s is running a fun Wizard of Oz experience until the end of August, from £635 per night (including breakfast for up to four guests) for two rooms.
The enduring story of one girl and a dog – and a pair of ruby slippers – has been given fresh impetus by the BBC’s Over The Rainbow show. Now little girls and big girls, and possibly a few big boys, have the chance to live out their dream of being Dorothy in the comfort of a luxury room at Claridge’s. The hotel package includes a gingham picnic basket filled with Oz-tastic treats such as edible ruby slippers, dinky sandwiches, yellow macaroons, finger puppets of the characters, a Wizard of Oz storybook and DVD. Within seconds of being shown to our rooms, there was a knock at the door and a waiter appeared, beautifully choreographed, bearing a tray of blueberry blizzard smoothies. What a wizard idea.
The rooms, like the public areas, are beautifully appointed with gorgeous bathrooms. The marble-surround bath goes down as the most enjoyable I have ever had the pleasure to float in. Chuck in a sachet of bath salts, soak, switch off.
Lovely. If it all gets too much, there’s an old-fashioned buzzer to alert the butler.
Bodily revival turns a young, and older man’s, thought to a pre-dinner snifter. Claridge’s has two bars.
The luscious Fumoir, all aubergine hues, crystal lighting, Lalique and leather, was otherwise engaged with a party, so Sally and I headed to the Claridge’s Bar. It’s hardly settling for second best. Designed in the mid-90s by David Collins, the original Art Deco touches have been enhanced with red leather banquettes, a silver-leafed ceiling and a green glass chandelier.
My attention, though, was focused on the dazzling bar, where we pulled up a stool. Here, you can decandently drink yourself to bankruptcy on the Champagne list or go for one of the well-priced signature cocktails. My keen sense of geography – and thirst for anything in a Martini glass – drew me to a Brook Street (named after the street which is five yards away). The cocktail is made with Jensen’s Old Tom gin, dark Antica Formula vermouth, orange peel, a dash of Angostura Bitters and a twist of lemon peel. A wonderful drink. I should have had a couple.
There are oodles of dining options at Claridge’s. We enjoyed a couple of delightful meals in the leather-columned Reading Room, which must rank as one of the most relaxing and discreet dining spots in central London. The three-course menu du jour, attuned to the seasons, is £35 (half the price of Ramsay’s restaurant at Claridge’s) and offers light, clean flavours.
Starters included classic, untarted asparagus, a pea risotto with broad beans and snails, and parcels of smoked salmon filled with gently smoked eel. All good. For mains, we had the flavoursome fillet of beef, guinea fowl with sauté potatoes and halibut with green lentils.
Desserts are classically inspired – Eton mess, pineapples cooked two ways – and decent cheese, served properly with celery instead of silly dried fruits and mountains of icky chutney.
The wine list is epic but there are no sneers for drinking at the modest end of the list. We had a particuarly good, correctly cool Beaujolais for under £40.
A visit to Claridge’s wouldn’t be complete without afternoon tea. The Foyer, under the Lady Gaga-esque silver white “light sculpture,” is a dream for lovers of quintessential English afternoon indulgence. Ladies in posh frocks giggled and chinked Champagne flutes but we went for a classic pot of darjeeling tea.
Tea like this is an unbridled joy, regularly refreshed and rigorously refreshing. There are pretty finger sandwiches, including classic cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon and curried chicken.
The scones – both raisin and apple versions – are superb, streets ahead of the microwaved, reheated rubbish I recently had at Fortnum & Mason, served with light Devonshire clotted cream.
The cakes, too, are first class – a strawberry and cream fluffer, a chocolate and orange dome, an apple-strudelesque tart. Congratulations to the pastry chef for the wonderful (gluten-free) dark chocolate and blackcurrent cake.
The service throughout Claridge’s is impeccable and the place is a national treasure. If they could bottle it, it would smell of the finest English garden rose.
I almost cried when we left.
* Travel Info
* Claridge’s, Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HR. T: 0207 629 8860. See www.claridges.co.uk, or email: info@claridges.co.uk
* The Wizard of Oz package is valid to August 31, subject to availability. Rates are for two superior king-bedded rooms, exclusive of VAT and a discretionary service charge of five per cent. Offer applies to two adults and two children up to the age of 16 only.
* Richard McComb and family travelled from Birmingham (Moor Street station) to London Marylebone as guests of Chiltern Railways. For timetable information and a summary of fares, go to www.chilternrailways.co.uk
