Hotel Café Royal’s secrets | London hotels
It begins in 1863 when a French couple fled to London to escape creditors and arrest. Far from hiding from the spotlight, Daniel and Célestine Nichols, then later their son-in-law, drew the spotlight as they began anew by creating the Café Royal and building its reputation to become a symbol of prestige and fine dining on Regent Street. From that time on, the famous and influential made headlines there.
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David Bowie threw a party at Café Royal to celebrate the retirement of Ziggy Stardust with Mick Jagger and other iconic stars in attendance. More recently, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell hosted an after-party with Harry Styles and Cara Delevingne in attendance. H G Wells, Oscar Wilde (rumoured to have fallen in love there), Virginia Woolf and many more writers and artists met, ate, drank and socialised in Café Royal and politicians such as Winston Churchill and political refugees from France dined at the restaurant often. When Nichols chose “Royal” for its name, no doubt he expected royalty to come and they did — notably, Princess Diana dined there often. During my recent stay, I came across a photo of the Queen Mother sitting authoritatively at a table of stern, largely mustachioed men before a banquet at Café Royal. I’ve no doubt that the list of famous patrons of the restaurant and their fascinating stories are likely much, much longer than are publicised.
Star struck
Then again, some stories are lauded. Upstairs, in an unassuming, but classic private dining room, photos of Ziggy Stardust’s last party fill the walls. In Harper’s Bazzar, Angie Bowie writes,
“I thought that holding the party at the Café Royal would bring out the celebrities, and it did.”
I wasn’t born yet when that party took place, but I didn’t need to be to feel the weight of it all while I walked around the room, taking in these moments captured on film. The smiles and casual poses, coupled with the connection between two points in time, bound by the common variable of place, could have taken me back in time to that night, had I tried hard enough.
A new era
In 2008, the restaurant closed for renovation and restoration. When its metamorphosis was complete, it re-opened as the Hotel Café Royal, a five-star luxury hotel that hadn’t lost sight of its culinary roots.
Today, the hotel is a convergence of the classic and contemporary, the witty and the serious, traditions and nonconformism.
Harmony
When David and I were shown to our one-bedroom suite by our butler, I immediately fell in love with the lightly irreverent humour of the wall art, coexisting peacefully with the modern fixtures and luxurious materials. The smooth simplicity of the Portland stone walls and Carrara marble covering nearly every bit of the bathroom and wet room were strangely peaceful after a day outside in the London bustle. As another lovely juxtaposition, our view of Picadilly Circus below was terribly exciting.
Indulgent dining in Laurent
That night we dined in Laurent at Café Royal, the hotel’s largest restaurant, on a cheesy Yorkshire pudding, autumn grits with wild mushrooms and sea bass. For dessert, we found room for a salted caramel sundae with kettle corn. A dinner as flavourful as this one is proof that Hotel Café Royal still places serious priority on delivering a dining experience worthy of its legendary restaurant name. During our hours-long meal, we had the pleasure of two pleasant servers, both of whom had an impressive knowledge of the food they were about to serve.
Finally, I can’t end my story without figuratively dipping my toe in the water of the amaranthine peace awaiting guests in the underground spa. Akasha, a one-of-a-kind wellness club, will truly separate one’s mind from all sense of time and place. Its centrepiece is a still pool surrounded by treatment and mediation rooms. All guests are welcome to spend a restorative hour or several inside and staff can arrange treatments not found anywhere else such as The Four Elements, a full-body wellness journey performed in and out of the water.
My recommendation
Hotel Café Royal, Laurent and Akasha together make one of the best five-star hotel experiences available anywhere in the world. Tip: reserve a suite with a view, make dinner reservations and pre-book your wellness treatment early so you too can experience the five-star trifecta experience. Reservations can be made online on the Hotel Café Royal’s website.
A warm thank you
Thank you so much to Flora Cheverton for a lovely tour and arrangement of this memorable experience.
