A Look Inside London’s Historic Hotel Café Royal

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Royal

Hotel Café Royal has been around for 150 years. Today it remains one of the chicest and most fabulous hotels in all of London. Situated on Regent Street just steps away from Piccadilly, it offers a tremendous amount of energy, great shopping and a culinary vortex of impeccable dining options.

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Royal

Some of the most luminary figures in the world have passed through the doors over the years— the likes of Oscar Wilde, Mohamed Ali, Winston Churchill and David Bowie, to name a few. Inspired by David Bowie, the hotel boasts an amazing new bar called Ziggy where I had the pleasure of entertaining a group of friends during my stay. We privatized the bar one evening and had the most fabulous time, and of course, everywhere you looked there was an expertly curated selection of David Bowie insignia with some of our favorite tracks in the background.

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Roya

Close to Ziggy’s is the main hotel restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised when I made my way into the Café Royal and discovered that the famed Laurent Tourondel is the chef de cuisine. Laurent is one of my all-time favorite French chefs who I have followed for many years. While he is based in New York, this London outpost is now one of my favorites too. We enjoyed some fabulous dishes, complemented by chic décor while overlooking the hub and the craziness on Regent Street below. If you want something a little more quiet and subdued, you can be seated on one of the balconies above the atrium.

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Royal

To escape the madness, one of the best antidotes is to disconnect and make your way to Akasha Holistic Wellbeing, the No. 1-rated spa in London. It’s one of the most serene spa locations—you have no idea that you are on a ground level because all of the treatment rooms are surrounded by an enormous, glimmering swimming pool in a cave of honed stone. The spa has everything from a stretch room to multiple treatment rooms, saunas, hammams and a very Zen meditation room.

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Royal

The rooms—for me the most important part of any hotel—are exquisitely appointed. I highly recommend one of the corner suites, endowed with large, floor-to-ceiling windows and Juliette balconies opening directly over Piccadilly Circus. With very high imposing ceilings and carved stone walls from top to bottom, it’s much like living in a fabulous luxury apartment. You arrive in the atrium with a series of huge bronze doors leading either to a guest bathroom, the main bathroom, a bedroom, a closet or a living room. I was very impressed by the colors: Muted shades of cream, taupe and stone, brought alive with soft lavender, Napa leather and pillows to match. The bathroom was one of the most spacious and sumptuous I have seen in a long time, also boasting floor-to-ceiling windows, walk-in showers and completely clad in honed stone and marble.

Photo Credit: Hotel Café Royal

All in all, the Hotel Café Royal offered everything necessary for a fabulous getaway destination, wonderfully encapsulating London style and culture in an alluring, tasteful and very chic manner.