The Montcalm Mayfair is an upscale hotel that’s looking more dapper than ever after a two-year refurbishment. It’s the flagship of the Montcalm Collection, which has properties sprinkled around London, and is also part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection.
The hotel’s setting is so nice and quiet, it’s almost hard to believe you’re less than 200m from Oxford Street (widely touted as Europe’s busiest shopping strip).
With 151 guest rooms, including 31 suites, and a string of appealing spots in which to eat, drink, relax, chat and people watch, the Montcalm Mayfair occupies a crescent of Georgian buildings that were badly damaged in World War II but whose elegant curving facades have been smartly restored.
Entering the lobby, greeted by the flat-capped doormen, I’m struck by a botanical fragrance and an aura that veers from serene to buzzing with several cosy areas to sit and linger, some more secluded than others (the 14-guest private dining room may interest if you’re here as a group).
From the potted plants to the herbivorous cocktails served at the marble bar, a nature theme pervades here, inspired by the hotel’s location — a pocket of London that was once an ancient woodland.
Buoyed by a concept coined “sensitive luxury”, nature seeps from the public areas into the guest rooms and suites with the design including sustainably-sourced furniture and items like bins and ice boxes handmade with recycled timber and bottles.
More than 800 pieces of art decorate the hotel, with vegetation among the motifs.
Though the immediate neighbourhood is pretty built-up, leafiness isn’t far away. Hyde Park is five minutes away on foot from Montcalm Mayfair and you’re even closer to Marble Arch Tube station if you’d like to branch out to other verdant areas of London, which is frequently ranked as one of the top-10 greenest cities on the planet.
For many tourists, however, it’s the West End’s shopping, shows, museums and galleries that are high on the agenda. There’s a feast of boutiques, department stores and entertainment venues within walking distance of the hotel but it’s reassuring to know you’ve got a tranquil base to return to.
With nightly rates from around £273 ($519), reasonable for central London, this doesn’t have to be a bank-breaking stay.
The entry-level studio rooms are 18-square-metres in size and boast a king-size bed, Frette linens and products by British perfume house Penhaligon’s. There are various suite options, some with bedding for multiple guests.
We’re in a Montcalm Suite, a 63sqm retreat with two living areas and two bathrooms, including one with a tub to soak any tired limbs. While being in London means you have pretty much every type of cuisine in the world to choose from, some guests can’t resist the hotel’s bar and restaurant, Lilli by Akira Back, part of the Michelin-studded portfolio of the Seoul-born, Aspen-raised chef.
At Montcalm Mayfair, Back blends his trademark Korean and Japanese influences with seasonal British ingredients and heritage.
We mull the inventive dining menu over cocktails (£20/$38 each). My Walnut Estate tipple is apparently an ode to the walnut trees of English country estates and fuses bourbon whiskey, Oloroso sherry, honey water and walnut bitter.
My partner, meanwhile, has a Blossom Americano, which blends gin with Mancino sakura vermouth, Beesou honey liqueur, raspberry and orange blossom soda.
Both open our palettes for a clutch of dishes that can be enjoyed individually but which we decide to share. Highlights include tuna pizza with umami aioli and white truffle oil, miso black cod with den miso and hajikami, wagyu fried rice, and beef wellington with black garlic teriyaki.
Desserts are rich and delicious and one is large enough to share. Try the chocolate tart or baked Alaska. For dinner for two with wine — we enjoy glasses of Rioja Crianza — you’ll find yourself parting company with the best part of three $100 Australian notes (the ones starring Dame Nellie Melba, one of the pioneering characters the hotel has chosen to represent the neighbourhood’s diverse cultural history).
Others include the 18th-century literary critic and social reformer Elizabeth Montagu and 20th-century florist and author Constance Spry.
The following morning, we have breakfast beneath a floral ceiling mural in the hotel’s brightly-lit bar-lounge, where there’s a good continental buffet that you can boost with orders from the a la carte menu.
We can recommend the traditional full English and the more adventurous masala omelette, which brims with the kind of flavours you don’t typically get at breakfast in London (a tempting alternative is the kimchi shakshuka).
Afternoon tea is another possibility at the hotel and if you’re a fan of pampering, you’ll be keen to check out the YATRA Signature Spa. I take the lift downstairs in my 100 per cent cotton robes for a soothing, oil-infused back and shoulder massage. As well as four treatment rooms (options from 30-120 minutes), there is a plunge pool, Jacuzzi, fitness studio and infrared sauna and steam room.
Rather dramatically billed as “your sanctuary for holistic renewal”, this spa is another string to the hotel’s impressive bow.
+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Montcalm Mayfair hotel and Visit Britain. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication. fact file + To book a stay or a table at Montcalm Mayfair, see montcalmcollection.com/montcalm-mayfair + For more information on visiting London and Britain, see visitlondon.com and visitbritain.com
