Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong occupies a 25-storey block at 5 Connaught Road Central, on the harbour side of Hong Kong's financial district. It opened in 1963 as The Mandarin and is the house that gave its name to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. For six decades it has been the hotel where Central does business: bankers in the Clipper Lounge at breakfast, lawyers in the Captain's Bar after work, dinners in Man Wah on the top floor.

History

The hotel was built on the site of the old Queen's Building, a Victorian office block on the waterfront, and opened in 1963 under the Hongkong Land company. At the time it was among the tallest buildings in the city and the first in Hong Kong to offer bathtubs and direct-dial telephones in every room, a detail the hotel still likes to recall. In 1974 the company took a stake in The Oriental in Bangkok, and in 1985 the two names were joined as Mandarin Oriental, the group that now runs hotels on four continents.

The hotel closed for nine months in 2005 and 2006 for a complete renovation that rebuilt the rooms, restaurants and spa while keeping the lobby and the Captain's Bar. It reopened in September 2006. The hotel is also remembered for a sadder date: the singer and actor Leslie Cheung died after falling from the 24th floor on 1 April 2003, and fans still gather outside each year.

Architecture and design

The building, designed by Leigh and Orange, is a rectangular tower with a horizontal rhythm of balconies and a double-height lobby. The renovation of 2006 retained its mid-century proportions and replaced the interiors with a quieter palette of black lacquer, gold leaf and silk. The Clipper Lounge on the mezzanine overlooks the lobby, and Man Wah on the 25th floor keeps its low ceiling and lanterns, with windows on the harbour.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 501 rooms and suites, large for Central, many with balconies, which are rare in Hong Kong. Harbour-facing rooms look over the Star Ferry pier to Kowloon; city-facing rooms look up to the Peak. The Macau Suite and the Mandarin Suite are among the signature suites, and the hotel keeps a Clipper Lounge breakfast tradition for regulars.

Dining

Man Wah, opened in 1968, is the Cantonese restaurant on the 25th floor and holds a Michelin star. Mandarin Grill and Bar is the hotel's grill room. The Krug Room is a small chef's table behind the kitchen. The Captain's Bar, with its wood panelling and silver tankards, has been the meeting place of Central since 1963, and the Chinnery, named after the painter George Chinnery, is a club-like whisky bar. The Mandarin Cake Shop is known for its rose-petal jam.

Wellness

The Mandarin Spa occupies two floors and includes a heated indoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and Chinese-style treatment rooms. The hotel's barber shop, the Mandarin Barber, is an institution of its own.

Weddings and events

The hotel hosts weddings, banquets and meetings in its function rooms, which include a ballroom-scale room on the lower floors and smaller salons for boardroom meetings and private dinners. Chinese wedding banquets of many tables are a speciality, as is the pre-wedding tea ceremony.

Location

The hotel stands between Statue Square and the harbour, a short walk from the Star Ferry pier, the International Finance Centre and the Landmark shopping complex, where its sister hotel The Landmark Mandarin Oriental opened in 2005. Central MTR station and Hong Kong station of the Airport Express are reached on foot in a few minutes, the latter under cover for most of the way. For a luxury hotel in Hong Kong at the exact centre of the business district, this is the address that others measure themselves against.