Short Stay: Roseate House, Hyde Park, London, UK

Short stay: Roseate House, Hyde Park, London, UK

Roseate House London is a white stucco confection of a 48-room boutique hotel a five-minute walk from Hyde Park. An invitation to revisit a time when London aspired to become the next Athens or Rome.

Dating back to 1842, three Grade 2 listed townhouses with classic columns and balustraded balconies make up this worthy retreat of modern living. Still, with a quiet jazz-funk soundtrack playing in the bar, a chic gray carpet, and gray paint from the lamp - Roseate House London is all the rage contemporary.

Westbourne Terrace, named after one of London's lost rivers that now flows underground, is often considered one of the capital's most beautiful streets. Tall London plane trees in architecture and shade are reminiscent of a Victorian era that was built and planted with an eye on posterity. Although Roseate House London is currently popular as a staycation, The Hyde Bar, with its 72-page Story of Whiskey, offers a world tour: Campbelltown, Highland, Japan, India, United States and beyond. Cocktails, gin, vodka and wine aren't overlooked either.

Home

Clarissa, from Rome, welcomes us. She checks our temperature and disinfects our luggage while we admire the scenery.

A long time ago the hotel offered an honesty bar at the reception. Although the bar is no longer functioning, its backlit shelves of gins and whiskeys have been incorporated into the internal architecture.

Bedroom

A handcrafted Bellestrata four poster bed, topped with a sumptuous silk ceiling peaking in a creamy pink and dressed in the finest Irish linens, is featured in our Junior Suite. A living room offers a salmon paisley tapestry sofa, a comfortable chair, premium tea and coffee. Vast lined curtains, thicker than a clipper mainsail, hang above the high windows.

Original oil paintings hung on Roseate's warm walls and handcrafted mahogany furniture create a reassuring Victorian vibe.

The bathroom

A spacious and bright bathroom is decidedly contemporary, with limestone fittings, rather than Victorian. Lefroy Brooks, the Rolls Royce of plumbing, provides the sparkling faucets.

Penhaligon Blenheim Bouquet toiletries are provided. It's an intoxicating scent of lemon, black pepper and pine first created for the Duke of Marlborough at his countryside headquarters in Blenheim.

Facilities

Before the pandemic, executive chef Rajesh Maharjan had planned to create an innovative new menu based on his experiences in Delhi, Dubai and Bray where he had developed his ideas by working with a range of international cuisines.

Currently, these ideas appear on the reduced menu all day. A mango and avocado relish, as well as a cucumber and fennel salad accompany the crab cake entry. King Shrimp Tagliatelle is a royal fusion of east-west pasta including bock choy, coconut, and Thai red curry. The key to a vegan meat and red jus burger is the jack fruit that mimics the texture of beef, accompanied by a stack of jenga-block chips.

A star of the dessert menu is a volcano engulfed in dark chocolate fondant with a melted middle contrasting with cherry ice cream, enhanced with a sweet caramel sauce. Equally tempting is a vanilla cheesecake with a mixed berry compote.

Location

Just a five-minute walk from Paddington Station and the Heathrow Express, Roseate House London is a quietly sophisticated alternative to an airport hotel and a great option for those visiting London for the weekend and wanting to explore it all. that the city has to offer.

The 350 acres of Hyde Park are a five-minute walk away, where you can watch and listen to the great British democratic tradition of Speakers' Corner or head to Serpentine Lake.

It is also not far from the Puppet Theater Barge and Jason's Canal Boat which will take you on a tour of London's Little Venice.

Other nice touches

Jonty Hearnden, Antiques tour expert, curated a collection of original artwork, including many oil paintings, which create the sense of Victorian decorum. In our sequel, alongside still lifes in flower oil, there are line drawings of two chubby cardinals sharing a joke and a lawyer whispering to a skinny defendant.

Recently launched is a Work from Roseate offering that provides a quiet luxury workstation away from busy homes. Conferencing speed internet is suitable for video calls and streaming services. Throughout the day you will have access to coffee, tea and water, lunch at Hyde Bar and Restaurant or delivered by room service, as well as a well-deserved end-of-day cocktail.

The cost

A junior suite starts at around £ 250 per night including breakfast.

The best song

"For Medicinal Use Only" reads the label on an Old Mock whiskey that was distilled in early 1916 and bottled 18 summers later, during Prohibition, in Louisville, Kentucky. The "patients" paid their doctors to write a prescription for a dose of whiskey. Today, whiskey connoisseurs, who order this bourbon history dram, unsurprisingly kept in the Hyde Bar safe, will have to pay generously.

The cocktail menu is an archive of taste. Presumably a Modern maid from 1905 is still popular with young girls while a Vowel from 1927 can improve your speech.

The final verdict

When Westbourne Terrace was built, the UK's mission was to export culture and civilization to a growing empire. Now originally from India, Roseate House London brings understated Victorian decorum to one of the capital's main streets.

Disclosure: Our stay was sponsored by Roseate House London.