Mr & Mrs Smith

The 1770 House

The Hamptons, United States

The 1770 House boutique hotel in East Hampton is a picket-fenced posy of lush gardens, antique furnishings, primly pastel wallpaper, swags and valances. Wifi, iPod docks and flatscreen TVs keep its homely nostalgia in check, as does the impressive restaurant, where a seasonal menu of locally sourced surf and turf is served in a deceptively modest, candlelit dining room.

Need to know

• Rooms Seven, including one two-bedroom cottage.
• Rates Double rooms from $395.00, excluding tax at 11.63 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional service charge of 5% per room per night on checkout.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency ($395), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include breakfast and, in high season, a beach parking pass.
• Facilities Gardens, free WiFi. In rooms: flatscreen TV, iPod dock, Dean & Deluca snacks.
• Poolside None on site, but you can use the pool and patio tucked behind a thicket of white pines at sister property, East Hampton Point (up Three Mile Harbor Road).
• Check-out 11am (later by request when feasible); earliest check-in, 2pm.
• Children The hotel is primarily for adults, although children are welcomed. Book a cot for US$75.
• Also No pets. You’ll need to stay at least three nights over July, August and public-holiday weekends.

Food and drink at The 1770 House

• Hotel restaurant In this candlelit 12-table dining room, oriental rugs, rattan chairs and floral seat cushions feel as homely as Thanksgiving at auntie’s, but chef Kevin Penner’s menu, featuring dishes such as roasted Iowa pork loin and pan-fried diver scallops, is no turkey, with ingredients that are seasonal and local wherever possible. Take it onto the terrace and dine around the fountain on starlit summer nights.
• Dress code Preppy chic – take your finest Ralph Lauren Polo casuals and Ray-Bans.
• Top table Ask for table 10 for whisper-in-the-corner romance; table six to overlook the twinkling garden lights; table seven to seat a crowd in the bay window.
• Last orders 10pm; drinks can be ordered to your room until the Tavern bar closes, between 10.30pm and midnight.
• Room service Order anything from the restaurant menu (iced oysters, for example) during restaurant hours, from 5.30pm.
• Hotel bar Historic speakeasy, the Tavern is a small, dimly lit bar in the basement with bench seating, stained glass windows and exposed brickwork. Here, you can dine informally on burgers, oysters, clams and the like. A cosier spot for a glass of cabernet is the library in the main house, which has fireside sofas.

The 1770 House 143 Main Street, The Hamptons, 11937