Henrietta Hotel

Let’s start with a full disclosure, just in case anyone might accuse me of being anything other than impartial in this review.

I am, indeed, utterly biased. I have enjoyed the company of (and significant amounts of alcohol with) the Experimental Group’s gorgeous founding Frenchmen and their gorgeous wives and partners on several occasions. From the moment the Experimental Cocktail Club opened its doors in Chinatown it was my hangout of choice until I stopped hanging out in cocktail clubs altogether (thanks to that common condition known as parenthood). Sister bars in Paris, New York and Ibiza would also top my list whenever I was in town.

Now, opening their first hotel in London, they’ve sweetly named it after me. How could I not be a little, shall we say, ‘favourably inclined’, from the off?

The Henrietta Hotel – which some might claim was in fact named for the street in Covent Garden on which it is situated – is a cosy 18-bedroom boutique address with a playful-yet-luxurious interior design by Dorothée Meilichzon. As the Group’s first hotel in London (but not, I have on good authority, their last), reviews have so far been unanimously favourable everywhere from fashion blogs to Forbes. And given that the menus, the pencils and the towels all literally have my name on them, regardless of my bias, that’s really a relief.

Naturally it was necessary for Mr Smith and I to test it out for ourselves so, despite the fact it’s a short hop from our own front door in Islington, we booked in anonymously for a wintery weekend in late November. Which, it turns out, is a magical time for this corner of Covent Garden. Those cold, wet, dark evenings we’d all been getting used to were suddenly made lovely. Central London, transformed with Christmas promise and candlelight, shopfronts and cafés lit up with gorgeousness and glitter, seemed more inviting than it had in months. Before the last minute must-buy-everything panic dash inexplicably sets in a couple of weeks later, it’s a time of year that sparkles with ideas and inspiration, while mulled wine and hot chocolate put reality in a dreamy soft focus.

Having accidentally walked passed the front door more than once, we eventually checked in to the Henrietta just in time for cocktail hour and were led straight up to our room on the second floor, which overlooked the street and had plenty of room to swing a cat (or a cot – should you be traveling with a small one in tow), and to stand far enough back to happily Instagram all the picturesque design details. From the Art Deco pink bathrooms to the midnight blue bedroom walls, the deep forest-green details and brass bedside lamps – the look is eclectic and fun; sophisticated yet unexpected. And it’s all brought majestically together by one of the enormous statement headboard that have become Meilichzon’s signatures.

It was so nice, and – it being the Friday evening after a particularly energetic week or seven – Mr Smith and I took one look at the room, one look at each other and instantly agreed: we weren’t going to leave again until, ooh, sometime on Saturday At Least. The enormous double-ended bath was run. Sancerre, saucisson and a selection of other various snacks were summoned from room service, to be followed a short while later with a full meal served hot from the restaurant downstairs. Our staycation was in full swing.

The mark of a great hotel is whether it can help you to unwind, regardless of how comfortable your normal daily life might be. Even with no spa or a library to spread out into, the Henrietta rose to the occasion admirably. More than a nice change of décor, and the delights of an unusual minibar selection and the bathroom’s cute amenities (the Henrietta provides a little bag with a selection of gorgeous brands), more than the lack of endless chores that would be demanding our attention if we were at home, the Henrietta is just a lovely a place to spend time in. It’s a little boutique world unto itself.

Perhaps it’s the service – and this is something that the Experimental Group pride themselves on – or the comfortingly soft upholstery, low lighting and dark walls. Perhaps it’s the sense of history that pervades: with painter Samuel Scott and actress Kitty Clive as former residents of the street, and this very building once housing the office of Victor Gollancz Ltd, publisher of George Orwell, Kingsley Amis and John Le Carré among others…

Actually, do you know what it is? It’s the madeleines. Oh My God The Madeleines. If there’s one thing you need to remember if you ever stay here, it’s to order the madeleines. Freshly baked, hot from the oven, fragrant with tonka beans and served with a bucket of Chantilly cream, these are something else. They are beyond. They are heaven in cake form and worth every second of the 15-minute wait.

On the Saturday we slept in, we brunched and we ventured out for the day to absorb all the culture on our doorstep. The National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery are a two-minute stroll, and all the bars and shops of Covent Garden are even more inviting when you have only a 30-second roll from your bed to get there. That evening we dined in the Henrietta’s restaurant proper, surrounded by a sociable buzz and that happy, relaxed and oh-so-stylish atmosphere the Experimentals create so effortlessly in all their properties.

We had more madeleines for dessert and took another portion upstairs. And please know that I say this with no bias whatsoever: I highly recommend you do the same.