What’s the story?
Magpies flock to blingy west London; style-conscious yuppies go east — but a smart, no-nonsense crowd are beelining for an area many fail to consider for a break at all: London’s Square Mile, where its newest hotel lies just 100m from St Paul’s. Part of Hilton’s boutiquey Curio Collection (launched in 2014), the new Lost Property has views of the cathedral from four of its 145 rooms and gives a nod to its dazzling neighbour through a series of domed design motifs throughout. The hotel’s chef is winning hearts in the restaurant, but it’s the doorstep-access to the City’s sights, bars and dining that will draw guests in.
What do we like?
Adjoining the lobby, Tattle, the hotel’s coffee shop, is so chic that we can’t help but wish the bedrooms — whose alternating red and blue colour scheme is a few hues shy of a gender reveal party — had taken a leaf out of its woody, green leather bound book. What the rooms do have going for them, however, are well-lit bathrooms, giant TVs and playful artworks, which star dodos and old-timey antiquities as a riff on the hotel’s “lost in time” theme.
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This concept is executed best through the Murano glass bird chandeliers that hang above the restaurant’s long, resin-river table (which doubles as the breakfast buffet come morning). Each bird represented is now extinct, and a plaque on the wall reveals their long-lost stories. It works well too for the cocktail menu, which revives old-school classics such as sidecars and sazeracs, but not quite so well in the clunky mural at reception, depicting “lost moments” from around the City.
A standard room
VIKTOR KERY
The restaurant, Found, is headed up by the passionate Rumel Pinnock, whose menu crams in the crowd-pleasers (his pan-fried sea bass, dripping in champagne velouté and avruga caviar, and the honey-roasted duck breast jostle for best dish). And there’s a set menu if you want more bang for your buck. Behind the royal blue bar, affable bartenders prefer to use their imaginations — describe your palate and they’ll whip up something indulgent to suit. Otherwise, the house cocktail menu, inscribed “Sweet libations and audacious tales”, has you covered.
What’s nearby?
You might have guessed I’m a fan of the location: St Paul’s, Fleet Street and Bank are a hive of secret courtyards, baroque archways and endless folklore, where worker bees have to duck their heads below the beams of 500-year-old pubs. You won’t have to fight the festive shopping crowds either (although One New Change, home to many big brands, is a five-minute walk from the hotel). Plus, you’re a short stroll across the Millennium Bridge from the sparky South Bank and the Tate Modern, whose Magdalena Abakanowicz exhibition (until May 21, £16, tate.org.uk) was recently unveiled to rave reviews.
Hannah Ralph was a guest of Lost Property. Room-only doubles from £170 (lostpropertyhotel.com)
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