Adrie Reinders

A piece of Thailand in London

Nahm, 5 Halkin Street, London W1

This week I had dinner in NAHM, a Thai restaurant located in the Halkin hotel – what an experience!! It’s an absolute treat for both your taste buds and your eyes. For once, not a Thai restaurant with all the normal Thai decorations, but an Italian decor with Italian service – perfect combination with the refinement of the food.
As a starter I had the special of the day, lobster salad which I would highly recommend – very refined flavours. As a main I opted for the stir fried beef with fresh vegetables and steamed rice. As I was preparing this blog, I found out that they were the first Thai restaurant in Europe that received a Michelin star. Whilst it does not normally guide me in my choice to eat somewhere, it is an indication of just how good Nahm is. The service was perfect, professional and friendly and I always appreciate that when you are leaving they remember your name and shake your hand. It’s the small touches that I often miss at other restaurants.

Comfort of Nahm is fine – and the decor is peaceful.

In short – not just a recommendation, but a Must Do!

Food: 9,5
Comfort: 8
Service: 9
Price/Quality: 8.5

A special hotel for special people

Halkin Hotel London
www.halkin.como.bz
5 W Halkin St
London, SW1X, United Kingdom

The Halkin Hotel in London is of extraordinary elegance, and positioned in a quiet neighbourhood nearby St. James and Hyde Park. It’s close to all the great shops with highlight Harrods, within walking distance. The hotel would almost qualify as a boutique hotel, given the number of rooms. The entrance and lobby are spacious and reception is professional and friendly. The hotel has a fabulous restaurant (more in a separate blog) and gym to work of the calories you may have enjoyed in the former! All the rooms have a beautiful, calming interior design and a wonderful lighting system controlled from a panel. Definitely a good place to sit down and work for a while with all creature comforts surrounding you.

The bathroom has been designed in an english/italian mix, just as a bathroom should be. Two disadvantages to the Halkin are the fact that the towels aren’t very soft, and the pillows much too thin and not enough of them.

Definitely worth booking a room here if you have to be in that part of London, and since the hotel was commissioned by Armani – all personnel is dressed by that label heightening the sense of elegance.

Comfort: 9
Service: 8,5
Breakfast: 8
Price/Quality: 8,5

Alternative for Heathrow

It surprises me time and time again how few people really use London City Airport. If you do not have to catch a connecting flight to other countries, London City is a much better option then either Heathrow or Gatwick. Heathrow in particular is a disaster these days, endless queues, infinite distances to cover on foot and long check-ins, all in all you really need more then a few hours to get through. At London City, the short check-in is wonderful and the security check is done efficiently with about as many lines open as the whole of Heathrow.Even the people at VLM are very service oriented and friendly to help you change your flight. On top of all that, there is a perfect connection to the City of London (the DLR, Docklands Light Railway) which isn’t far from the airport in any case. London City Airport has a single-runway – and is only used by airliners with short take-offs and landings. You can fly to City airport from many other European cities – from the Netherlands, there are two airlines that have a reasonable amount of flights each day.

Definitely a huge time saving if you have meetings in the City itself.

Efficiency: 8.5
Service/Security: 8

W Hotel, The Court, 39th Street,  New York, NY

To me, the W Hotels are almost like a lifestyle hotel. About 6 years ago, I stayed in the W Court Hotel in New York once a month on average, W Hotels were a novelty then still. Each W is presented as a Hotel with a hip and trendy bar, the latter getting busy after 5 pm with people meeting up after work. Later in the evening, these bars become more of a club with loud music and different lighting.
When I was at the Court Hotel 6 years ago, it came across as a new experience, a novelty which appeared refreshing in the staid hotel world. I the meantime, as regular readers of this blog know, I have been to many other, and more modern W’s. So my return to the Court after all these years was a disappointment – the hotel really can do with an upgrade. It has clearly been overused, not to say abused and the rooms no longer what I have come to expect of a W. Small, old-fashioned type bathroom, small room which did not look very fresh – in short, it fell below my expectation. The breakfast room is fine, the service always excellent – even including some staff that had been there 6 years ago who still recognised me.

All-in-all though – I would not recommend the Court for your stay in New York

Comfort: 6
Service:  8
Price/Quality: 7

Comment: The Starwood Hotel group should not just continue to add W hotels at a high rate, but keep updating and refreshing the older hotels in the chain to ensure the overall experience stays at the highest possible level.

The Wapping Project, London, www.wappingproject.com

Yesterday I had lunch in the Wapping Project. The location is a former Hydraulic Power Station. The building was left intact, including even some of the turbines and other machinery. Now it is a combination of restaurant, winebar, art gallery and bookstore.
It is called “Project” as it has continuously changing exhibitions and is therefore never considered finished…

The building is located, as the name implies, in Wapping – one of the old docks of London with now converted and renovated warehouses, narrow cobblestone streets and directly located on the Thames. It’s a very nice neighbourhood, particularly on a spring day in March.

I had Jamon Iberico Bellota as a starter and Hake (a whitefish) wrapped in pancetta as a main – a wonderfully tasty dish, interesting combination of flavours and well prepared. My desert was Apple Pie with cinnamon icecream – a real treat.
Services was good and the comfort very good.

The Wapping Project is a definite recommendation due to its special atmosphere and excellent food.

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5
Comfort: 8
Price/Quality: 8
Atmosphere: 9

Smollensky’s on the Wharf

The last two days of this week I was on my monthly trip to London. I won’t bore you this time with the fact that BA and Terminal 5 aren’t that great a combo, you can read this in earlier blogs – however, again I spent time waiting on the tarmac at Heathrow just because no gate was available! On arrival at T5 you’d better be prepared for miles of walking – it is a seeming enless journey through the airport.

Then to better things – on friday I had a long, very succesful business meeting at Smollensky’s in Canary Wharf. The first thing that you notice on arrival there, is that this area where a lot of financial institutions are now house, and which is usually crawling like a bed of ants, is very quiet and subdued.

Smollensky’s was reasonably quiet as well. Even so, the service was lacking in quality – many things got forgotten or the waitress had to return to check what it was that you ordered again. I ordered a Tuna Melt – which can be delicious if done right. However it was rather a soggy mess on a toasted bun. The barstools around the tables were not very comfortable either so you did not really wish to prolong your stay there. The whole environment obviously stems from an era when no-one had time to sit down and eat quietly – but did so on the fly. I hope they’ll change the furniture to accommodate the breathing space people now look for.

Smollensky’s score:
Food: 6
Comfort: 6
Service: 6
Price/Quality: 6