REIMAGINED QUEEN E. HUMS WITH NEW ENERGY
Sleek showcase of establishment that’s ‘changing with the times’
The Queen E. is gone. Long live the Queen E.
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel relaunched this summer after a one-year closure and a $140-million reinvention that embodies 1960s-inspired interiors, exciting “bistronomy” and unconventional convention spaces.
It’s conservative but cool, establishment with edge, and a timeless meeting of generations from Mad Men to millennials.
New concepts: The design of the reimagined hotel, by Sid Lee Architecture, is meant to spark innovative ways of socializing and working.
For example, the Agora is a colourful, trendy lobby lounge that will present pop-up movie screenings, fashion shows, culinary happenings, mini-concerts and product launches. Also new and 21 floors above, the impressive Fairmont Gold lounge has panoramic views of the city, from the St. Lawrence River to Mount Royal.
The hotel literally raised the roof to build Espace C2 in partnership with C2, the influential organization that holds an annual conference in Montreal in May. A dazzling glass penthouse with its own terrace, Espace C2 is a heady new indoor-outdoor venue for Montreal meetings, events, weddings and receptions.
The Queen E. wants to interact with the city at all levels. Two street fronts open onto René-Lévesque Boul., beckoning passers-by into the sexy Bar Nacarat for craft cocktails or into the inviting Kréma Café for custom-roasted coffee.
With added meeting space, the hotel now has 950 classic-contemporary rooms and suites, down from 1,037, but is still Montreal’s largest hotel. The accommodations are classy and understated, with luxurious beds and decor in navy, grey and white, set off by splashes of modern art.
The Wellness Centre encompasses the indoor pool and fitness room, both totally refurbished, and the Moment Spa is new brand, an Amerispa exclusive to Fairmont in Quebec. New business: The Queen E.’s meeting space, the second largest in Montreal after the Palais des congrès, includes Espace C2 as well as a high-tech business campus on the third floor where you can get competitive at ping pong or foster inspiration as you meditate on a set of swings.
“We’re changing with the times, and our new energy puts us ahead of the mainstream,” said the new general manager David Connor. “We have a ‘brain gym’ where you can network, brainstorm and create.” Connor is a Montrealer and alumnus of LaSalle College and Concordia University, returning to the city after holding executive jobs in Toronto, Boston, California and Western Canada. Food/drink: If you’re nostalgic about the cavernous, old Beaver Club, just wait until you see the Queen E.’s dazzling culinary showstoppers. Not counting banquets and conferences, the Queen E. can handle about 450 patrons at a time in various venues for power breakfasts, business lunches, stylish dinners, Sunday brunch, afternoon tea, coffee art and cocktails.
At Rosélys restaurant, chef Maxime Delmont is dishing up bistronomy with a raw bar, main plates such as ricotta ravioli and poached cod, and sharing platters of roast duck with blueberries and a 30-ounce rib steak.
The Artisans Market, opening in autumn under chef Jean-Philippe Desjardins, will be an eye-popping food hall that combines a gourmet grocery with about 12 cuisine stations.
If you want to dine on the spot, you can choose a T-bone at the butcher shop or salmon filet at the seafood stall, then perch at a communal table. If you are doing dinner, you can buy flowers, an exclusive olive oil, live lobster and pastries. Downtown dwellers can order catered meals online and pick up rotisserie chicken, sushi or pizza. Not to mention cheese, charcuterie and chocolates.
The Queen E. has always been a top watering hole. Scotch and martinis are still on the menu, but today, creative cocktails rule at the sparkling Nacarat Bar.
“Think of our barmen as chefs in a gourmet kitchen,” said master mixologist Nader Chabaane, whose team puts on a show of blending, slicing, shaking and stirring ingredients such as lemongrass, lime, ginger, agave and coconut cream, with premium spirits. Queen Elizabeth’s favourite cocktail (Dubonnet with gin, bitters and lemon zest) tops the list, plus there are champagnes and fancy bar bites including caviar, Iberian ham, duck dim sum and mushroom risotto. The A-list: The Queen E.’s relaunch coincides with Montreal’s 375th anniversary, as well as Canada’s 150th and the hotel’s own 60th birthday in 2018.
The guest register glows with 20th century luminaries, including Queen Elizabeth, Charles de Gaulle, Princess Grace, Indira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, several U.S. presidents, plus countless artists including Joan Crawford and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The climax of celebrity was in 1969 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their Bed-In for Peace. Today, Suite 1742 has been flawlessly restored with retrochic furniture and a wondrous display of art, music and artifacts from the big day.
Imagine.