ROOM WITH A VIEW
THERE’S PLENTY TO SEE IN LONDON – AND MUCH OF IT CAN BE GLIMPSED FROM YOUR ROOM AT THE CAVENDISH HOTEL AS TOM MACK DISCOVERED
Impeccable customer service, a great location and – from the right bedrooms – one of the best views in the capital
SIGHTSEEING in London involves a lot of walking and Tube or bus rides to take everything in. Or, you could just book an upper floor room at the Cavendish Hotel, near Picadilly Circus, and see it all from your window.
The elegant 15-storey hotel has a lot to boast about inside – fantastic decor, lovely staff, a wonderful restaurant and beautifully fitted-out rooms.
But arriving at our 14th floor room on a sunny August day, the most amazing thing was the view across the city.
The 1960s tower is not just very high, but is also the only tall block in the area - so there’s nothing to block the view.
To the far left I could see the BT Tower and, scanning right, there was Centre Point, St Paul’s Cathedral, the highrise towers of the city, St Martin in the Fields, the Shard, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.
After staring at all of that for a while and pointing out everything we recognised, my wife, Polly, and I went out to see the nearby landmarks close up.
Right outside the front door is the back entrance to Fortnum and Mason, where we marvelled at £4,000 bottles of wine and bought a £4 jar of olives.
Out on the main road it’s a short walk to St James’s Park, Green Park, The Ritz and Buckingham Palace, where we popped in to see if the Queen was at home but were told she was in Scotland.
Nevertheless, we had a nice tour around the state rooms, the impressive long galleries of paintings and the giant ballroom with a clever hologram display of Victorian dancers.
The palace is currently focusing on Victoria’s reign with its tour, and the free audio guide includes lots of extras about the 19th century.
Having been let in through the side entrance, visitors are sent on a nice walk around the garden before leaving through the back gate into the streets of Belgravia, where we found a decent bar with market barrows for outside tables and enjoyed a pint in the sun.
Back at the hotel, we had dinner in the Petrichor Restaurant, which offers the kind of incredible quality of food you would expect at a place like the Cavendish, but at prices that were not jaw-dropping.
The starters started at £7.50 for grilled asparagus and egg yolk puree, which Polly opted for, while I had a delicious fillet of torched mackerel, which came with pickled cucumber, caviar, lime yoghurt foam and a wasabi cracker, offering a big variety of complementary flavours and textures.
For the main course we both chose the ribeye steak, priced at £28, but the other options on the menu included a slow-cooked pork belly for £19.50, herbed crushed lamb cannon for £21.50 and a couple of vegetarian options – herbed gnocchi and hen’s eggs or roasted butternut squash and halloumi – for £16.50.
The steaks went down nicely with some great sauces and a nice bottle of red wine, which we finished off with desserts of mango cheesecake and a cheeseboard.
Nicely stuffed, we retired up to our room to admire the view at night before heading out for a stroll through the busy city streets, across Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and down to the Thames before heading into Covent Garden for a little more wine before bed.
Next morning the breakfast buffet was as flawless as everything else about the Cavendish, with restaurant staff bringing us fresh coffee and eggs cooked to order to accompany the other delicious food.
Rooms at the Cavendish range from just over £200 a night to well over £1,000 for the penthouse.
The four-star hotel doesn’t have a gym or a pool, but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality, with impeccable customer service, a great location and – from the right bedrooms – one of the best views in the capital.