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"If you go out to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise"
"They say it's the little things in life that mean the most."
The above two quotes sums up my stay at The Biltmore LXR, in Mayfair last weekend. LXR Hotels & Resorts (The Hilton’s luxury collection) secured an excellent location for its first European outpost, The Biltmore Mayfair, which opened on Grosvenor Square in September 2019.
TurningPoint: Your Lifestyle, Your Well-Being Magazine's experiences with food for the Summer issue, Food, Individuality and Music continues. My Granddaughter and I were invited to an overnight stay recently at The Biltmore, LXR, Luxury Five Star Hotel in Mayfair, in a Twin Deluxe Room. We definitely had an incredible time.
The service, hospitality and food were exemplary. We were treated to the very best of experiences. All who were part of our stay, managed to collectively create an ambience which we indulged in. Yet it's all simply about Lifestyle.
My granddaughter and I arrived at the Hotel around 3.30pm as we were booked into Afternoon Tea at 4pm. I'd received a text prior to our arrival from Mr Francis Holder, Personal Butler, one of The Butlers assigned to us throughout our stay, confirming arrangements of our arrival. Upon arriving at the hotel, we were greeted by Carlos, The Doormen, who took our luggage depositing it in our Room, whilst we were taken by Francis Holder and introduced to Asif Bajwa, Restaurant and Lounge Manager and his team where we received a very hearty welcome. This particular visit to The Biltmore LXR, Mayfair was to conduct a Review for The Summer issue of TurningPoint: Your Lifestyle, Your Well-Being Magazine, a Luxury, Lifestyle Publication, www.turningpointmag.com.
The Lobby - well what can I say. Impressive, full of light and if one is observant enough, you are hit by simple yet subtle contrasts, edged with gold. Ostentatiously tasteful.
My Grand Daughter was excited to be on what she said was an adventure. She had already packed her bags from the week before, with doll in tow, a bunny rabbit, satchel and a pull trolley looking as if she was travelling overseas for a month. She was ready for adventure, to explore and she was ....HUNGRY.
We were escorted to our room by Francis Holder, who gave a brief introduction about the Hotel on the way up. Once inside we were pleasantly surprised to find a welcome gift in a Harrods bag, placed on a side table. The table had been decored with The Front Cover of The Spring issue of TurningPoint magazine, alongwith with some welcome notes. A nice sentimental touch. However, this also exhibited the actions of care, observation and attention to detail. Understanding a client and their needs is very important.
Mr Holder then showed us around our room explaining further what we had access to, then inviting us to contact him when we were ready to be escorted down to Afternoon Tea. Our room was lovely Twin Deluxe Room. Spacious and comfortable with good lighting.
We both settled into our room, freshened up then as per Mr Holder's instructions
dialled his Extention to request the time we would be ready for Afternoon Tea. Francis Holder (First picture below) was prompt, escorting us downstairs into an area that had been specifically set up for us to dine - as you can see from the image to the right.
We were also joined by another Personal Butler Lucus Kongiel, whom I sensed to be very shrewd, engaging and quite debonair (featured with Mr Holder on the left). It was nice to see how he engaged with a child. An important aspect of good hospitality. Asif Bajwa, Restaurant and Lounge Manager, was very welcoming, and made a delightful fuss of us, (Middle Picture below) joined us, alongwith other members of staff.
**Sommeliers Piotr Arthur Tomaszewski and Jolanta Dinnadge were renowned for their expertise in their field and gave us a brief insight into the wines on their trolley. Both Sommeliers were a great combination of professionalism, knowledge with a spice of warmth. A bit of a comedy act, which was nice because it made us smile and made us feel even more comfortable. **A Sommelier is a wine steward, or a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, typically found in fine restaurants and across the hospitality industry.
We were offered two sets of Afternoon Tea. One Diary and one Diary Free (for me) and both were equally delicious. We were served tea by a very gracious Waitress
Ms Seulki Park who my GrandDaughter was drawn to and whose name she remembers up to this day. Curious as any child can be, and always full of questions, Mia was mesmerised by Seulki who had an extremely calm and
pleasant temperament and her smile was full of welcome.
Sanjeev Chopra - Assistant Restaurant Manager served us, a man who had something incredibly special about him. A quiet, unassuming power. He was patient in answering our questions, especially that of my GrandDaughter as she too was taken by him. He had a personality that was attentive, knowledgeable but there was also an air of someone well-travelled and well-versed with life, and this added to the dynamics of our conversations. He was diligent explaining everything to us, from the range of teas on offer, to the menu, as you can see below. He made Afternoon Tea feel as if it was an adventure, and I learned so much about the history of many of the Teas served at The Biltmore LXR.
After Tea, we headed out to the Parkacross the road from the hotel for my GrandDaughter to burn off some of the sumptuously (Yet sugary) cakes. She had already enquired about Dinner later that evening and all I could do was roll my eyes and hasten her out to run off that energy. Then we headed back to our Hotel Room to rest a while, freshen up ready for Dinner at 8.30pm.
DINNER
All dressed-up with a hint of red adorning our lips (But she is only a child I hear many say. Hush - She Just wanted to get all dressed-up and why would I want to deny her being the belle of the ball?) and ready to go (I was still quite full from Afternoon Tea). We were once again escorted down by Francis Holder who introduced us to the evening staff in The Restaurant.
The ambience in the restaurant was chilled, music playing in the background against the tinker of glasses and chatter. After being seated, we were offered Sourdough Bread & Cultured Butter which came warm and soft on the inside with a lovely outside crust, onto which we pilled lashings of butter that melted seductively onto the bread. Yummy.
We then ordered starters - Crispy Calamari with lime, Thai dressing and a sweet chilli dip that tasted so good, The Calamari was not chewy but succulent - it tasted sooooo good. Then for our main course my GrandDaughter ordered a Wood-Fired Pepperoni Pizza and I ordered Seabass mushroom dashi, with pak choi salad and spicy ponzu. This dish was small yet filling tasty and light. And as you can see - last but not least was Dessert.
After dinner we were taken on a tour of the hotel. Mia taking the lead with a series of engaging questions, to which Francis Holder responded, patiently at one point raising an eyebrow as he tried to decipher whether she was really 7 and not 25. We were lead through the New Terrace Restaurant and then toured one of the Signature Suites which was a nice end to our day. Francis Holder then escorted us back to our rooms, where we'd had our deserts delivered and for the remainder of the evening we sat eating dessert and watching an animal program whilst giggling, until Mia fell off to sleep, bowl in hand and a smile on her face.
We had requested a Turn Down before we went to Dinner. A Turn Down service is the preparation of a room for a guest to sleep in by slightly turning back the comforter on the bed, turning down the lights. There was a white mat by the bed with a pair of slippers on. So again, these subtle touches made our stay even more of a delight.
SUNDAY BREAKFAST
We both rolled out of bed on Sunday morning, tired but ready to face the day.
Before I could say brush your teeth it's time to go, my Grand-Daughter was up, washed, dressed and ready to go. So we...went. We were met in the Dining Hall by Asif Bajwa, who made sure we were escorted to our table where I ordered full English and Mia ...yes she went for Chocolate pancakes with maple syrup with a cup of hot chocolate. I also indulged in an oolong Green Tea. Once again we were fully attended to with Sanjeev checking in on us making sure my tea cup was constantly topped up whilst he had hearty conversations with myself and Grand Daughter.
Overall our stay was so nice. Our room was comfortable and we had so many amenities in there. The weekend was a great experience even for a little girl who I know was touched by the generosity, conversations, the answering of her questions and attention displayed to her from all those who met her that day. A little Girl whose dreams to be that Princess so that she could stay in one of the Signature Suites with her family, shown to her the night before by Francis Holder, was further inspired.
The Biltmore LXR, Mayfair is situated conveniently from many of the Royal Parks, from the Best Shopping and Dining Experiences.
Dreams do come true and sometimes, it takes for that one gesture of goodwill, a smile, that personal touch, that one word of inspiration for an experience to become the dream that speaks into someone's life, to create amazing experiences.
Thank you and Recognition to the following:
Reservations Manager Samir Deshmukh
Director of Marketing and PR Sara Hughes
Digital Marketing Executive Nicole Johnson
Hotel Kitchen Under the Tight Scrutiny of Paul Walsh, Executive Chef Matin Arron, Sous Chef Restaurant and Lounge Manager Asif Bajwa A huge thank you to Asif for presenting my Brand forward to have this incredible experience and for his continued support of my Brand Assistant Restaurant Manager Sanjeev Chopra
Waitress who served afternoon Tea
Ms Seulki Park
Sommeliers Piotr Arthur Tomaszewski
Jolanta Dinnadge
Doorman Carlos Luggage Porter
Akiara Personal Butler
Francis Holder - Another Huge thank you to Mr Francis Holder, who my Brand has worked with on previous occasions, always with successful ventures
Lucus Kongiel
The Biltmore Mayfair
LXR Hotels & Resorts
44 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair
London, W1K 2HP thebiltmoremayfair.com