Mike DunphyReview ofEmporium Hotel
We stayed here over a long weekend with a toddler ...
We stayed here over a long weekend with a toddler and it was fantastic.
Greeted by concierge who were warm and welcoming they quickly valeted our car and got our bags up to our room.
Checking was busy but still friendly and we were given great directions to the various aspects of the hotel.
The mirrored elevators with multi screens and the rooftop pool were big hits with my kid.
Once we got into the room it was beautiful.
Everything was clean and well laid out with a few hidden features like the TV in the mirror and the rising power point from the bench under the TV.
The bathroom was clean, and well stocked with a beautiful spa bath and shower facilities as well as a double vanity and separate toilet.
The mini bar was well above par, well stocked with a separate wine chiller with a good selection of full size bottles.
Everything was clean and modern with touch pad controls for everything from the air con, lights, privacy screen to the curtains.
The only downside of the modern tech is the TV built into the mirror feature which with the glare and reflection made the TV impossible to watch with any light source in the room - but to be fair - people don't come to this hotel to watch TV so that's me being very picky (but a must with the toddler)
There wasn't a huge selection of fox TV channels to watch which made entertaining the boy a bit tricky, though with screen mirroring and free unlimited WiFi that problem was quickly solved - another big tick!
We dined for breakfast the next morning at the rooftop restaurant. The staff were friendly and accommodating. A tough venue to multi purpose from night time bar through to breakfast restaurant but we'll executed.
We both had eggs benedict and everything was well presented, though the eggs were a little powdery, likely from too much vinegar in the poaching water but still edible.
Room service that evening was again fine, but just missed the mark on a few things. I had the club sandwich (always do, it's the comparison point with any hotel IRF) which was overly seasoned with pepper on the chicken (fine for me but probably not anyone who doesn't like pepper) but the rest of the sandwich was underseasoned. Solid 7/10, bot bad. My pet hate which seems to be a theme with a few places lately is no sauce with the side chips - a ramekin of aioli or even tommy sauce would have really helped the dry chips.
My wife had the confirmation duck which was tasty and exactly what was to be expected, though the beans did look like glorified baked beans of the tinned type. A nice cassoulet would have been a little more in keeping with the upmarket theme of the hotel.
Overall an exceptionally beautiful hotel which seems like it would be painful to keep clean but really adds a touch of elegance to city that needs some sparkle.
Congrats team, will be back!

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