Eastern Hospitality Meets Western capital: The Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C. | Travel, Washington, D.C. | DONNE TEMPO
Eastern Hospitality Meets Western capital: The Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C.
April/11/10 02:08 PM Filed in: Travel,
Washington, D.C.
by Andrea Poe, Special to Donne Tempo
Magazine
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel/Photos courtesy of propertyWashington,
D.C.... In a city bursting with luxury hotels,
what makes the Mandarin Oriental in Washington,
D.C. so unique is that any type of traveler can
find sanctuary here. During my recent stay I met
a Chicago family in for early cherry blossom
gazing, a software salesman on a business trip
from Silicon Valley, and a couple in from
suburban Virginia for an overnight date of dining
and theater.
The hotel’s location overlooking the Potomac Tidal Basin (with its docking yachts), means many rooms have water views. Tucked on the southwest side of the National Mall on a cul de sac, the Mandarin Oriental is quiet oasis that also happens to be in the heart of things, steps from The Smithsonian, The Jefferson Memorial, and The Washington Monument.
Despite, its convenient location, the Mandarin gives you plenty of reasons to hole up and never leave the hotel.
Rooms
are spacious and well-appointed with traditional
furniture accented with Asian influences, like
teak tables, metal lamps forged to look like
bamboo and framed Japanese prints. All rooms have
spa-like marble baths with separate showers and
soaking tubs, baby soft robes and slippers, and
flat screen TVs.
If you can snag a suite, do. There are no generic one-size-fits-all suites here. They range from about 600 square feet (for the Executive Suite) all the way up to a house-sized 3,500 square-foot Presidential Suite. Many of the suites have roomy balconies overlooking the Tidal Basin, a perfect place to take your morning coffee.
The Empress Lounge in the lobby is a great spot to refuel and soak up the feel of the city since plenty of locals zip in for one of the 100 specialty martinis the sunken bar is known for. On weekends, the lounge is considered one of the city’s best venues to hear live jazz—and it happens to be free.
CityZen,
headed by celebrity chef Eric Ziebold, is one of
those rare hotel restaurants that has earned a
place on the must-dine lists of locals. In fact,
it’s Washington’s only Five Diamond Restaurant
and Ziebold has joined the exclusive club of
James Beard award-winning chefs. Textured
textiles –velvet, silk and chenille— and a
soaring ceiling create a lush, dramatic backdrop
for Ziebold's innovative menu with starters like
confit of octopus spiked with Meyer lemon and
entrees like the crispy baby lamb served with
subtle baby turnips.
CityZen’s vegetarian tasting menu isn’t an afterthought. It’s rich with interesting options, like the “soupe de mer,” a consommé with oyster plant and clam shell mushrooms and the fricassee of baby artichokes with sweet pepper.
Tucked on the other end of the lobby is the more causal Sou’Wester, where the menu is an homage to classic Southern cooking, perhaps in honor of Washington’s location south of the Mason-Dixon line. The kitchen delivers traditional comfort food like hushpuppies, gumbo and chicken dumplings.
Normally, room service menus aren’t worth mentioning. Not so with the Mandarin Oriental. Yes, there’s the ubiquitous club sandwich, but there’s also authentic Asian dishes like Biltong (a soup made with dried beef and noodles). Even the breakfast menu nods to the hotel’s Asian roots with a traditional Japanese breakfast that includes salted salmon, miso soup, tamago (Japanese omelet) and pickled vegetables.
Like
all Mandarin Orientals worldwide, this hotel is a
show-off when it comes to its luxurious spa. You
could easily spend the day here---lounging,
reading, tapping into the multiple water
therapies and trying out the unique treatments
like the soothing cherry blossom body scrub
that’s infused with green tea. One if the best
ways to experience the spa is to book time
(starting at just under two hours) rather than
specific treatments, something the spa calls the
Time Ritual, offered so the staff can custom
tailor a series of treatments.
Before checking out, I stopped in at the hotel’s art gallery, which exhibits local and national artists. There, I ran into the guy I met the day before, the one in town on software business. “I gotta bring my wife back here, and my kids,” he said. “Actually, next time I should come back all alone so I can really enjoy everything going on in this hotel.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him, I’d done just that.
Mandarin Oriental
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20024
(202) 554-8588
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel/Photos courtesy of property
The hotel’s location overlooking the Potomac Tidal Basin (with its docking yachts), means many rooms have water views. Tucked on the southwest side of the National Mall on a cul de sac, the Mandarin Oriental is quiet oasis that also happens to be in the heart of things, steps from The Smithsonian, The Jefferson Memorial, and The Washington Monument.
Despite, its convenient location, the Mandarin gives you plenty of reasons to hole up and never leave the hotel.
If you can snag a suite, do. There are no generic one-size-fits-all suites here. They range from about 600 square feet (for the Executive Suite) all the way up to a house-sized 3,500 square-foot Presidential Suite. Many of the suites have roomy balconies overlooking the Tidal Basin, a perfect place to take your morning coffee.
The Empress Lounge in the lobby is a great spot to refuel and soak up the feel of the city since plenty of locals zip in for one of the 100 specialty martinis the sunken bar is known for. On weekends, the lounge is considered one of the city’s best venues to hear live jazz—and it happens to be free.
CityZen’s vegetarian tasting menu isn’t an afterthought. It’s rich with interesting options, like the “soupe de mer,” a consommé with oyster plant and clam shell mushrooms and the fricassee of baby artichokes with sweet pepper.
Tucked on the other end of the lobby is the more causal Sou’Wester, where the menu is an homage to classic Southern cooking, perhaps in honor of Washington’s location south of the Mason-Dixon line. The kitchen delivers traditional comfort food like hushpuppies, gumbo and chicken dumplings.
Normally, room service menus aren’t worth mentioning. Not so with the Mandarin Oriental. Yes, there’s the ubiquitous club sandwich, but there’s also authentic Asian dishes like Biltong (a soup made with dried beef and noodles). Even the breakfast menu nods to the hotel’s Asian roots with a traditional Japanese breakfast that includes salted salmon, miso soup, tamago (Japanese omelet) and pickled vegetables.
Before checking out, I stopped in at the hotel’s art gallery, which exhibits local and national artists. There, I ran into the guy I met the day before, the one in town on software business. “I gotta bring my wife back here, and my kids,” he said. “Actually, next time I should come back all alone so I can really enjoy everything going on in this hotel.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him, I’d done just that.
Mandarin Oriental
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20024
(202) 554-8588