London's snazziest boutique hotel - What VIPs say about Rafayel

Posted by: Prince Abdul Aziz Hammad Al Saud - 2/16/2011 5:22:08 AM

You cannot call a hotel boutique if it is not, unfortunately either it is or it is not.In my opinion I will rate recently opened Hotel Rafayel in outskirts of London Battersea as one of the few best I have come across. It has a good sized lobby, an excellent Gym plus a great business set alongside a bar and a restaurant. All this ties in with the theme very well, a boutique has to feel different, this place does exactly that. www.hotelrafayel.com I keep searching for great hotels and think some of the selections here are good. http://www.downtownmakeover.com/boutique_hotel.asp

Nawab of Patudi (On Banyan on the Thames)

Banyan on the Thames is where you get some of the finest food. You don’t feel resentful either on food preparation or ambiance, which is a rare mix. It enjoys six hundred reviews within less than six months of its opening on TT. So many reviews usually lead to a real standing and because of its great food maintains a healthy top rating. East meeting west in superior gastronomic kitchens is traditionally known as so-called fusion which is neither here nor there, in my opinion Banyan on Thames combines a tradition of authentic national dishes in one menu, it needed a big chef to put seared tuna a very Japanese cuisine, sea bass that I would rate as good a Mediterranean recipe as one can get, and a warrior lamb a grand authentic north sub-continental dish. 

As a connoisseur, I come across and visit these new places for signs of any renaissance of original authentic recipes, on that count Banyan on the Thames is a great restaurant and has a first-rate set of choices. I wrote a review few weeks back on Square Meal/Time Out. I asked the maitre d’hôtel, how did they evolve such an original idea that include variety of tastes, his answer was that our owner had talked to Harrods food store and selected the top ten best sellers in the food hall as the back bone of the menu, this is what the popular taste of modern Londoner’s are, a sophisticated, cosmopolitan and a global man. I think this has a very good potential though the maître d’ here is young man from Estonia no one near maître d's, such as Oscar Tschirky of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York, who prepared food, boning fish tableside and mixing salads, but the staff has a good pedigree.

http://www.restaurant-guide.com/banyan-on-the-thames.htm 

Hotel Rafayel is a class act, it is grand design that mixes latest technology without being over bearing, and architecturally this is one of the finest hotels for the quality and the price I paid for. I took a suite and 223 is one great suite, it is huge and the facilities are immense. I would had to pay three or four times the sums I paid here in the west end, I never believed in their slogan of affordable luxury but it seems that luxury is available affordably at Rafayels. Five star hotel - Manahil