Posted on Sun, 15 May 2011
Shanghai’s Coolest Hotel
One of the funkiest boutique hotels to open in Shanghai, The Waterhouse at South Bund joins the slew of bold concepts and daring places – from hotels to restaurants and bars – that have sprouted up in this buzzing city that is just getting comfy with its newfound mojo.
Owned by Singaporean hotelier Loh Lik Ping’s New Majestic Group, this painfully design-centric boutique hotel was named in Condé Nast Traveler’s (US and UK editions) 2011 HOT LIST for the world’s best new hotels. Its signature restaurant, Table No. 1, also clinched Best Restaurant’ award by Travel + Leisure (US) magazine at its 2011 Annual Design Awards. Enough said to make this a must-stay for the painfully stylish among us.
Located east of the city’s old town and adjacent to The Cool Docks, Shanghai’s latest cultural hotspot, The Waterhouse at South Bund is a funky 19-roomer with one restaurant, Table No.1, and a huge event hall which had been converted from an old warehouse. The hotel itself is an old riverside building which has been totally transformed by Shanghai-based Neri & Hu Design and Research Office (NHDRO), where lines between internal and external spaces have been blurred to create a “disorienting yet refreshing spatial experience”. If you crave to have your aesthetic intellect stimulated constanly, I suppose this would be for you.
But if you think staying in the historic precinct means you can tuck into authentic Shanghai fare at the hotel’s restaurant, you’re quite mistaken. Table No. 1, a casual set up, offers contemporary European cuisine – good after you’ve got your fill of streetside xiaolongbao. It boasts a Michelin-starred pedigree with Jason Atherton, of london’s maze restaurant (part of the Gordon Ramsay Group), as consultant chef. Look out for its four communal-style dining tables of unfinished wood. There’s also a Roof cocktail bar for sipping cocktails overlooking the Huangpu River, and a Lobby Bar for light nibbles, more alcky and afternoon tea.
More reasons to stay: Apart from looking uber cool, you also get a great view of the Pudong skyline, and remain conveniently close to The Cool Docks, an upcoming lifestyle destination with shops, restaurants and outdoor bars which no doubt ups your cool index. When no one’s looking, you can make a surreptitious dash to the famous Shiliupu fabric market to get your suits and gowns tailor made for a song, or potter over to the historic Old Town with tourist attractions like Yuyuan Gardens, Huahai Lu shopping area and Xintiandi. As for The Bund, it’s 1.5 km trudge away.
www.waterhouseshanghai.com
email: reservations@waterhouseshanghai.com.
