The Luxe Manor Hong Kong

Hong Kong

The high rise silhouette of Hong Kong, a tiny patch of land, in which seven million inhabitants are packed in between skyscrapers and old fading apartment buildings, looks out onto the sea. Located on the east bank of the River of Pearls on the southern coast of China, it is bathed by the South China Sea.

Once a practically deserted rock, its legendary name signifies ”Port of Perfumes.” Hong Kong is a microscopic part of the former British Empire in Asia. Returned to China in 1997, it has maintained its reputation as a city for businessmen and inveterate shoppers. The streets continue to display both their English and Cantonese names, and the territory has preserved its relative autonomy.

As a world center for finance and commerce, it is also the wealthiest city in China. Behind the cliché of a thriving capitalist city with thousands of neon signs lighting up the streets at night, it remains a Chinese city whose population, for the most part, comes from Canton and Shanghai.

From the island of Hong Kong to Kowloon, the territory facing it, as well as the New Territories, it is a multi-faceted site with luxurious skyscrapers, brightly lit avenues but also temples and fishing villages thus creating the complexity of this very special territory. As a symbol of Asian growth and success, Hong Kong is spectacular, exotic but far from inaccessible.

A design hotel in Kowloon

The Luxe Manor in the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui quarter, not far from Port Victoria, is a boutique-hotel inspired by the rich imagination of Salvador Dali.

With its European architecture, this jewel of a hotel with its elegant facade is an eclectic blend of Eastern and western décor with post-modern leanings. The building itself is surrealistic in nature and pays tribute to the avant-garde Catalonian architect, Antonio Gaudi.

The tone is set as soon as you enter. The hotel is a unique, ultra trendy and designer work of art! A mosaic clock on the floor invokes Dali’s almost liquid, dripping watches. The wall behind the counter with its curved lines is made of “pate de verre” (glass paste) and the magnificent mirrors are decorated with floral motifs frame the elevators.

Elegance, fantasy and originality are the order of the day in the rooms. On the immaculate white walls, empty gilded frames and a “trompe-l’oeil“ fireplace create a glamorous and surrealist atmosphere. The giraffe spotted carpets lie under furniture with dissimilar feet. Only the marble bathrooms and flat screen television sets contain touch of contemporary comfort in this iconoclastic universe.

Creative and perfectly designed, each suite represents a radically different universe, although they are all warm and luxurious. With its Venetian mirrors and circular bed, the Liaison Suite is by far the most romantic. The Safari Suite enables guests to travel through the desert with oriental furniture, sheepskin seats and lightweight curtains giving the impression of living among the Bedouins. In the Nordic Suite, the blue and transparent plastic recreates a universe of ice with animal skins covering the beds and chairs to add some warmth to the atmosphere. The Mirage Suite represents a surrealist, unstructured universe which plays with the concept of pretence. The Chic Suite is totally black and white with a geometric ambiance. Last and largest of all, the Royale Suite recreates the glamorous atmosphere of the 1940s.

For dining, the Luxe Manor proposes the prize winning Finds restaurant under the leadership of the renowned Scandinavian Chef, Jaakko Sorsa. This temple of molecular cuisine is in the image of the rest of the hotel: original and slightly unreal. Finally, we come to the must of the hotel, the Dada Bar, a veritable surrealist work of art in itself with references to artists like Joan Miro and André Breton.

The Mirage Suite, as its name indicates, creates illusion. It is equipped with four doors only one of which is operational!