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The Berkeley Hotel Reopens Their Rooftop Cinema With a Winter Twist
One of London's ongoing summer events, a Rooftop Film Club hosted at a popular Hoxton bar, inspired something of a cult-like fervor among local film buffs. Piggybacking on Londoners' love of all things cinema and all things, uh, rooftop, is the Berkeley hotel, who is transplanting the concept from East to West and taking full advantage of their posh terrace climes (not to mention outdoor lamp heaters).
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Nosh on Tom Ford at The Berkeley Hotel's Prêt-à-Portea
As Fashion Week migrates from New York to London, Team Hotel Chatter thought it an appropriate time to sample The Berkeley Hotel's kitschy, but undeniably cute, Prêt-à-Portea. The sartorially themed tea is inspired by major designers from London and beyond, with attempts made to capture their aesthetic in the form of twee cookies and cakes.
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Did You Know You Can Picnic at The Berkeley's Secret Rooftop Garden?
The Berkeley is drawing people to its gym, and not for its treadmills. The Knightsbridge hotel transformed its gym and spa's terrace into a lush British countryside, complete with birch trees and lavender, in the middle of the city.
And instead of burning calories on the elliptical, you can order from a picnic menu, which includes blanket-friendly fare like iced tea and strawberries and cream, while you pop a squat on the secret rooftop garden.
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The Berkeley Hotel in London Got a Fast Car, We Want a Ticket to Anywhere
There's a rather shiny new present waiting under the tree at The Berkeley Hotel in London*--Jaguar's C-X75 supercar which was just unveiled at the Paris Motor Show this past fall. The superfast jet-powered car is hanging out at the hotel through New Year's Eve.
The C-X75 is capable of performing the 0-60mph run in 3.4 seconds and top speeds of more than 200mph. Its electric motors are backed up by range-extending mini gas turbines.
Sleeping in the house of this Shaguar will cost about £490.00 a night next week, before New Year's Eve. Sadly, the hotel does not have any Jaguar car service for you to tool around in. However, there are several chauffeur-driven Mercedes on hand for airport transfers. Those services start at £97 for a smooth ride in the E-Class Mercedes. But someday, that Jaguar will be ours. Oh yes, it will be ours.
*We know, these Christmas puns are getting old.
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Koffman's Is Open At The Berkeley, Strong Stomachs Advised
While his protégé Gordon Ramsay isn’t doing so well, non-celeb-but-actual chef Pierre Koffman has just opened his new restaurant at the Berkeley to much fanfare from Londoners (we saw it written up in about three different places during our trip the other week.)
It’s a little late – the place was originally scheduled for a June opening – but we guess fine tuning the meun of pigs’ trotters and internal organs took a little longer than expected.
Anyway, the restaurant is simply called Koffman’s, it has 120 seats and although the menu does have some of his “classic” dishes such as braised pig’s trotter with morels (um, yum?), apparently he has “adopted a more relaxed, informal style while still incorporating his classic, provincial French culinary roots”.
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Through the Years: The Berkeley's Luggage Tags
We're having one of those days where, utterly sick of all the hotel hype and hotel delays going on in the hotel world, we've decided to seek out something more stable. And we're doing it by admiring the luggage tags of The Berkeley Hotel in London.
The hotel sent us some paper versions of the luggage tags designs that have been circulated since 1934 (the hotel actually opened long before that at the turn of the 19th century.) Each tag includes the hotel's logo design from a particular era, which was not only used on the luggage tags but throughout the hotel. On the backside of the tag, the year of the design is listed.
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The Berkeley in London Gets iPads, But Only in the Suites
And the iPad revolution of the hotel industry continues apace. This time it’s the turn of the posh Berkeley Hotel in London which is bringing them in for guests.
Not all guests, mind – because not all guests are created equal. The iPads will only go for the richies staying in the suites, and only specific suites – the Conservatory, Berkeley or Chelsea suites.
if you are one of those richies, though, you’ll get access to your own iPad for your entire stay, on which you can read the paper at breakfast (jammy fingers + iPad = disaster waiting to happen, surely), check out tips from the concierge and play pre-loaded games.
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You May Not Have Heard Of Pierre Koffman, But He's Big News At The Berkeley
Posh food alert at The Berkeley Hotel in London, and it’s a pretty big coup they’ve pulled off. Chef Pierre Koffman will be opening an eponymous restaurant (ie Koffman's) at the hotel in June, and while you may not have heard of him before (apart from surmising that he’s French, obvs), it’s a big deal.
Koffman used to run La Tante Claire, which was one of the few restaurants in the UK to earn three Michelin stars – but he closed it in 2004, and the only return to the scene since then was a pop-up restaurant on the roof of Selfridges for 10 days last year.
The restaurant will go where the Boxwood Café (closing this month) is at the moment, and according to the press release:
This new venture will see Koffmann move away from his much applauded haute cuisine menu, and into a more relaxed, informal style while still embracing his classic, provincial, French culinary roots.
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Berkeley Hotel Lets Us Eat the Clothes We Can't Afford
Ladies: can you afford to blow hundreds (or thousands) on couture? Can you fit into straight-from-the-runway sample sizes? If your answer to one or both of these questions is a resounding hells no, the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge (London) has an answer for you: the Pret-a-Portea afternoon tea service in the hotel's Caramel Room serves edible versions of this season's designer collections. Seriously.
The current menu, updated every six months, currently features "cakes and fancies" that are sugary replicas of designs by Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo and Alexander McQueen. The hotel's pastry chefs hit the fashion shows every season and come up with inventive ways to incorporate runway looks into the sweets for Pret-a-Portea, which you can then stuff in your mouth for £35 per person.
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SATC Packages: London vs. New York
Can someone please tell us why "Sex and the City: The Movie" premiered in London and not New York? Especially after the lengths New York hotels went to to promote the film with all sorts of packages for the Carrie and Co. wannabes?
To the best of our knowledge, London was only able to come up with one Sex and the City-themed package, at The Berkeley, which can be booked on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights through December.
For $807 per night (including VAT), the stay includes access to the complete box set of SATC DVDs, in-room cocktails and lots of goodies, like chocolate handbags, iced shoe cookies and cupcakes; plus, New York "beauty essentials" and a SATC book. Each guest also gets a Jimmy Choo handbag compact with invites to hang in the Sloane Street Jimmy Choo's VIP area.
Which is great and all, but can London give us a tour of filming locations on a double-decker bus? Or treat us to treats at Magnolia Bakery? We didn't think so. Which is why the decision to debut the movie in London over New York will forever confuse us more than SJP's choice of headwear at the premiere.
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Where Madonna Goes When Not Considering Adopting a Baby From Africa
If you want to experience a little of the Material Girl's (Mom?) world but aren't ready adopt an African baby, you can hit up the Blue Bar in London. One of her faves, the bar is a part of the Berkeley Hotel. And it's not just Madonna, but also Leo and Giselle back when they were an item.
So what's the allure? Hmm, maybe for Madonna it's the tapas menu, for Leo the Smoke Menu, and Gisele the Champagne:
Designed by David Collins, the 50-seat bar is distinguished by the black crocodile print leather floor, white onyx bar, sunken seat area, and, most of all, by the gorgeous color of the room, which the designer has dubbed "Lutyens Blue."
The drinks list includes a wide selection of Champagnes, original and contemporary cocktails, wine by the glass, and over 50 different whiskies. (There's even a Grape and Smoke menu for guests to pair cigars with carefully chosen wines.) In addition to the olives, caramelized nuts, and tasty nibbles which accompany each drink order, guests also enjoy the Asian-inspired tapas menu...
Seeing as the hotel is also home to a top-rated Michelin-approved restaurant, you can bet on this food being tasty. On top of that, every element of this place takes the word trendy in mind. For instance the hotel's afternoon cakes that accompany tea hour, are designed based on the latest runway fashion. If you're into the celeb scene here though, ditch the cakes and stick to the Blue Bar.
Related Stories:
· The Blue Bar at The Berkeley Hotel: The Best of London Nightlife [Five Star Alliance]
· Berkeley Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
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