How do I start this? At this point, Raffles London is the best city hotel we’ve ever stayed at. Heck, it is the best hotel we’ve ever stayed at, period. For so many reasons which I’ll try to explain in a bit. Luckily, it’s not just my opinion. Being officially open just about one year ago (September 2023), they have been recognized and awarded by many different magazines: one of the World’s Greatest Places by TIME, one of the best hotels on the planet by Luxury Travel Intelligence, National Geographic, and AFAR Magazine, and they are the winner in the 2024 Architecture Digest’s Great Design Hotel Awards. And there are more. Keep in mind that London is an ultra-luxury destination, and there are many top-tier hotels in the city: the Ritz, the Four Seasons Park Lane, the Claridge’s, the Savoy, just to name a few. So, this is a big deal for a brand-new hotel with so much expectation and recognition.

Before we got to London, I was very excited about staying here, knowing there has been such praises to the hotel. And oh boy, the second we walked into the grand lobby, I knew this was it.

The history of the Old War Office (OWO)

Raffles London is located inside the Old War Office in London, which used to be the administrative headquarters of the British army. Winston Churchill was there, along with many other world political leaders, making decisions that changed the world to what it is today. This building is filled with history, and Raffles has done just the right amount to restore that rich legacy and reborn the building into the magnificent, dazzlingly beautiful Raffles London today. According to the hotel, it took 7 years to restore it, and by restoring, they really meant it. What they could keep was kept, including the original floorings and the ground floor’s lighting. A chandelier was added to the grand staircase, where daily briefings were held during Winston Churchill’s era. For any new details added, including many restaurants and bars, the design really integrated into the old beauty of the place, adding new and fresh details to the wallpaper, artworks, and furniture pieces.

The hotel offers a daily extensive hotel tour where they would walk the guests through the hotel and talk to them about the history of the place. If not occupied, their guests will be able to see their most prestigious suites, one of which used to be Churchill’s office. We did one of those tours, and the overwhelming feelings that I had walking into these suites, knowing the history where it was made, were almost too much to bear all at the same time, in a good way. They have done such a beautiful job restoring these rooms, to the point that I cannot believe this was since 1906. In the basement, there were offices of the MI5 and MI6 (British Intelligence Agencies); one of those is now the hotel’s speakeasy Spy Spa. It was a fun one to be as well. (Good luck finding your way to it for the first time, though! Take the stairs, trust me.)

The reborn

Oh gosh, this hotel is gorgeous. At any corner. At any time. From any angle. It is just simply beautiful. So much that I want to have a piece of it to be our house, and if you know me, you know I love a modern house. I don’t know how they can do it, but they really did it. The decor of the place, the light features, the floors, the carpet, the concierge space (no words), the Saison restaurant (speechless), the gym (please hold me back), the rooms, our suite, the bathrooms. Every single thing in that hotel is simply, and truly perfect. I am having a hard time typing this out because I am sad I’m not still there, right now. The second we got into our suite, my husband Toby immediately suggested us to cancel our Paris trip so that we could just stay at the Raffles for the whole 10 days of the trip. To be honest, I was holding back every cell of my body to not tell him to do it, because I knew the moment I said that was a good idea, we would have totally done that. Our Paris trip turned out to be amazing, and the Hotel De Crillon was also just amazing, thankfully.

Did I mention the hotel’s gym? Oh boy, it is the prettiest hotel gym, and it’s in a basement! My ideal hotel gym is a spacious area with newer machines and with a view. The Four Seasons Los Cabos in Mexico was that ideal hotel gym for me, and perhaps it still is. But Raffles London’s is in the basement, and for 5 days working out there, I forgot I was in the basement. It is big, it has all new machines as expected since the hotel is brand spanking new, but the way it was designed is also… just beautiful. The indoor pool below the fitness floor is so big, it must be the biggest hotel’s indoor pool I’ve ever seen. It’s safe to say that I enjoyed my morning workouts there very much.

The Food & Drinks

This may be where there could be improvements, in certain areas, if they may. Mostly about the food, but we only tried 3 of their restaurants, and one of it was so delicious I couldn’t believe, and the other 2 were, well, meh.

Let’s just get the not-so-great ones out of the way first, shall we. We tried Café Laperouse – a French restaurant chain with multiple locations in London and Paris. To say it was alright may be generous, really. We got a fish tartare, and it was so fishy that I don’t even remember what fish it was, nor do I care to look up their menu to find out. For the main, I had a version of their fish and chips, which may have been a mistake to order that at a French restaurant in London, but we were in London after all, shouldn’t it still have been good? Toby had a steak, and Wesley had lamb chops. The whole thing was just mediocre, and we just wanted to finish the meal quickly so we could go back to the room. Granted, it was our first night there, with jet lag and all; things might have been influenced a bit by how we enjoyed the food. Café Laperouse isn’t part of the Raffles London, though, as it is independently managed by the restaurant chain. So, that also means that if they don’t do well (there were no one at the restaurant when we dined), and they replace it with something else, we would probably be fine.

The second not-so-good one is a true disappointment because I had so much expectation for it. It’s the Saison, operated by the hotel and under the same chef Mauro as Mauro Colagreco – their fine dining restaurant. I think the food overall was fine, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve eaten. The space is beautiful though, and for some reasons I wanted it to be more. I wanted to really love it, but it’s just not there. Now, London’s food scene is … as a lot of people say … not the most exciting thing in the world. Being born and raised in Vietnam, my palate is always very rich and deep with hearty flavors of food. I want my food to be salty, spicy, savory, sour – a lot of it, all at the same time. And Saison isn’t there yet. Hopefully next time when we come back (which we 10000% will), it’ll be a different review.

Now, onto the good one. A great one, even. Actually, it might have been one of the best ones. One of the best sushi. In London, nonetheless – are you kidding me? Kioku by Endo is located on their top floor, with the view of Big Ben in front of the dining room was a lovely surprise. Their nigiris were so fresh, so good, it’s sort of crazy to even think London has this great quality of sushi. And then, their Italian-influenced Pork Ramen Ravioli dish knocked our socks off, literally. I have never seen anything or tasted anything quite like it. The broth that came with the ravioli was out of this world. I wish they had a bowl of rice or noodles for me to eat with that broth; it was blowing my mind. The duck and wagyu beef dishes were also just delicious. I am seriously screwed now, because London is 9 hours away.

Maybe we should have cancelled Paris and stayed at the Raffles London the whole entire time.

Last but not least, their bars are great. The Guards House, their ground floor’s bar, has the Singapore Sling and other versions of it. (Singapore Sling was invented at the Raffles Singapore, so they pay tribute to the hotel while also adding other versions of the famous drink). Meanwhile, their Spy bar is dark, cold, and very James Bond coded. Their drinks are inventive, although they didn’t have a drink that I would always go back to. (I did have that one drink at Bar Les Ambassadeurs in Hotel De Crillon in Paris – great bar). Regardless, the drinks were boozy, and many good times were had.

Final Thought

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before in other posts, but I did go to Hospitality Management for my bachelor’s degree in college. My interest in hotel management started when I was younger, driving by all these 5-star hotels in district 1 of Saigon, Vietnam and I was so intrigued. I wanted to work in those fancy places, perhaps one day running the day-to-day operations of one of them. After school, I did work in the industry for a few years, but in order to not just make ends meet, not just survive in the very expensive city of Seattle, I switched over to the tech industry as one does. Now, traveling through places for holidays and staying at these hotels really brings me back to the reason why I used to love hotels so much, and I still do. I only write about them as a hobby now :). Do I sometimes think I would one day go back to the hotel industry? If I do, a hotel like Raffles London would definitely be the reason to pull me back.

Raffles London has introduced us to the Raffles hotel chain, and we are now fully immersed in it. It’s amazing that there are different hotel brands that offer different perspectives. How lucky are we? This introduction to the Raffles hotel draws an interest in Raffles Singapore, and we’re currently pre-planning our next trip to Asia. It’s safe to say Raffles Singapore will be on the list next.