N ADDRESS is everything and, in Hong Kong, there is no better location than the Central District site of the venerable vintage, the Mandarin Oriental, a perennial favourite of the pin-stripe crowd and easily one of the best Hong Kong business hotels. It remains a chipper classic but with a contemporary feel best expressed in the new-look rooms. After a lengthy shutdown the hotel returned, kitted out in reassuringly familiar regalia.Later, on 17 October, 2013, it threw the mother of all fiftieth birthday parties, flaunting the likes of her majesty Dame Helen Mirren. Small wonder the smart set continue to flock to the Clipper Lounge and the Captain's Bar.

The address is an interesting mix. Think lashings of finely veined black marble and burnished wood, deep sink-in sofas, shoeshine on an Hermes leather chair, an old Shanghai barbershop with mosaic floor tiles, and friendly concierges going back 30 years all waiting to unburden their local trivia, married with contemporary cool. Fresh but finely aged and with an ever-present sense

of Asia, this is a classy yet homey address, rated as one of the best hotels in the world. A typical 40sq m Harbour Room serves up a neat, thoughtful package in warm pastel tones and welcoming of light – enclosed “verandah” with a window divan, espresso machine, laptop-friendly safe with power, suit steamer, Hermes toiletries, valet box, power shower, and a bathtub with a view through a look-out glass partition. In contrast, the 80sq m Lichfield Suite serves up piano-key black and white with a startling daub of crimson.

Shoppers can pick from a host of luxury brands, gawp at the cake art, dine fine Japanese izakaya style at The Aubrey, which replaced the M Bar and Pierre on the top floor in 2021, savour Chinese aromas at Man Wah, sample the bubbly at The Krug Room, or simply take in the harbour views. The hotel has two Michelin star restaurants. Later, burn off calories at the fitness centre, swim, or try an après-work rubdown at the 2,100sq m spa, with its award winning treatments and traditional Chinese medicine. Long a local icon, this is a splendid community hotel in the heart of art and shopping.