Resort Evaluation: One Blissful Night time on the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo

When Mandarin Oriental arrived in Tokyo in the mid-noughties, it’s fair to say that the vast majority of five-star hotels in the Japanese capital lagged behind those in many other Asian cities. True, there were one or two worthy exceptions to that generalisation, but the opening of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo nonetheless served as a severe upward yank on the hospitality bootstraps in this vast city, by providing levels of service, sumptuousness and discreet luxury hitherto found in few other properties in town.

If I’d perhaps harboured ideas that the intervening years might somehow have lessened the hotel’s wow factor, simply walking into the lobby late on a February evening dispelled any such notions at a stroke. The Mandarin, as I’ll call it from now on, occupies nine floors at the very top of the Cesar Pelli-designed Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower in the heart of Tokyo’s business district – and the lobby sits at the very apex. Tall glass windows gaze out across the city’s twinkling lights, which even from this lofty elevation seem to stretch towards eternity. It’s a stunning introduction and – after a brief hassle with credit cards that the front-desk clerk resolves with delicate aplomb – I board the lift that takes me down to my room.

My accommodation, a King Premium room to be precise, is gorgeous – but then you knew that already. Not only is it enormous, but the evident attention to detail is several degrees beyond meticulous, from the restful mood evinced by polished woods, washi lampshades and exquisite wallpapers and fabrics to the thoughtful touches that delight, even at this late hour. There are artworks, a charming bonsai tree compete with its own biography and, placed perfectly on my pillow, a cute “cloud doll” named Kumo-chan; to nibble on before I sleep I also have a selection of fruit and beautifully presented wagashi confectionery.

Sleek and clad in polished granite, the bathroom is almost as spacious as the room itself. From here I can view my room and the cityscape beyond through a glass wall screened by a slatted blind, which opens and closes at the touch of a button. I could soak in the bathtub all night (there’s also a separate walk-in shower) if only I didn’t have an appointment tomorrow – and fortunately my bed and its slick and silky sheets are so ridiculously comfortable that I’m soon fast asleep.

That early morning start reveals a daylight panorama of Tokyo’s endless urban spread beneath me, which becomes even more dramatic a few floors up after I’m comfortably seated at my breakfast table in Sense, the Mandarin’s contemporary-themed Cantonese restaurant, where I’m offered a bewildering choice of Asian and Western dishes. Predictably, all are superb – but then that goes for just about everything thing else, from the gracious and attentive service to the all-pervasive sense of calm.

After check-out, I head back down to the clamour of a business day in the world’s biggest city, with two regrets only. One, that I’d not been able to spend a blissful couple of hours in the hotel’s 37th-floor spa. And two, that I could spend several more days in this heavenly urban sanctuary.