I've spoken before about my love of airports. There's something about grabbing your passport, eating all the avocado you can find, stocking up on snacks and jetting off somewhere special to escape life for a while.
But whilst we all need to take a step back from life and to be totally honest, social media - thinking of doing a more detailed post on this, lemme know if that's something you're down for? - not all of us have the time, or ability, or funds to be jetting off every month (please god bless me with a long lost uncle/godfather/fairy godmother that likes throwing chanel bags and new york trips around please and thank you!), and if that's the case, then staycations are your bff.
(That's a vacation when you stay at home Mum).
Over the weekend Dan and I decided to take a little trip back to somewhere I'd visited - and loved - before. I knew they did great avocado, sunblush tomato and mozzarella on toast (no you're dribbling) but I had no idea what it would be like to stay at The Arch london so I thought, why not find out.
And then I looked online and thought oh my god yes bloody yes to a tv in the bathroom and a bed fit for a queen, hey X-Factor in a bath full of bubbles followed by bubbles in bed #dreamlife #whencanImovein.
The Arch London is a stunning Georgian townhouse hideout in the centre of London. The 5 star absolute babe of a hotel is renowned for being one of London's best kept secrets, tucked away on a calm residential street just minutes from Bond Street, Hyde Park and west end. It really is one of those incredible boutique hotels that manages to be modern but have a huge amount of character. From huge pieces of artwork to the rich tones scattered throughout and the roaring fireplaces that gave me all those god damn hygge feels, I just felt at home from the very beginning.
So we checked into an executive Junior suite - crikey that makes me feel sassy af - and it was pretty damn obvious that we were in for a dreamy stay. Everything about the decor of this hotel fulfilled my autumnal dreams. Teal, brown and mustard furniture? Tick. Big cosy sofa at the end of the bed to curl up with a coffee on and have laptop time like no other? Tick. Modern but cosy bathroom that almost makes me want to never ever leave it and spend 24 hours in a bath? Tick. We jumped into our bath robes and demolished the macarons kindly left in our room with a coffee and some laptop time (I wanna say work but let's be honest, I whacked on an episode of Lost and got lost in Sawyer and Jack daydreams.
What I loved about our little home at the Arch was, well, exactly that, it was pretty much a home from home. It's the room that looks amazing but has everything. I adored the desk/work area as it also looked out onto a beautiful row of London houses. I loved the tea/coffee area because a) it had coffee #allineedinlife and b) how cute is that teapot though?
When you're in the heart of London, it takes somewhere pretty special to make you want to stay in a room rather than go out and explore and that's exactly what the Arch London does, it makes you never ever want to leave.
I'm gonna be honest, I love a good bathroom and definitely appreciated this one at first glance, but then I saw the TV in the bathroom!! and totally lost my shit mind. It's not that I'd never had that in a hotel room before, it's just that everything up until that point had been perfection and this little nugget of joy - which definitely fulfilled my "x-factor and wine in the bath" goals - was the cherry on top of an oh so sweet cake!
So dinner. Dinner was held at the beautiful Hunter 486 restaurant and this, like the rest of the hotel, is somewhere so warming and inviting that it really does make you want to stay there all night. With rich burgundy furnishings, the most pinterest worthy hanging light bulbs, a beautiful roaring stone oven... it's luxe but it's homely, and that's just the interiors.
The food is special, there's just no point beating around the bush so there you have it. The menu is a good mixture of classic but impressive but the food really does the talking. After talking through gluten free options, the waiter came back with a plate of the most delicious gluten free bread which deserved all the heart eye'd emojis! I then moved onto starters and opted for a quinoa, goats cheese and grilled veg salad and it was the perfect way to start. Light but full of lots of stunning different flavours, filling enough, but not too much to put you off of your mains (lols, that's not even a possibility for me but just in case you have a smaller stomach than I do.). Dan went for the chilled cucumber and avocado soup with brown shrimp and oh lord did not stop talking about how good it was the whole time he ate. Apparently it was like nothing he'd ever tasted and I love that, I always love when restaurants push boundaries and try something new so I was so pleased this was a winner. Oh, Dan also said it was the best bread he's ever eaten and I also heard another lady saying the same thing, to which the waiter offered her the recipe which was all cute and stuff. Just another great example of how amazing the staff are and how they always went the extra mile.
For mains I did a standard Elle and went right in for the steak with peppercorn sauce and mash instead of fries because, coeliac problems, and oh my frickin good lord, Mary, jesus and whoever else you can think of it was SO.DAMN.GOOD. Like, 100% up there in my top steaks list and if you judge me for having that list then we can't be friends. Seriously, the steak was beautiful, as was the creamy mash and the peppercorn sauce finished everything off beautifully. A really amazing dish. Dan went for the Roast pork belly and his little face completely lit up one bite in (that's when you know they're winning in life). I didn't try any because the ole gravy was a gluten'y little bugger but he loved it. Absolutely loved it! Full of flavour - lol, that old classic description again - and amazing roast potatoes apparently.
God I love a roastie.
Finally, even though my stomach was like "gal pal, you've already gained a stone and split me in half, chill out" I couldn't help but accidently order the eton mess. It's kinda just my thing and this one was real good. Very creamy (the greedy pig in me would've loved a little more meringue) but overall, absolutely amazing. Dan had the bakewell tart which was actually meant to come with ice cream but he's a fusspot and prefers it without. He really enjoyed it and loved how almondy - yep, clearly with him because we're equals in the descriptive skills department - it was. Our very lovely waiter (who's name was something a little bit like Mamoosh but I have 100% spelt it wrong/butchered it, I did have to mention him though because he was beyond amazing) was quite insistent on providing some ice cream as he was worried it would be dry so I would recommend going with the ice cream on top!
We finished with a coffee because we'd managed to polish off an amazing malbec and I thought it would be best to try and avoid a hangover on a monday morning. I just loved Hunter restaurant, a gorgeous homely place that has a stunning atmosphere and encourages me to eat even more than I usually do which is a feat in itself!
I had the dreamiest dream boat of a sleep that I've ever had, ever. Seriously, my pictures don't do justice to how huge the room was but how cosy and homely it was at the same time and I think there's something about feeling so at home that just makes you sleep even better. I woke up feeling dead fresher than my usual bedraggled self and loved laying in bed with a cuppa and some chocolate because it's my staycation and I can eat that shiz at 7am if I want to (my cellulite was well chuffed I did).
Oh breakfast, you're my favourite and you know you are you little hottie. The Arch London breakfast is a little bit banging to be honest. From fry ups to pancakes, avo on toast to omelettes, it really does have everything on the menu. Not to mention an amazing buffet/continental selection including fruits, pastries, a whole variety of toppings alongside your classic salmon and eggs too. I picked some fruit, yogurt and nuts to go alongside my egg white omelette - who even am I? - with spinach and feta and those, which were all absolutely delicious, paired with another rack of gluten free bread completely set me up for the day. Dan went for a fry up (lads lads lads) which he loved with some salmon and meats on the side. We both demolished breakfast before soaking up the hotel for a few more hours before we finally had to leave [insert cry face/"please adopt me, The Arch" emoji here].
So that brings me to the end of this staycation round up. In short, the entire hotel is luxurious, stylish and full of character but also manages to be cosy and homely af too. It has absolutely everything you need and could want for without feeling showy or pretentious, it also has the loveliest staff too. If you couldn't tell by now, I would highly recommend packing up your stuff, getting a stash of snacks, checking into the Arch, eating everything at the restaurant before settling down for a bath and TV watch followed by snacks in a bed more bouncy than marshmallows.
Cor, that sounds like a right ole plan don't it!
I would love to know if you've ever stayed at The Arch before? Do you have any Staycation spots that are your fave? I always love hearing your thoughts!
As always, thanks so much for reading.
xx
Labels: Travel
