By Ben Davey (Beijing Weeekend)
Updated: 2007-08-15 09:43

The Regent

 

If Raffles is updated colonial charm, The Regent is its younger, brasher rival. Most surfaces inside the hotel look shiny enough to eat eggs off but thankfully we did not have to test this theory as we had made reservations at one of The Regent's restaurants. Led to the elevator by smiling staff, the door to our Premium room swung open and while it wasn't the biggest room I had stayed in for this much dough (1,640 yuan per night), it was the use of the space that was impressive. Fit-out with the kind of furnishings that would not have been out of place in Gordon Gekko's office in Wall Street, the main sleeping area was smallish but elegant.

 

But the bathroom was a showstopper. The circumference of the showerhead was actually considerably bigger than a human head, and as for the bath, it was so deep you could store enough ice and beers in it to keep even the most hedonistic housewarming running for days. The bathroom had glass walls with a view to the sleeping area, which could be blocked out by electric blinds. I think I spent at least ten minutes flicking the switch making the blinds go up and down, up and down.

 

From the room service menu we ordered the lemon-marinated beef carpaccio and a frothy white-bean soup (85 yuan). A basket of bread came complimentary and after stuffing ourselves we surfed the flat screen televisions, which had all of the usual stations as well as two Western movies channels.

 

The hotel's Italian restaurant - Deccapo - gives you more than a few reasons to drool. With an aesthetic in keeping with the rest of the hotel's contemporary-minded interior, the eatery boasts a comprehensive booze list featuring Australian, Chilean, French and Italian wines. As for the solids on offer, entrees include a generous antipasti sampler (115 yuan) and roasted tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad with rocket leaves and balsamic reduction (85 yuan). A mains highlight is the pecorino and thyme-crusted rack of lamb with olive mash, artichokes and caramelized garlic jus (180 yuan), and as for pasta - the herb ravioli with spinach, pan-fried scallops and light garlic foam (95 yuan) should please those with a tolerance for rich fare. If you can fit in dessert, you'd be daft to pass up the iced latte macchiato with baby banana and Baileys cream (65 yuan). With rotund bellies we waddled back to our room and laid down on one of the most comfortable beds this side of Saturn.

 

At the in-house Serenity Spa we smelled the various oils available to be rubbed into our flesh by one of the masseuses. Upon choosing a fragrance, we were escorted to a large room with two beds, a generously-sized spa bath and a huge shower equipped with another one of those small-car-tire sized showerheads that was in our room. The masseuses were kind enough to ask how hard we would like to be kneaded and cracked, which was not an option I had been given at other establishments where the treatment was either too softy-softly or so forceful that the experience was akin with being stretched on a medieval rack.

 

Sunday brunch at the Regent is all about extravagance. Bottomless glasses of champagne, foie gras, lobster, a chocolate fountain, caviar, cocktails, mocktails and even a saxophone player who looks like a cast member of Melrose Place. Here, your 15th glass of bubbly may numb the pain when you have to part with 390-odd yuan-per-head for this deluxe buffet.

 

The Regent
Location: 99 Jinbao Street, Dongcheng District.
Tel: 1800-545-4000

 

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