May 2024 required 4 cover photos and in early June 2024 Mandarin Oriental. Mayfair opens in Hanover Square. I am beyond excitement. Peninsula, London Breakfast with Peninsula, London's new MD Rolf was fascinating & the dim sum divine again. Much later in the month the mother of my godson & I experienced their 'Belgravia in Bloom Afternoon Tea' on a very wet day. The lightest & freshest sandwiches I have ever eaten and flawless service. It was all made even better with Rolf, & Hotel Manager Scott, coming over to say hello. Must thank them for the 'free' Billecart-Salmon Rose champagne & extraordinary special gifts. Sir Michael Palin at The Barbican Centre It was an honour to hear 80-year-old 'Old Salopian' Sir Michael Palin talk at The Barbican Centre and he even mentioned Shrewsbury School. Rebel with a Cello at The Royal Albert Hall I was back in a box at The Royal Albert Hall in May 2024. This time next to The Royal Box. Croatian Stjepan Hauser was even more fun to listen to with my favourite Croatian hotelier. The Moet champagne, and delicious smoked salmon canapés, helped. There was nothing rebellious about the classical music he played but I loved every minute of it. Bubbledogs @ 45 Park Lane Chef Elliott Grover was a genius again. I was unimpressed by the original 'overhyped' Fitzrovia 'Bubbledogs' but his pop-up on the 45 Park Lane terrace was sensational. Beluga caviar & lobster on a hotdog should not work but it did. It was another hotel where the champagne was 'free'. Special Mentions Jeremy Clarkson's 'Diddle Squat Farm Shop' crisps are moorishly delicious; 'Gymkhaha Fine Foods' in Harrods Food Hall produce the most delicate and flavoursome biryani I have eaten; The Arlington's crispy bacon is still delectable but their frozen berries with warm white chocolate sauce must be tried too; and the peppercorn sauce for 1 Lombard Street's Friday steak frites is to die for. Hope the photos below, & the text above, explain why is was an '8 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) month. Meeting someone like Owen, & reconnecting with Roland, made it a very memorable month. | ![]() I had breakfast at The Emory twice in May 2024. The first time I was thrilled to meet Owen & this photo was before breakfast with Maybourne COO Roland Fasel. GM Knut joined for the end of this momentous breakfast. After Rolf at the start of the month & now Roland. Swiss hoteliers really do rock! I first met Roland when he was GM of The Dorchester & was at Aman, New York when he was COO of Aman Resorts. He is now COO of the group that includes Claridge's, The Connaught, The Berkeley etc |
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![]() I returned to London, after New Year, to find my Dorchester hotel hamper. It was a month dominated by the reopening of the ground floor of this iconic hotel. The Pierre Yves-Rochon refurbishment of the Dorchester lobby & Promenade has to be seen to be believed. From Lalique glass columns under the Promenade's Artists' Bar; to Liberace's piano being played; to stunning original art from various exhibitions I have attended at 45 Park Lane. I found seeing it all the first time almost overwhelming. It was a month where I met Chef Elliott Grover at 45 Park Lane & Dorchester Collection artist Jill Berelowitz. I also attended a Shrewsbury School (Old Salopian) Epiphany Service at St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London; met with the City of London Police again, as part of my Barbican role; had lunch with colleagues I worked with at the Bank of England in the 1980s; ate Louis Vuitton Yayoi Kusama from Harrods and savoured a delicious bacon chop at the Mount St Restaurant surrounded by Matisse, Lucian Freud, Picasso, Warhol etc, before a tour of their exceptional private dining rooms. Chef Tom Booton at The Dorchester Grill's stuffed chicken; Chef Elliott Grover's Sunday lunch at 45 Park Lane; the Wolfgang Puck crispy fried beef & prawn wontons with honey spiced mayonnaise at 45 Park Lane; & the cream tea from Rick Stein at Home must all be tried. Hope the photos below do justice to an unforgettable start to 2023. I am off to Shrewsbury again tomorrow, to help mum again. ![]() November & December 2021 were a whirlwind. The fact I signed the contract for my new banking job at The Rosewood Hotel, London, and started my new role in Canary Wharf in December, means 2022 should start well for me. November 2021 included a meeting at The Guildhall to represent Barbican residents; a visit to The English National Opera to see HMS Pinafore; a Chinese breakfast at Four Seasons Hotel Ten Trinity Square before The Lord Mayor's Show etc December included seeing The Dior Christmas Tree at Claridge's; being given the 2021 Harrods Christmas teddy bear by the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park; trying the new scones at Four Seasons on Park Lane before their public launch; Christmas shopping for Maria at Hamleys etc Christmas itself was our first without dad at home. However, mum & I were able to visit him on Christmas Eve & again before I returned to work in London. His granddaughter Maria flew in from Moscow again and we had a very special family Christmas with her. Hope the photos below convince you it has been a '7 teddy' few months, despite COVID-19. I am double vaccinated and have had my booster shot & flu jab. Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog. I really value all your support. ![]() 29 March 2021 will be my second birthday 'celebrated' under COVID-19. I have already had some amazing birthday presents. The main one was having received my first Coronavirus vaccine shot. This, combined with news that Nuffield Health plan to reopen The Barbican gym, gives me hope that we are, finally, returning to 'normal'. I am thinking about Paris & their latest lockdown at present. Stay safe & strong everyone. ![]() Despite experiencing Fortnum & Mason & Avanti West Coast First Class train travel alone; a Daniel Humm Claridge's Fried Chicken dinner at home; showers with Aromatherapy Associates oils, my Frette sheets & my Dorchester hotel bed here in my Barbican London place; seeing a Red Arrows display on VE Day by Palace of Westminster; another spectacular Dorchester hotel roses bouquet specially created for me by Philip Hammond; walks in St James's Park looking at the black swans & Buckingham Palace etc, the UK lockdown since 23 March 2020 has been too long and the UK's new travel quarantine rules wreck www.sifrew.com and so many of my work plans. My dad's birthday next weekend, & a 'physically distanced' picnic in Green Park with friends from my Qatar days, has made me think how much a miss hugging my mum, swimming & my personal training. Look forward to answering questions about the photos below, when we next meet! Off for another walk now to try to drop some of the weight gained in the last few months.
![]() My Barbican window boxes are now looking, & smelling, fabulously thanks to the geniuses at Nurture Landscapes. The smell comes from rosemary & French lavender and the bees already love the latter. My original window boxes were based on work done at Four Seasons at Park Lane but this year's are inspired by Rules, the oldest restaurant in London. The day before the work on my window boxes I visited the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Before this I walked through Mayfair to see Annabel's & smell the flowers at The Connaught and had lunch with astonishing friends from Shropshire at Four Seasons at Park Lane. Hope the photos below help to evidence the '7 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) life I am living here in London. ![]() I have settled back into my London life. Personal training with Bart at Virgin Active, Barbican and enjoying my swims there. I am living in my redecorated Barbican place again, with its Dorchester Hotel bed, personalised Frette sheets from Harrods, new Ligne Roset table from Heal's etc. Just the 'Four Seasons at Park Lane' window boxes to recreate again. Since I moved back to London Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park has officially reopened. I visited on the day this occurred. On that, notable, occasion I met Rodolphe & Marco in the Mandarin Bar and was served a divine truffle gin martini that was not yet on the menu. Legendary GM Amanda also came for an inspiring chat. On my second visit I brought one of my unbelievable friends from Shropshire and got to try more cocktails and snacks being developed for the menu and was presented with a Mandarin Oriental teddy bear, MO tie pin and MO key ring, to add to my MO clufflinks from Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur. On my latest visit I decided to try their Hyde Park breakfast with Moet champagne, a choice of truffles or caviar and a spectacular view of Hyde Park. Breakfast ended up being better than I could possibly have imagined. Even the bellhops on the lobby stairs greeted me by name, the gorgeous dining room is so bright and impressive, the other guests as refined as I found before the deeply unfortunate fire and Amanda and her staff (eg Silvia the House Manager) seem reinvigorated/improved, what a contrast with when The Savoy in London reopened. Hope the photos below help you to understand why it was such a special day. A '7 teddies' (🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻) hotel, with '7 teddy' staff and a '7 teddy' champagne/truffle breakfast. |
The AuthorsSi Frew has lived in the UK, Bermuda, Qatar, Cyprus & the Cayman Islands. During this time he met Whoopi Goldberg (in Claridge's), Mike Tyson (in the Concorde Lounge at JFK) , Gordon Ramsay (in the Doha Four Seasons), Chris Eubanks (in The Dorchester), Cherie Blair (in Bermuda & again in the Doha Four Seasons) etc. There are funny stories attached to all these interactions, feel free to ask Si about them when you meet him. Archives
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