The Unmissables – Nobu Hotel, London Portman Square

This week’s unmissable is the Nobu Hotel, London Portman Square, a cool and calming oasis in the heart of London’s Marylebone. Helena Beard looks for a weekend of wellness to brighten up a long, cold winter.

I’d heard of Nobu. Of course I had. The best in Japanese food, created by the world-famous Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, known for its signature miso black cod and upmarket clientele. But I had no idea that Nobu did hotels. And even less of a clue about how they might do them. So when I was looking for a weekend in London to recover and revitalise from a somewhat over-indulgent Christmas and New Year, I jumped at the chance to find out whether the hotel could live up to its brand.

Location: On a corner of London’s Portman Square, the Nobu Hotel is just five minutes from Marble Arch and a short walk from Bond Street. That means great shopping opportunities, with another ‘unmissable’ right on the doorstep; the retail mecca that is Selfridges. You are in a great spot for exploring the West End, walking up Oxford Street, taking in Marylebone High Street or wandering down to Regents Street. And, if all that consumerism leaves you cold, the Wallace Collection is just around the corner, a fifteen minute stroll will take you to Baker Street to visit Madame Tussauds and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, or walk on to Regents’ Park, another London treat.

First Impressions:

This is a very central location, in a busy part of town. So I was slightly sceptical about how the Nobu Hotel was going to fulfil its promises of supreme serenity and focus on my wellbeing. However, the relaxation started to kick in straight away, with a smooth check-in, a luxurious lobby and lounge bar, and a gracious welcome from the reception staff. Once inside, I noticed the sounds of the city had almost completely disappeared.

Sleep: There are 249 rooms at the Nobu Portman Square, ranging from the Superior Rooms up to the two luxury penthouse suites, through seven different room categories.

I will confess that, leaving the glamour of downstairs to go to my bedroom, my first feeling was one of slight disappointment. Outwardly, the room seemed bare and lacking in luxury. No plush bedspreads or extravagant furnishings, few accessories and minimalist furniture. However, there was an incredible scent in the air which sent me back immediately to all the best massage treatments I have ever had.

And the first impressions were, I can safely say, very misleading. I have never had this experience in a hotel before; the longer I stayed in the room, the more I liked it. Normally, I can’t wait to get out of to explore the hotel. But everything I needed was there, and, more remarkably, nothing I didn’t. No annoying superfluous pillows or covers on the bed to kick off, just the perfect level of warmth from the most gorgeous duvet and luxury bed linen. No tatty hotel information book here. Just a QR code on a huge, high spec TV taking you to an app on your phone where you can find exactly what you’re looking for. Fluffy towels, bathrobes and slippers, and aromatic toiletries served up (I was pleased to see) in large, refillable bottles. Small things that make a difference, like a shower you don’t need to fiddle with because the overhead and hand held settings flow simultaneously. And a rather lovely mini-bar offering unusual snacks and drinks, augmented by an ‘Antibacterial Protection’ pack of face masks, gloves and wipes, and an extremely useful phone charger. It is clear that guest experience is at the absolute heart of Nobu’s room design.

Eat: Now, this is a rare find; a hotel whose popularity is driven by the restaurant, rather than the other way around. Nobu’s restaurant moved from Berkeley Street to Portman Square when the hotel opened in May 2021 and they could probably fill the 192 covers a dozen times over at dinnertime. We ate at lunchtime, however, and I would highly recommend this. You will be much more likely to be able to book a table, and the food, whilst still extremely special, is more affordable. Since this weekend was meant to be all about health and wellbeing, we enjoyed the Detox Bento Box which offered three hot and three cold dishes, including baby chicken, a selection of sushi and possibly the most delicately flavoured and delicious spinach salad I’ve ever tasted, for £40 per person. At no point did I feel like I was denying myself.

The hotel also has a glamorous bar and heated terrace, frequented by the beautiful people, and a relaxing lounge and bar within the lobby area. This is where breakfast is served, which is also, as you might expect, a cut above the normal hotel fare. You can opt for berries, pastries and a delicious seeded granola, a traditional English breakfast, or, as we did, try out a Japanese specialty. I can highly recommend the Salmon Scrambled Egg Donburi, a heavenly mix of fish, egg and rice with a touch of sesame.

Work and Play :

As you’d expect from such a hotel, there is an extremely well equipped gym open 24 hours a day, packed with state of the art machines, all of which, to my relief, were extremely easy to navigate with pre-programmed routines for the uninitiated. More interesting, perhaps, was the studio housing two rows of padded beds furnished with bands and pulleys. Not a torture chamber, in fact, but the equipment for Nobu’s latest and most popular innovation, Nobu Pilates, offering highly sought after sessions of different types of Pilates classes which can be booked by residents and non-residents alike.

Highs: The superb design of the room which almost seemed to be one step ahead of me, anticipating my every need well before I’d even thought of it.

Lows: Breakfast was rather expensive – book a room rate which includes it.

Unmissable : The food. The hotel is wonderful, but the food is still the star. Book a table in advance.

Verdict: I fell slowly in love with this hotel – it really grew on me. My first impressions were nothing special, and the price tag is high, but once I’d lived it and understood how beautifully it all flows and the superb quality of the service, the food, the design of the rooms and the general ambience of the place, I knew I’d love to go back.

Prices start from £365 inc VAT per night.

Check out the Nobu Hotel London Portman Square hotel at: london-portman.nobuhotels.com