AHEAD IN THE CLOUDS

Years in the planning, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong finally opened its doors to guests in April. JON WALL reckons it's been worth the wait

GAZING DOWN FROM the 113th floor of Kowloon’s International Commerce Centre, it’s hard not to succumb to the notion that I’m master of the universe. Far below, tower blocks appear so small that I could pluck them up and pop them down somewhere else, ferries flit like tadpoles across blue-green water dappled by the shadows of clouds, and the microscopic vehicles that continually stream in and out of Western Harbour Tunnel appear no more significant than insects. I tell myself I’m not here solely for the view – but when that’s of Hong Kong and my vantage point is close to the top of what they tell me is the world’s tallest hotel, I’m naturally having difficulty tearing my eyes away.

In fact, whether I’m by the swimming pool, relaxing in the Club Lounge or dining at Tosca restaurant, I find myself irresistibly drawn to the windows, so addictive are the tableaux that each aspect of this super-skyscraper presents. Each time I enter my guestroom the curtains part as if by magic, implicitly acknowledging that there’s no way I’m going to shut out the amazing panoramas, whatever the time of day or night it may be.

But then The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong was always going to be sensational, occupying as it does the top 17 storeys – plus more levels at the base, where ballroom and meeting areas are located – of the fourth-tallest building on the planet. Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that no other hotel in town has been so highly anticipated, or created so much noise on its opening. Restaurants are booked up months in advance, and queues form each afternoon for tea at The Lounge & Bar or The Chocolate Library, and every evening for cocktails at Ozone, which on the 118th floor can also claim its own superlative as the world’s highest bar (I’m sure there are loftier watering holes perched atop mountains, but let’s not split hairs shall we?) Even the lifts are remarkable, their velocity prompting passengers to check watches to see whether the 400-odd metres separating the ninthfloor driveway and 103rd-floor lobby take less than a minute (by my reckoning it misses by three seconds, though it’s still earpoppingly fast).

Given its extreme elevation, the major headache for the hotel’s interior designers must surely have been how best to coexist, if not necessarily compete, with the view – and the routes the various teams have taken are unlike any others that I can think of in Hong Kong. Most work on The Ritz-Carlton’s public areas and guestrooms was carried out by Singapore-based LTW Designworks, which has blended Oriental and Western elements, as well as polished woods, rich fabrics, and gleaming marble and onyx, to create a richly luxurious ambience that welcomes in a crepuscularly cosy yet clearly contemporary kind of way.

Thus my own 538-square-foot Deluxe Harbour Island-view room – which overlooks Western District, Lantau and the site of the proposed West Kowloon Cultural District – blends sombre browns and earth tones with more cheerful splashes of raspberry and burgundy to complement rather than overwhelm the magnificent prospect of land and sea. And in the event I do choose to divert my attention inwards, there’s a 42-inch screen with Blu-ray disc player, an iPhone speaker dock and a marble-clad bathroom with tub-facing screen to keep me occupied.

Rather than the hotel’s 300-odd guestrooms and suites, however, the main event for local residents is more likely to be the complex of restaurants and private dining rooms that each line a single side of the tower, one floor down from the lobby.
Illuminated by two-storey-high windows that flood these spaces with light and arguably make them even more spectacular in daytime than at night, they rightly serve as the hotel’s main focal points and hum with humanity almost round the clock. Design work for these four dining areas, which include the Cantonese Tin Lung Heen (see page 162), was entrusted to Japan’s Spin Design Studio and Wonderwall companies, and though interlinked by a corridor that runs around the building, each restaurant has its own particular ambience.

Tosca, for example, whose name recalls the old Ritz-Carlton’s Toscana yet whose unusual speciality is southern Italian cooking, is dominated to one side by the view over Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island, and to the other by an industrious open kitchen. In this dramatic expanse, where the imaginations and quirky humour of the Spin design team have clearly been permitted to run riot – think kitsch green fountains, glass-beaded curtains, maroon-and-gold chairs and mauve tablecloths – Chef de Cuisine Vittorio Lucariello, formerly of the Grand Hyatt and Island Shangri-La, and his team have created a superb and authentic menu that transports diners on a journey through the cuisines of the Mezzogiorno. This is perhaps best experienced through the fivecourse tasting dinner, a deeply satisfying repast that, in contrast with the whimsical surrounds, is high on simple, natural flavours and mercifully low on gimmickry (the flat Sardinian bread, lightly salted and flavoured with olive oil, is to die for and alone worth a visit to Tosca).

Other compelling reasons to check into The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong include the 116th-floor Spa by Espa, where I intermittently snore my way through a supremely indulgent 80-minute aromatherapy treatment in one of the nine treatment rooms; there are also suites for couples, and all have that view. And then there’s Ozone, which shares the 118th floor with what, for all I know, may well be the world’s highest swimming pool and gym, and in just a few weeks has become the quintessence of cool, convincing even confirmed Island folk to journey across the harbour to nibble on Asian tapas, sip signature cocktails, and gaze either at the twinkling lights of the city or – for those unable to secure a window seat – the starry fibre-optic carpet.

This time around, however, I’m content to escape the crush and spend a quietly contented evening comfortably ensconced a couple of floors down in the Club Lounge, where food is thoughtfully laid out from morning to night and drinks are on tap around the clock. It’s 10pm, and far below there’s no letting up in Lilliput. I pour myself one last glass of wine, take a final gaze out of the window, then lazily head for my hotel room in the heavens.