We recently visited Hart Shoreditch Hotel London which is part of the Curio Collection by Hilton. It’s right in the middle of Shoreditch — with lots of indie coffee shops, restaurants and the lively energy of East London. You can see our video review here:
Within minutes you could walk to Brick Lane or Spitalfields Market. It’s a perfect location for us Northerners, being just two Tube stops away from King’s Cross Station (around £12 and 20 minutes in an Uber).
The lobby was warm and stylish, with copper finishes and lots of welcoming and comfortable seating leading you into the bar.
The hotel boasts its own pan-Asian restaurant, UBA, but you can also choose to sit in the UBA Lobby Bar for a more casual eating experience (which we did as you will read, further down this review).
Room 502
Our room was on 5th floor which gave us an excellent view over the rooftops of Shoreditch. We were lucky enough to have this gorgeous sunset.
And blue skies the next day!
Our room was large and comfortable with full length mirrors on the wall as you entered the room.
I loved all of the decor throughout the hotel and was particularly interested in lots of the little details such as the parquet style flooring in our bedroom and the parquet pattern mirrored in the tiny tiles in the bathroom.
The room came with a super king bed and was very comfortable with two pillows each (I hate it when they are tight on pillows!).
There was also a wardrobe with everything you need from an iron, ironing board, room safe and even slippers.
If you can’t find the hair dryer, it’s in the wardrobe – in a drawer underneath the room safe. Took us a while to find it!
There’s a desk or rather dressing table with a mirror light and a cute little stool. There’s also a comfortable chair in the corner of the room.
The hospitality tray included a Nespresso machine with two regular coffees and two decaf and this array of teas from Jing. There is also a mini-fridge below this if you wanted to bring your own drinks into the room.
You can just see in the photo above the real glass wine glasses (There will be no using the bathroom glasses here or a mug for your Prosecco!). When I checked in I was told by the member of staff that the hotel was making an effort to reduce single use plastics and as such on each floor there was a water machine where you could help yourself. There was a carafe for this purpose underneath the TV.
Talking about the TV, it was SMART and I was able to Chromecast to it. There were also plenty of USB sockets for charging your devices.
There was also a Marshall Bluetooth speaker.
The bathroom was as beautiful as the rest of the hotel with a shower with amazing water pressure, so nice!
Loved the Soapsmith Brick Lane toiletries too. I get unreasonably excited to see what toiletries a hotel has, and I love trying new ones!
Dinner in UBA Lobby Bar
As I mentioned earlier we ate in the UBA Lobby Bar. The dishes were similar ones to the main restaurant:
We shared all the dishes, and tried the Korean Crispy Fried chicken:
The Rock Shrimp Style Tempura (which my son said were the best shrimp he had ever had!)
Beef gyoza:
Stir fried chicken noodles:
There was also a dessert menu:
We then shared the Makase Mochi Selection:
I also indulged in a Mandarin Star cocktail!
Breakfast in UBA Restaurant
The following morning, once I had prised my teenager from his bed, we headed down to UBA for breakfast. It’s served buffet style with a hot section for your full English (think bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, hash browns etc):
Then there was a separate section for the continental selection, with fresh fruit:
Pastries:
Toast and Jams:
Brie and grapes:
Muffins:
Juices and hot drinks. Word of warning here, this area is not as well lit as it could be, so be careful not to mistake the peppermint tea for English Breakfast tea like I did! Bit of a surprise!
Another couple of points I wanted to mention that don’t fit easily into my review. The hotel is dog friendly with specific pet friendly rooms. The lift is only operated if you swipe your room card, which gives a greater feeling of security to the bedrooms.
Finally, the hotel lobby smells gorgeous and reminds me of hotels we have visited in Dubai. I asked a staff member at reception about the scent and she showed me this picture – so I am clearly not the first to notice it! She said they were hoping to offer the scent as a reed diffuser in the future (which I would totally buy!).
