More room than your average room at The Mayfair, Christchurch. Photo / Sarah Rowlands
More room than your average room at The Mayfair, Christchurch. Photo / Sarah Rowlands
Choux swans and a raisin-based hangover cure - Kim Knight experiences the unexpected at The Mayfair, Christchurch.
Location: Christchurch's post-earthquake rebrand includes a hard-sell on the "Victoria Street retail precinct". The shoes-frocks-giftware strip includes this new, lowish-rise hotel but, in my opinion, the best thing about this precinct is its stone's throw proximity to the great, green jewel that is Hagley Park.
Style: Understated luxury. The Mayfair is one of those rich people who looks just like you until they roll up their sleeves and yep, that's definitely a TAG Heuer timepiece.
Perfect for: The arts and culture crowd who want to be walking distance from good galleries and the actual walkers who want to spend some time under the soul-restoring trees of Hagley Park and the adjacent Botanic Gardens. I used to live In Christchurch, but haven't spent much time there, post-quake. I walked down one street and realised my former workplace had simply disappeared; old things are in new places and there is so much more sky. I felt off-kilter, awake-dreaming, and The Mayfair assumed a kind of "safe haven" status. It's a boutique property that feels quite personal; a true home away from home (assuming your home also serves a signature Belgian mocha made with real melted chocolate and its own imperial blend espresso).
The Mayfair's understated lobby. Photo / Sarah Rowlands
First impressions: The accommodation business is overflowing with over-the-top reception areas. Imagine a hotel that saved all that room for the actual guest rooms? Imagine a hotel that concentrated on solid, smiling service and a really great downstairs cafe and bar instead of potted orchids and signature lobby scents? This is that place.
Rooms: If size matters, does The Mayfair have some floorspace for you. Standard rooms start at a generous 32m2. Our two-room Top of House suite included a kitchenette, dining table, couch, cocktail cart, large balcony, two Chromecast-capable televisions and a dance floor. I'm kidding about the dance floor, but if you're a small group prepping for a big event, the suites (options start from $285 a night) lend themselves to the full hair-makeup-champagne experience. The decor is neutral but not without personality - I particularly loved the chair and ottoman combo that I could pull up next to the window with a park view. (And yes, that was a rabbit running around the broken asphalt and weedy remains of a neighbouring property - parts of Christchurch are, still, very much a work in progress).
Bathroom: Two words: Dyson. Hairdryer. (Should that be three words? Who knows. Who cares? DYSON HAIRDRYER). Also the shower is enormous and there is an absolutely lovely long shelf to arrange all of your stuff like it's your actual home. The magnifying make-up mirror with lights allowed me to apply mascara to every single lash and the unisex toiletries were from Scandanavian favourite Byredo. (Full size in the bathroom; take home miniatures for suite-dwellers).
Living the high (tea) life at The Mayfair, Christchurch. Photo / Tonia Shuttleworth
Food and drink: Gasp! There was no breakfast buffet. Keep it classier with a visit to Majestic at the Mayfair - the ground floor cafe/bar that is as popular with locals as it is guests. We breakfasted twice and also booked in for the highly recommended high tea ($70 with a glass of Moet). The latter was a symphony of choux pastry swans, ridiculously good biscuit bases and things within things (think white chocolate mousse with a raspberry centre and dense hazelnut cake encased in smooth lemony cremeux).
Brunch was excellent - big visual appeal and thoughtful textural details (crunchy seeds, sliced AND moussed avocado, properly juicy mushrooms et al). Post-3pm, trust the trained professional with a blowtorch and order "the chance" from the cocktail list. My gin/mango challenge did not look pretty, but tasted pretty great. The service, throughout, was exceptional.
If you don't want to leave your gigantic suite, room service runs the burger-steak-pickled beets gamut. It is to my everlasting disappointment that I missed the 9pm cut-off for an individual serve of Duck Island icecream, but all suites come with complimentary snacks, including a full-size bar of Whittakers - and Japanese Raisin Tree anti-hangover capsules.
Facilities: Hire an in-room spin bike to go with your in-room icecream, or see reception for 24/7 access to Total Fitness (300m away). For the more business-inclined, there's a boardroom that seats 8, a meeting room that can take up to 60 and parking is available for $20-$30 a day.
Best seat in the suite. Photo / Sarah Rowlands
In the neighbourhood: The always fabulous Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū is about 10 minutes by foot, but consider detouring slightly for the new Ravenscar House Museum - an architectural stunner that was purpose-built to hold the mind-blowing personal art collection of two former accountants. Works by Colin McCahon, Frances Hodgkins, and many more local artists are displayed as they might be in a private home and the $25 entry fee includes three months' access to a digital guide of the entire, slightly surreal experience.
Keep walking and you'll eventually hit the shifting-evolving CBD rebuild and a compulsory visit to everybody's new foodie favourite the Riverside Market, where The Butcher's Pie giant sausage roll was worth the hype and (please don't hate me) the Dimitri's souvlaki just wasn't as good as I remembered.
Accessibility: The Mayfair has four fully accessible rooms.
Contact: The Mayfair, 155 Victoria Street, Christchurch, ph 03 595 6335, www.mayfairluxuryhotels.com
