Glass visits the overwhelmingly beautiful Mandarin Oriental Taipei for five-star service and dining
There are not enough superlatives to describe the Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Each and every corner of it glistens and gleams with elegance and extreme attention to detail. Let’s start from the outside – the building, which took eight years to complete, is as majestic as a European mansion with tall, Italian-style windows and intricate, multicoloured curves. The imposing, fountain-fronted facade twists into an interior courtyard and, on an extended, hidden mezzanine a crystal-blue pool, surrounded by palm trees and day beds, hosts the occasional swimmer or sun bather.
The swimming pool at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei
The doorway to the pool leads through from the spa, and, before that, there are the tall hallways and the elevators, decorated with hand-painted, hand-carved panels of beautiful pink blossoms – there are actually over 1,700 pieces of artwork in the hotel. Ascend or descend to the floor on which your room lies. Again, walk the halls – they’re scented with artisanal perfume created just for the hotel. The idea is that, if ever again you smell that unique scent, you’ll be reminded of your time in the hotel.
Deluxe King room at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei
Then there are the rooms. Plush-carpeted and tall-ceilinged with top-to-bottom windows that let you look far across the pretty lights and rooftops of Taipei. The enormous beds are fitted with mattresses that you can’t help but sink into, unwilling or unable to get up, apart from, perhaps, to make use of the Jacuzzi-sized, marble bathtub that sits elegantly behind screen doors – leave them open if you want to watch the sunset.
Dim sum at the Ya Ge restaurant
There are four restaurants in the hotel, and on our first day we dined at Ya Ge. The menu is traditional Cantonese, but the dining room is contemporary with dark-wood furnishings and private booths along with the classic round tables. We were first presented with a delicate assortment of dim sum, so beautiful and ornate they looked more like little painted models than food. The fluffy, roasted bun – stuffed with tender Wagyu beef rather than the traditional pork – was a particular favourite of this course.
Next was another, equally considered plate of tasters. This time, the roasted duck, with a perfectly crisp skin, impressed us most. By this time, we’d also consumed at least a teapot full of rich, fragrant oolong tea – a speciality fresh from the Taiwanese mountains. Next, an incredible wellness soup made with rare varieties of mushrooms and beef. The broth, and each of its ingredients, is thought to have numerous benefits to your health, skin and mind.
With each dish that came, it became more and more evident that the chef at Ya Ge has a deep understanding, and appreciation, of time-honoured Cantonese cuisine. The presentation may have been modern, but the flavours were rich, complicated and, definitely, traditional. There were too many rare, local ingredients to count and too many dishes to list, for that matter.
Before long a plate of desserts arrived and it proved a dramatic finale – the wooden slates that the three bite-sized morsels were delivered on came decorated with a billowing cushion of nitrogen oxide – a cold smoke that coated the table most impressively.
Among the desserts we tasted; a warm, creamy egg tart with a fresh, red strawberry on top, and a moreish pillow of fried taro. We had a different tea to try too – Oriental Beauty, one of the rarest and most delicious treats of Taiwan. It tasted like caramel.
That evening, after riding the city’s famous cable car over the wild, green mountains, we returned for a dip in the pool – still marvellously warm even after the sun had set. Others might visit the spa or try a cocktail at the hotel’s M.O bar, which is inspired by the art and elegance of the 1920s.
Breakfast, the following morning, was the perfect way to end our visit. The menu included eggs benedict with a hearty topping of crab, and thick, maple-crusted toast with soft, sweet pears. Champagne, if you’re that way inclined, flows at breakfast time too. And, if you’re still hungry after all of that, you could always pop into the hotel’s dedicated cake shop for macarons or patisserie. Truly this is one of the only places in the world where nothing is too much trouble, or too indulgent.
by Becky Zanker
Opening image: The Mandarin Oriental Taipei
Mandarin Oriental Taipei, 158 Dunhua North Road, Taipei 10548, Taiwan
For online booking, please visit here
Tel: 886 2 2715 6800 or email here