When you combine the luxury jewellery brand Bulgari, Knightsbridge – a part of London not commonly associated with the low-key – and a five-star hotel, you would expect a certain combination of things. Lavish refinement, naturally, but also might things be just a little de trop? I remember a visit to the Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge just after it opened about a decade ago, and being simultaneously struck by how absurdly comfortable and accommodating it all was, but also by a – shall we say – offputtingly glitzy feel to it all. This was not my natural habitat, I thought.
Yet visiting in 2023, it’s an altogether different matter. The cavernous basement dining room has been turned into a bar, Nolita Social, which – almost unthinkably for an establishment of this nature – manages to feel intimate, cosy and, yes, romantic. And for those old-school types who would like nothing more than to sit back and enjoy a cigar and a glass of cognac, then the Edward Sahakian cigar shop and sampling lounge offers all the delights of a Mayfair or St James’ gentlemen’s club transplanted a mile or so westwards, and with a suitably rich and ironic twist.
Still, irony is not really a prerequisite if you’re staying in one of the hotel’s seven signature Bulgari suites, which are – not to put too fine a point on it – opulent beyond the standards of expectation. The one that I stayed in, ‘number 3’ – each has a number rather than a name, which is rather refreshing – not only featured the sort of vast bathroom and bedroom that is de rigueur for rooms of this nature, but a sitting room that took actual moments to walk from one end to the other – complete with a selection of bottles of premium spirits and champagnes in the minibar – a lavishly appointed dining room that could easily seat a dozen people and even a kitchen that was considerably better equipped than most domestic ones I’ve seen. Should the apocalypse take place while you are staying here, it would take a fair old amount of time before you are inconvenienced.
The hotel has a beautifully appointed basement spa and pool – it boasts that the former is “regarded by many as the crowning achievement of the hotel” – and it is all too easy to spend a relaxing hour doing lengths and relaxing in the steam room before dinner at Sette, the hotel’s Italian restaurant and an offshoot of Manhattan’s much-heralded Scarpetta restaurants. It’s a vast improvement on the gloomy basement space, being simultaneously intimate and lavish, and the dishes on offer represent the best of contemporary Italian-American cuisine.
Ravioli of caccio e pepe is delicious, as is a very fine beef tartare, and a main course of black cod with caramelized fennel and ‘concentrated tomatoes’ – it sounds odd, but it works wonderfully – is a worthy challenger to the signature dish of Nobu. And if the whole shebang is accompanied by a bottle of Luigi Maffini’s ‘’Pietraincatenata’ Fiano wine, then so much the better; the whole thing becomes gloriously, splendidly indulgent, in the best of all possible ways.
A night here is never going to be long enough. For the truly discerning sybarite, the only reasonable thing to do is to hunker down for a week, a month, a year, and become the model of a Bulgarite. But the rest of us will have to content ourselves with fleeting visits, and that be our lot. There are considerably worse ways to live, and the Bulgari brand, in all its glory, will continue to enthral us for a long time to come, on this evidence.
Bulgari London, 171 Knightsbridge, London SW7 .For more information, including details of experiences and exclusive offers, and for details of other properties, please visit www.bulgarihotels.com.
