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Most tourists visit London for the historic attractions and architecture, but where you stay and how you eat can make or break any visit to London. Consider staying in a top London luxury hotel which also has an award winning restaurant to cut down on expensive taxis trips. Other advantages of dining where you stay include being able to charge the whole stay to your bill, which can be beneficial when claiming company travel expenses, and after indulging in award winning food and a good bottle of wine it is much more pleasant to stroll back to your room trying to get a ride back to the hotel.

Some top London luxury hotel with fine dining choices for the Summer 2012 include:

Connaught Hotel, Mayfair
The on-site and understated Espelette Restaurant is actually one of London’s Michelin star establishments, located in one of Mayfair’s best luxury hotels. French chef, Hélène Darroze, provides a true gastronomic experience from afternoon tea to signature dinner entrees.

Mandarin Oriental
You will know you are dining at the Foliage Restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, as beneath each glass plate is a freshly pressed leaf picked fresh from the grounds of Hyde Park opposite. With al-fresco or indoor dining, this Michelin star restaurant will make any stay at the Mandarin Oriental absolutely perfect.

Berkeley Hotel
Superbly located just off Knightsbridge, the Berkeley is one of London’s top luxury hotels and a beautiful place to return to each evening. Choose to dine casually at Gordon Ramsey’s Boxwood Café or more upscale with Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. Both chefs have a Michelin star and offer exquisite cuisine.

Metropolitan Hotel
Dining at the Metropolitan gives guests the opportunity to sample the delectable Japanese-style menu developed by chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, better known simply as Nobu. Coupled with the five star service of this London luxury hotel, it makes a great base for sightseeing.

Dorchester
No list would be complete without including Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Two Michelin star dining created by one of the world’s greatest chefs is a great reason to stay at the Dorchester, one of the top London five-star hotels.

The Ritz in London – favoured by Royalty and Presidents – has always been at the forefront of the world’s luxury hotels, with its history, elegance and style.

It’s also stuck stubbornly to sartorial tradition: the statement on the hotel’s website is clear enough: in the dining areas, ‘gentlemen are required to wear a jacket and tie’.

But ever so quietly, the strict formality has been allowed to slip a little. It’s now possible for Ritz patrons to wear jeans to breakfast, although the denim must be ‘very smart’ and not accompanied by trainers.

A spokesman for the luxury hotel said: “It was a management decision to change the policy … to make guests feel more comfortable.”

Actress Joan Collins – never knowingly underdressed – is unsure. “I only like jeans in the country, but I’m not too bothered about this. There are some very nice designer jeans, but then you sometimes see someone wearing a pair that look as if they’ve been covered in paint.”

Two reporters from the Mail on Sunday newspaper decided to put the new Ritz luxury hotel dress code to the test and found ‘men and women wearing jeans with casual indifference’. Two men even wore T-shirts with light blue scruffy denims; only one guest – a man in his 60s – wore a jacket and tie.

by Andy Moreton

The Ritz is the last word in luxury London hotels. Book it through Luxique.

There are many reasons for visiting the Capital and staying in one of the the top luxury hotels in London – the world-class shows, theatre, opera and ballet; the unrivalled opportunities to truly shop ‘till you drop, even at London prices; the museums and art galleries, many of which are now free to enter, and the legendary gourmet dining. There are at least 5570 restaurants in London, according to the Yellow Pages, and many more pubs and coffee houses, snack bars and take-aways so you should be able to dine somewhere different every night for the next 27 years without having to repeat yourself.

However, in reality, we are creatures of habit, and having found somewhere good to dine out, we would rather return there than risk disappointment elsewhere. Many of London’s finest restaurants are an integral part of the luxury hotels in London which are found in Capital’s most prestigious areas. With expensive taxi fares and impossible parking, it makes sense to dine where you are staying. Here are some of London’s very best restaurants, complete with adjoining luxury hotel accommodation.

One of the city’s best restaurants is tucked inside the five star Connaught Hotel in Mayfair. Although you may feel out of place without a jacket and tie, Hélène Darroze, one of France’s most distinguished chefs has brought her Michelin-star cuisine to London for a gastronomic experience to savor. The more informal Espelette restaurant also offers signature dishes by Hélène, along with delectable afternoon teas.

Equally Michelin star-studded is the Foliage restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental. Nestled in one of the top luxury hotels in London, the restaurant enjoys a Royal Park on either side hotel and al fresco dining on the terrace in the warm summer evenings is an unrivalled experience. Attention to detail includes the waiting staff collecting leaves from Hyde Park and placing them beneath the bespoke glass plates to truly set the scene for an amazing experience.

The five star luxury Berkeley Hotel in London boasts possibly the finest dining with not one but two award-winning restaurants. Gordon Ramsay takes on New York’s café scene with his Boxwood Café whilst Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley presents a total food euphoria.

Finally, be prepared to be dazzled by an exciting international restaurant set in one of the premier luxury hotels in London. Nobu offers a delectable Peruvian-Japanese menu in the Metropolitan Hotel. Founded by world-renowned chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa and presided over by Executive Chef Mark Edwards, this specialty cuisine cannot fail to impress. Coupled with the legendary service and contemporary interior design, this luxury hotel in London’s Park Lane makes a truly refreshing place to dine and to stay.

by Luxique - A Unique Collection of Luxury Hotels in London

El Bulli, the Spanish restaurant consistently voted the world’s best, is to close for two years in 2012.

The restaurant’s head chef, Ferran Adria, says the two years will be devoted to ‘thinking, preparing and planning for the future’. Once it reopens in 2014, El Bulli intends to be ‘constantly challenging the possibilities of the concept of a restaurant’.

Adria serves his 200 Euro (£174/$277) tasting menu to 50 people a night for just six months of the year at his three Michelin-starred restaurant in Roses on the Costa Brava, where he has been head chef since 1983. It’s said he receives requests from two million people for the 8,000 seats available each season.

One food writer said a visit there was like a night at the opera, with a sequence of extraordinary, provocative and magical sensations.

by Andy Moreton

You probably won’t get a reservation at El Bulli, but if you want to press your nose up against the window, try Luxique for luxury Costa Brava hotels.

Sometimes it takes an Olympic Games to rejuvenate a city – think Barcelona in 1992.

And with under three years to go before London’s turn, some forgotten city treasures are being dusted off for the benefit of the visiting throng.

One such is the British Telecom (BT) Tower (formerly the Post Office Tower), until recently considered an unfashionable 1960s monolith that served merely as a handy way of getting your bearings in London’s West End.

The 581-foot tower, opened in 1965, has suddenly been given new life. Not only was it the venue for a spectacular firework display to mark 1,000 days to the Games, it’s been given the honour of holding a 500-foot high Olympics countdown screen.

And now there’s even talk of reviving the once-famed revolving restaurant on the 34th floor. BT is said to have recently begun searching for celebrity chefs to oversee the restaurant, which was closed 30 years ago amid security fears.

The rotating floor where the restaurant would be situated takes 20 minutes to complete a circuit - roughly 10 minutes less than the London Eye. It’s likely to have seating for 60–70 diners. It’s thought BT would like to have it open by Christmas 2011, although a spokeswoman said rather tersely:

“We don’t comment on rumour and speculation.”

by Andy Moreton

Many of Luxique’s carefully selected luxury London hotels will have special deals at this time. Check out the full list.

One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, La Tour d’Argent, is putting 18,000 bottles of vintage wine up for auction.

They include such sought-after tipples as Chateau Lafite Rothschild (1970, 1982 and 1997), and Chateau Cheval Blanc (1928, 1949 and 1966).

La Tour d’Argent, which enjoys an enviable position overlooking Notre Dame cathedral, is a fixture on the Paris dining circuit. It dates back to 1582 and is most famous for its pressed duck.

The bottles for sale were selected from the 450,000 or so that are kept in what is one of the world’s largest and finest cellars. The restaurant says it wants to cut down, vary and modernise its selection.

The auction, set for December 7th and 8th, has captured the imagination of France’s connoisseurs of the grape. A spokesman for the auctioneers said:

“To wine lovers, these cellars are like Mecca, like a cathedral. It’s the holy of holies.”

Some very old spirits will also be sold. When four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar, they were found to be covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur.

But they are not the oldest lots in the auction. There are three bottles of a Clos du Griffier cognac from 1788 – the year before the French Revolution. The starting price is 2,500 euros (£2,250/$3,685) a bottle.

It’s thought the whole sale will fetch up to a million euros (£900,000/ $1.47 million).

by Andy Moreton

If you’re planning a visit to France’s romantic capital city, browse through Luxique’s unrivalled selection of luxury Paris hotels.

A leading US magazine has named Tokyo as the world’s hottest city for food lovers – for a second consecutive year.

Food and Wine singled out the Japanese capital for its cutting edge restaurants and superb ingredients. “Tokyo is the best food city hands down,” said the magazine’s travel editor, Jen Murphy. “That’s where chefs are going for innovations. They are so far ahead of us.”

The magazine said Japanese chefs were dictating the world’s dining trends with their fierce devotion to seasonality and respect for aesthetics.

Barcelona came in second, followed by Copenhagen, London and New York. Of Copenhagen, Food and Wine said: “The world’s foodies are fascinated by the city and its avant-garde chefs, who experiment with unconventional ingredients.”

One surprise was that Paris slipped out of the top list. “Right now, there’s no new excitement to the food scene there,” claimed Ms Murphy.

Also out is Food and Wine’s 2009 list of the top restaurants at hotels worldwide. It includes Celadon at the Sukhothai in Bangkok; Moo at Omm in Barcelona; NoMI at the Park Hyatt in Chicago; Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong; Le Meurice at Le Meurice in Paris and Mathias Dahlgren at the Grand in Stockholm. All these luxury hotels are bookable at the best rates through Luxique.

by Andy Moreton

It seems the credit crunch is beginning to hit the French in the stomach.

Eating out in France has always been an important part of everyday life, but there’s growing evidence that the café culture is becoming a victim of the economic downturn.

According to the respected French newspaper, Le Figaro, custom at restaurants fell by between 10 and 30 per cent in the first quarter of the year, forcing 3,000 cafes and restaurants out of business. Owners say that as well as money being tight, regulars have been chased away by the ban on smoking.

It seems French diners are skipping the traditional aperitif, requesting tap water and doing without their beloved shot of espresso. Some are simply skipping courses to save money – and Le Figaro says that’s a policy that will earn them short shrift from proprietors. It quoted one case in which a couple were thrown out by the furious owner of a Paris restaurant because they declined to order starters. “How do you expect me to get by?” he reportedly shouted after them.

Office workers are increasingly buying take-away baguettes and supermarket lunches, and the current situation has prompted the rise of le hamburger. Once considered an undesirable American import, it’s now more popular than ever as it costs less than the traditional steak.

Restaurant and bar owners were already reeling from a poor summer with fewer international tourists visiting Paris, especially Americans and Japanese.

And there was more shock news for the French food and drink industry last week with the suggestion that its fiercely protected champagne was not, in fact, invented by the Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon. A new book claims the technique was developed by seventeenth century cider-makers in the English west country - long before Dom Perignon was born.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique has an extensive selection of luxury and boutique hotels throughout France – including some of the best that Paris has to offer.

Zagat, which has become an influential and much-thumbed guide to the world’s restaurants, has sprung a surprise in naming its current London favourite.

Ahead of such prestigious places as The Ivy, Gordon Ramsay and Le Gavroche comes the chain of fast-food noodle bars called Wagamama.

Tim Zagat, the founder of the guide, said he was not surprised at how well Wagamama had done, considering diners were increasingly looking for value for money. “I think it is a really wonderful place. It’s good food at a good price.”

Opened in 1992, there are now more than sixty UK outlets of the bustling restaurant, where the most expensive course is just £10.50 ($20). Most of the Japanese-inspired noodles are cooked in minutes, and served by waiters in T-shirts.

Zagat’s volunteer testers – 5,300 dedicated gourmets – ranked London’s restaurants by various categories. While Wagamama was most popular, Gordon Ramsay came top for food and The Ritz for décor. And the guide firmly believes that London dining is better than Paris because it embraces so much international cuisine.

Zagat’s research also suggests that the high price of a meal in London (the average is almost double that in New York or LA) has not had a severe effect on the numbers eating out. Only 18 per cent of those surveyed said they were going out less than they were two years ago.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can serve up a fabulous selection of luxury hotels in London and a London guide to help you get the most from your visit.

Next time you get tetchy waiting for that main course in a crowded diner, spare a thought for the customers at the Damascus Gate in Syria – with just over 6,000 seats, it’s just been named the world’s largest restaurant.

Guinness World Records officials likened the place to a ‘mini-factory.’ Others say it’s more like the set of an epic Hollywood movie with an open area boasting waterfalls, fountains and replicas of archaeological ruins.
During the busy summer months, up to 1,800 staff are employed in the dining area and huge kitchen. The General Manager, Muhammad Samman, said: “The secret of feeding so many people is to divide up the restaurant into smaller sections with every person having his own task to fulfil.”

Mr Samman insists there’s no compromise on the standard of food. “In this part of the world, all people care about is their stomachs, so the food has to be the best.”

As impressed as the Guinness people might be, you won’t be able to buy a pint of their black stuff at the Damascus Gate – it doesn’t serve alcohol.
by Andy Moreton