ether

**update: here is a link to the review with pictures http://www.geocities.com/etherflyertalk/index.htm ***

Hi All,

I checked into the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo last night for a one night stay (just to check things out) and now I'm on to the Park Hyatt Tokyo for the rest of my stay. I thought I would give a short report (based on my one-night stay) in the hotel. Pictures will follow (I'll post a link to them later...having trouble with transferring the pics to my laptop right now). I will make comparisons to the Park Hyatt Tokyo (PHT) only because this is the only other hotel I am familiar with in Tokyo.

Arrival at NRT and Transfer to Hotel

We brought a good amount of luggage with us to Tokyo so I elected to take an airport limo instead of the train. Luckily, even though the hotel only opened last week, it was on the drop off schedule for the airport limo. 3000 yen and 5 minutes after exiting baggage claim we were on a bus to the MO Tokyo.

We arrived around 3:00pm and traffic was not too bad. We made the journey in about 85 minutes. When we got off the bus, the bellmen immediately took our bags from us and brought them into the hotel.

Like the Park Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel entrance is on the first floor of a large tower building and you take an elevator to the 38th floor to check-in. When you walk in, a large textured scrim drapes a red wall, the effect is very dramatic at night. The bellman whisked us up to the reception in one of four elevators that service the public areas of the hotel.

Checking In

The smooth start was interrupted by a long wait to check in. At PHT, the process is flawlessly smooth, and you are invited to sit at a desk while the staff assists you. At the MO, there are two large check-in desks in front of dramatic two-story tall windows that offer breathtaking views of the Tokyo skyline. Although these views were stunning, they didn’t make up for the 10 minutes we had to wait before someone helped us to checkin. After standing for 5 minutes, the bellman eventually invited us to sit down while we waited for service.

The checkin process went smoothly enough, and surprisingly they didn’t even ask to see our passports. Because I had booked under the Amex FHR program, I asked for availability of an upgrade and/or amenity. I was told they had neither available for me. They showed us to our Premier Grand-60SM-645SF “Breathtaking Imperial Palace View” room at a rate of 55000 yen/night.

The public areas of the hotel are grand, light, warm and inviting. The views rival those at the PHT and the lounge/bar areas are truly spectacular. The overall décor is modern, prolific use of dark woods on the floor and walls, textured stone on the walls, and clean lines throughout. The fitness area is small, but adequate with basic aerobic exercise equipment overlooking fabulous city views. The do not have a pool (at least I did not see one).

The Room

The room was fairly nice and large by Tokyo standards. The centerpiece is the view, which one can enjoy from floor to ceiling windows that run the length of the room. In this regard, the MO has PHT beat—the windows in the PHT park suite are much smaller and not floor-to-ceiling. In addition, because of the geometry of the PHT building, they put privacy screens on windows to the side so your city views are significantly obstructed in these areas. I definitely have to give it over to the MO for fantastic city views from your room! The bathroom was pretty standard and not as nice as PHT. They did install the latest TOTO toilet seat that will pretty much do everything for you. The toiletries are MO hotel brand or “Aromatherapy Associates” brand. I did not think they were anything spectacular, compared to the Aesops line of products PHT offers its guests.

Food – Molecular Tapas

One very novel culinary offering is the molecular tapas dinner. It is very pricy (7500 yen per person) and may be worth it to you if you seek a certain type of culinary experience. There are only 6 diners served at one of two seatings for the evening. The chef and his sous chef prepare the food for you at a bar area so you can ask lots of questions and interact with the chef throughout the evening. We were served 25 courses over a period of 2.5 hours (yes you read correctly, TWENTY-FIVE!). The chef is inspired by the likes of Ferran Adria (Chef of the renown El Bulli and inventor of famed “AIR” and “FOAM”) and Heston Blumenthal (Chef of Fat Duck, inventor of scrambled egg and bacon ice cream). The cuisine is what many would call “avant garde” and “experimental”.

The portions at molecular tapas were also fairly molecular, however the food was definitely an experience. We had novel items such as foie gras wrapped in cotton candy and linguine and clams where the linguine was made entirely of cheese. The meal was capped off with a pill sized fruit called “miracle” fruit which the chef instructed us to place in our mouth and chew for one minute. The effect of the fruit is to make you unable to taste anything sour for about 1 hour. The chef subsequently served us a plate of sour fruit (lemons, sour oranges) and I tell you the experience was out of this world! The lemons tasted gorgeously flavorful and sweet (not sour) almost as if you were eating lemonade. Everything seem to float off your tongue—truly a mind-boggling experience.

Surroundings

The MO is right next to a Mitsukoshi department store and we enjoyed browsing the large food halls. I can’t claim to know this area of Tokyo well, but it is much more convenient to the subway than PHT. There is a subway exit right in the basement of the building (Mitsukoshimae stop of the Orange (Ginza) line.

Overall

I liked the MO and might return again in the future if the price were right. I always upgrade to a suite with Hyatt points at the PHT, so for me PHT is a much better value. However, if you are not paying out of pocket or traveling for business, MO is probably worth checking out. I know the views definitely are! I will post the picts soon.

Ether

hairpeace

Very interesting to read about the "miracle fruit"!

Pickles

Haven't been there myself, but Mrs. Pickles is in Tokyo right now, and she sends the following report:

In my eyes, far too high, albeit much too inefficient, staff/clientele ratio. After all, while I was drinking my order of ceylon tea, I counted about 6 staff "catering" to about 25 persons. I place "catering" in quotes since on every instance I needed my cup refilled, I had to call upon someone to do so. None of this silent, albeit instant, omnipresence of the Bangkok Oriental. My small take: this Tokyo Mandarin may get there, but it has quite a few miles to go before it can compete in the same ring as the Park Hyatt.

There you have it, from Mrs. Pickle's beady eyes. I have a "free night" certificate from MO, which I intend to use sometime next year, and I will report back more fully.

ether

Here is a link to the review with pictures:

http://www.geocities.com/etherflyertalk/index.htm

ether

What she said, 100%. I guess they are still in their "learning phase" but I agree a long way from the PHT!

stimpy

This is why I don't like staying at hotels that have just opened.

Did they give you the little Amex FHR card outlining your benefits, like 4pm guaranteed checkout, upgrade if available, etc? They are required by Amex to give those to all FHR guests so everyone on both sides of the check-in counter know what the benefits are. It's a great idea by Amex, BTW.

Did you notice if they had yoga classes in the fitness area like the PHT and other MO's?

And tell Mrs. Pickles not to bother to compare any hotel to the MO BKK. All the others are a hundred years behind.

ether

*Nope. The staff were kind of clueless when I asked about my FHR. Typed in a few keystrokes into the computer and said no upgrade, no amenity

Did you notice if they had yoga classes in the fitness area like the PHT and other MO's?

*Nope. Didn't see a studio area, the fitness center is pretty small and not comparable at all to PHT. There could be a yoga area, but I didn't see one.

stimpy

For your sake and ours (if we stay there soon) please report this to Amex. They should offer you some kind of compensation and they should slap the hotel management for not complying with their contract.

flamboyant 1

Nice photoreport. And yes, please report the FHR problem to AMEX. Eventually the MO will get it right.

DrivingRain

Ether,
Great report, thanks!

I sense I am about to go into an obsessive quest to find out more about "miracle fruit". Since you are the only one I know of who ate it, can you tell me more about it? Country of origin? Seasonality? Trade name (is it really called miracle fruit)?

Thanks,
DR

jib71

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/miracle_fruit.htm

IncyWincy

Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to post a helpful report.

DrivingRain

Thanks! Now to find a purveyor in NYC....

ether

The Chef, Jeff Ramsey, is an ex pat recruited from Washington DC to Tokyo. He said he found miracle fruit here locally in Tokyo at a market in the basement of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Mitui Building). We went looking for it later, but could not find it so I'm not sure where he gets it from. He said it is grown here in Japan. Hope this helps...you may just have to go to the MO Tokyo and try some molecular tapas for yourself

RichardInSF

I did a web search on this miracle fruit and it appears that the wizards in Japan have figured out how to freeze dry it -- previously it only worked when immediately plucked from the bush. Namco is apparently the company pushing this and there is a "Miracle Fruits Cafe" at an indoor amusement park that seems to be in the Ikebukuro Sunshine Tower. When I am in Tokyo in January, I am going to go looking for this place.

One article even hinted that a way had been found to put the same chemical into some kind of lettuce.

In the meantime, you can follow the clues I found by googling "Miracle fruit Namco."