A bed in Hong Kong for Noodlies, Sydney food blog
Hong Kong attracts visitors because the city is perpetually on the move, the crazy, relentless pace is hypnotic – noodlies, Sydney food blog loves this place, it’s got everything; shopping, food and thanks to the Australian dollar, it’s still relatively cheap.
Except for accommodation.
Hong Kong’s skyscrapers, reclaimed land and hordes of people attest to the lack of land, so it’s not surprising hotel rooms are small and on the exxy side. I’m less of a fan of the label-obsessed, perfume scented, tailored black suited Central district. Noodlies prefers to stay on the Kowloon side: touristy TST, shopping heaven of Mongkok (the world’s most densely populated area) and Jordan, my personal favourite for its infinite number of cheap eateries (you must visit my congee man for breakfast, promise?).
Nathan hotel is one of a handful in the Jordan/Yau Ma Tei area that cater for tourists – Eaton Smart and Novotel are two others – of course, there are heaps of smaller hotels popular with in-the-know locals.
The Nathan is relatively intimate with 189 rooms spread over 14 floors. The rooms, restaurant and bars have recently undergone a much needed refurbishment. Noodlies stayed in a Nathan Studio Suite which is jaw-dropping for the level of space, generous lounge and spacious bedroom, each with a large flat screen.
I kid you not, there’s hardly enough room for two people to pass each other in a standard Hong Kong hotel room, the Nathan Studio Suite is just too spacious for words.
The check in staff are friendly, helpful and efficient, I arrived just before midnight and they made sure I was promptly in the room within a few minutes.
Free wifi is available across the property for guests however the service is scheduled to cut out every 10 minutes or so and you have to log in, which is a tad annoying.
While the restaurant has had a facelift, noodlies reckons the food needs a major overhaul. Breakfast is located on the 15th floor and the space is tight with about 20 tables it was barely coped with the number of guests at 9.30am. While the choice ticked all the usual boxes, juices, drip coffee (caps, lattes etc wasn’t an option), salad, hot buffet, heck even an egg cooking station.
It seems like not much effort or thought went into breakfast food. Congee is a case in point, now you might say the dish is plain in any case, yes, but here there’s no starchy-rice fragrance, the white sludge sits in your mouth indistinguishable, daring you to swallow it. The tuna (?) sandwiches above was completely resistible. While the staff were friendly and helpful, there seems to be a constant level of confusion and lack of co-ordination, guests were asked several times for their room numbers, there was no one to greet guests as they arrived, and the like… Like process workers, staff do their best to keep up with the number of guests with enthusiasm rather than process. I thanked one of the waiters, who recoiled in deep shock at getting a thank you.
Overall, the Nathan hotel is a decent hotel, great new rooms, accommodating staff, weird wifi arrangement – skip breakfast, head across the road, there’s plenty of great local food to be had.
The Nathan Hotel
378 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Ph: +852 2388 5141
Noodlies, Sydney food blog received free complimentary upgrade to a Nathan Studio Suite.
When I was flying for SQ, we used to stay at The Kowloon Hotel, I too TST area, more happenings and lots of eateries and shops. I would love to go visit HKG again one day. The last time I was there was before the Handover, wondering if any changes since..