"To experience Rosewood’s flagship hotel is to see it as the essence of a resurgent Hong Kong. From its lavish interiors, courtesy of the refined hand of designer Tony Chi, to the staggering views of Victoria Harbor and the wealthy tastemakers that ebb and flow through its lobby, it is the embodiment of its heady hometown. Its towering presence is also more than just a stake in the ground for a spruced-up Victoria Dockside: It is the gateway to Hong Kong’s new cultural epicenter that’s crowned by the West Kowloon District, an ambitious 100-acre waterfront development just a couple of miles north. Peppered with museums and cultural centers, as well as some ritzy retail, this corridor has turned into a swarming hub for locals and travelers—exactly as Rosewood’s Cheng family intended. Still, the 413-room “vertical estate” does its very best to keep you indoors. If you can tear yourself away from the glossy lacquer and custom cashmere in your room, you’ll find an incredible swathe of restaurants—12 in total—including Chaat, a Michelin-starred Indian heavyweight. You’d do just as well to retreat to the cosseting cocoon that is the 40th-floor Manor Club, which operates like an ultra-exclusive private club, with its wraparound terrace, complimentary spreads through the day (everything from wonton soups to viennoiserie and top espressos), and staff that magically anticipate your every need. And if the city’s famed nightlife, reinstituted after the pandemic years, doesn’t lure you outside, join well-heeled locals at Darkside, Rosewood’s sultry new jazz bar that’s named for the old moniker for Kowloon (once a den of iniquity), where you can order a Gibson and slip into a Hong Kong state of mind. From $830. —Arati Menon" - CNT Editors
