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Unlike many hotels in the US however, the star of this Kimpton for me was the unexpectedly high quality of the restaurant. The design was simple but sophisticated, colours muted and the whole designed to provide a discreet background to a fine dining experience. The room was split in two, with one side the traditional US approach of bar and booths, the rear of the wall providing a sophisticated European style restuarant. Both provide the same levels of service and food.
I am used to high quality food in the USA where everything seems to come fresh. Here food tastes wonderful, lettuces appear to still have raindrops clinging to their leaves they are so fresh, but then it stops. It is as if this was enough: wholesome good, complex bad. Not so for Kimpton. Here I had the best meals I have had in any hotel I have stayed in Stateside. The usual high standards of US service, but with exceptional food beautifully served. Not French either, but French influenced,almost nouvelle cuisine, and with a good wine list. Any restaurant that calls itself French is to be avoided in case they have the French habit of being rude to the guest rather than focussing on the quality, as here. Maybe it’s because Washington has a more international outlook, but certainly the food combinations were better than I have experienced elsewhere in the States.
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Monaco is a chain within a chain, and the Kimpton’s have the reputation of being boutique hotels in a country where this is exceptional. The sense of style in the Monaco was unique, and a compelling blend of the extravagant with the over-the-top. Colour was used full bloodedly, but the design was still very sophisticated and somewhat tongue in cheek from time to time. Private dining areas and conference rooms reflected the same approach, and there was even a small library area crammed into the front of the hotel.
In a country dominated by chains, and with much design bland to European eyes, the opportunity to find hotels of character is reputed to be rare. Maybe I have been lucky because I have tried a range of chain and non chain hotels and have found a wide variety of approaches to design and differing tastes in interiors that have been interesting and in some cases exciting. Few interiors however have been quite as boldly handled as this one however, nor have many majored on guest comfort or food and drink as much as is achieved by the Washington Monaco, even down to companion goldfish being made available - although what does one make of an the goldfish bowl left outside a room in the early morning....with the goldfish missing!
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Designer:Cheryl Rowley Interior Design, Beverley Hills.
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