This was published 7 years ago
Mira Moon Hotel review: Where you can escape Hong Kong's crazy city
By Andrew Bain
The lobby at Mira Moon Hotel, Hong Kong.
THE LOCATION
Pinched between Central and Causeway Bay, the Mira Moon Hotel is removed from Hong Kong's main pockets of bustle and yet it's right on their fringes. It's a popular business hotel, due to its location almost beside the Convention and Exhibition Centre, but it's also well placed for shoppers. The streets around it are seemingly untouched by modern tourism and yet, as Hong Kong's most awarded boutique hotel, it's as stylish as even this very stylish city gets.
THE SPACE
A room at Mira Moon Hotel, Hong Kong.
Design and detail are the hotel's lynchpins. The colourful interior references the Chinese fairy tale of the Moon Festival, with the likes of the Moon Goddess of Immortality appearing throughout the property. Peonies – a deeply symbolic flower in China – are another recurring theme, with their image being woven into carpets, appearing on curtains and tiled into brilliant mosaics in the bathrooms. Even the TV walls in the rooms are styled to resemble peonies.
The decor is very much old meets new, with modern furnishings tailored with antique Chinese fabrics and prints. Depending on your personal take, the lipstick-bright colours either contrast or clash with the muted and intricate wooden latticework.
Each floor of the hotel contains only four rooms, creating a sense of exclusivity as you barely see or hear any of your neighbours.
The lounge at Mira Moon Hotel, Hong Kong.
THE ROOM
The 91 rooms come in four "phases": New Moon, Half Moon, Full Moon and the penthouse Moonshine Suite. The suite aside, Full Moon rooms are the largest, at up to 38 square metres.
All non-alcoholic drinks in the mini-bar are complimentary, and there's a Nespresso machine. An iPad mini beside the bed is loaded with helpful apps, and there's a portable Wi-Fi device to slip into your bag each day to keep you connected wherever you are in Hong Kong. In a cute touch, light switches are marked as phases of the moon, according to brightness.
The bar at Mira Moon Hotel, Hong Kong.
Room views are limited to gaps between neighbouring buildings, but are still very Hong Kong in perspective. From my 21st-floor window I peer down onto the stadium-like Convention and Exhibition Centre, with Star Ferries skimming in and out of view across Victoria Harbour.
In the Full Moon room, the bathroom is arguably the most enticing feature. The peony mosaic is a radiant splash of colour across the main wall, while the showerhead is so large it's a bit like standing in a tropical rainstorm. In the middle of the bathroom is a free-standing bathtub containing a marble shelf that's notched with slots to hold a champagne flute and the iPad. Pull back the bathroom curtain and you can bathe to a view.
THE FOOD
The peony-themed decor of Hong Kong's Mira Moon Hotel continues into the bathrooms.
The hotel's tapas and cocktail bar, Supergiant, is a popular lunch spot for local businesspeople, but is equally good just for a drink in the outdoor "Secret Garden", encased by a hanging wall garden. On the fifth level, beside reception, is a dedicated champagne bar, where you can work your way through a dozen varieties of bubbles, including Dom Perignon and Krug Grande.
STEPPING OUT
Greater Hong Kong is in easy reach. Ferries cross Victoria Harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui from just below the hotel, and the shopping centres, Fashion Walk, boutique stores and MTR station of Causeway Bay are in close walking distance.
For something more traditional and curious, a slice of old-world Hong Kong can also be found just one block from the hotel, beneath the Goose Neck Bridge flyover, where old ladies continue to act as so-called "petty person beaters".
The feng shui of the road junction above is said to make this an ideal spot for driving out evil, and clients bring to the beaters details of a person who is causing them trouble or grief. The beaters then do exactly what the name on the tin suggests, beating a paper effigy of the person with the likes of a shoe.
THE VERDICT
Stylish, intriguingly designed and with every surface seeming to tell a story, it's a wonderful boutique haven inside the maelstrom of Hong Kong city life. If you're coming to Hong Kong for the finer things, it's the perfect nest.
ESSENTIALS
Mira Moon Hotel, 380 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay. Rooms from around HK$1100. miramoonhotel.com.
HIGHLIGHT
Lying back in your bathtub with a glass of champagne, it has the feel of a retreat, not a city hotel.
LOWLIGHT
The tapas bar is good, but it feels a little too communal and generic if dining here – it's where breakfast is served, and it's later shared with drinkers.
Andrew Bain was a guest of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Cathay Pacific.
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