Hotel review: A by Adina Sydney
This property, topped by a landmark four-storey glassy cube, opened last April but has been flying below the radar.
The view north down Sydney’s George Street from my A by Adina abode towards Circular Quay is canyon-like. Tall buildings hem the defile and I swear a seagull just flitted past.
It feels so very NYC and not just because of an in-room Mad Men-worthy cocktail trolley twinkling with Maybe Sammy pre-mixed tipples of Eucalyptus Gimlet, Jasmine Negroni, Angelo Azzurro and Chamomile Martini. Not so much Happy Hour, perhaps, as Happy Hangover.
The 194-room hotel, topped by a landmark four-storey glassy cube, opened last April but has been flying below the radar, thanks to the C-word pandemic. My taxi driver doesn’t know of it until I give directions and we arrive at the ground-floor sandstone colonnade and dramatic water wall. “Ah, that Dean & Nancy bar’s at the top,” he exclaims as a concierge appears to swoop on my luggage. “Now you’re talking.”
This 1950s-inspired cocktail lounge and diner on the building’s topmost 22nd floor is a smash hit with the city’s slickest. Cool mixes devised by the Maybe Sammy crew from the popular hangout in the nearby Rocks precinct are what have to be called, appropriately at this height, “next level”. A Rolling the Double mix comes with dice. For a “sensory revelation”, a Coffee Champagne is served with a pot of house-made vanilla and coffee-infused hand cream. The dramatic “mid-century minimalist-inspired” fit-out, including high bar chairs and semi-circular black leather booths, is stunning. Take the curved brass staircase up from the hotel’s level 21 Sky Lobby and clock the marble tables, baby grand piano, Central Casting bartenders and soaring gold-beamed glass ceiling.
Descriptions such as “snacks and substantials” and a menu of “minis and bites” hark to a flexible offering from executive chef Jane Strode. The prawn and harissa risotto, folded through with Meredith Dairy creamy goat’s cheese, is sublime.
Accommodation categories, across Studio, Executive Studio and one or two-bedroom apartment style pads (some with balconies), are up-to-the-minute in terms of design and decor, with streamlined furniture and fittings and a tonal emphasis on neutrals enlivened with pops of primary colours. Pick of the bunch are the Destination A digs, with a tariff that features multiple extras such as The Daily Pause late-afternoon grazing box and a $25 credit per person to spend on drinks or snacks from the in-room A-bar.
There’s a focus on Australian suppliers, including the well-named king-sized Dreamcatcher bed. My corner open-plan suite, with full-scale window panels and layers of vertical blinds for privacy and sun protection, is snug but has everything required, including a kitchenette, mini-laundry and well-designed bathroom equipped with full-sized Hunter Lab toiletries. A digital compendium lists many room amenities for sale and a “Night Sounds” playlist designed for a chilled twilight offers “silky-smooth RnB, rare groove, and contemporary electronic beats”. Cue Mayer Hawthorne, Nageires and Tom Misch as the setting sun burnishes the western fringe of the George and Hunter intersection and bartenders get their groove on.
In the know
A by Adina is a TFE Hotels brand with a flexible Stay Your Way philosophy to customise guest experiences. The Sydney property includes a spa-style indoor heated pool and smallish gym. TFE has a Summer Deals program of 20 per cent off tariffs for stays of two nights or more across its range of Australian members; from $229 a night for two. Destination A packages in a one-bedroom king apartment at A by Adina Sydney, with multiple extras including breakfast and The Daily Pause, start at about $465.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of A by Adina.
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