Ritz-Carlton hotel is the new toast of Perth
The wow factor is high at Perth’s shiny new hotel.
The Fremantle Doctor arrives pretty much by appointment, just when I’m packing up at Cottlesloe Beach after a dip in the Indian Ocean, and the cool afternoon breeze (nay, gusts) breaks up what has been a hot, if not torrid, day. It puts me in mind of a sweet indulgence when I get home.
Perth is decked out for the season with its streets aglow on a Christmas Lights Trail. But the city seems to be enjoying the unwrapping of its biggest gift to itself, the new Ritz-Carlton Perth, which is the 100th property in the luxury hotel brand and marks its return to Australia after about 15 years. And it is my “home” for the next few days.
That indulgence I’m anticipating is a cocktail (or three) and tapas dishes at the hotel’s Songbird Bar with its splendid view of Elizabeth Quay and a sunset over the Swan River. In only its second week of trading, this bar, with indoor and outdoor spaces and a fire pit for winter, has become the go-to place for after-work drinks for the office toilers of nearby St Georges Terrace.
The Ritz-Carlton has the wow factor, but in a very WA way. It strives for a sense of place through its architecture, interior design, service, and food and beverage offerings, of which general manager Dario Orsini is proud.
Start at the ornate concierge desk, crafted of 100-year-old jarrah timber, bedecked with a vase of native flowers and backed by a striking red art work by Roebourne painter Aileen Sandy. A huge sliding door opens from here with theatrical flourish, revealing a 13m-high lobby inspired by the Karijini gorges in the Pilbara. Some 10,000 pieces of Kimberley sandstone in 12 colour groupings have been used in the building. The towering lobby is enhanced by a chandelier with 275 lights capturing the look of cascading water. A feature panel resembling bell sheet music is an echo of the hotel’s neighbour, The Bell Tower, with its carillon from London’s St Martin-in-the-Field, gifted to Perth for the 1988 Bicentenary. There is also a wall sculpture using fragments of china, a reference to use of the hotel’s Barrack Street site as a dumping ground in the days when the city turned its back on the river rather than embracing it.
The lobby’s “drama” reminds me of The Opposite House in Beijing, where ancient Chinese doors open to a contemporary space that is as much art gallery as reception area. Of course, a hotel is as much about friendly and efficient service as it is about appearances, and the so-styled Ladies and Gentlemen, in swish attire, deliver it admirably. The smart design (the work of Lombard + Jack) extends to the lift lobbies on each floor, which feature arrangements of local photos, wood sculptures, vases, books and paintings.
My suite (one of 205 guestrooms, including 19 suites) is instantly appealing with light oak flooring and wall panels, and floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the city skyline, parklands and Swan River. They’re going to have to blast me out.
The living area has a large L-shaped sofa cum daybed, perfect for taking in the vista. It also has an armchair, table and chairs, visitor powder room and a minbar stocked with locally sourced joys. Try a pre-mixed strawberry gum negroni, Geraldton wax vesper or a non-alcoholic PS drink that blends, ginger, pimento, blackstrap molasses, lemon juice and Murray River salt.
The bedroom is spacious and comfortable, with a bed of dreams, long desk, and blinds and sheers that deliver total blockout, important in Perth where, without daylight saving, the sun is up at an ungodly hour. The adjacent bathroom is huge with tub, rain shower, separate toilet and double vanities, liberally stocked with Asprey Purple Water products. With a round ottoman at its centre, the bathroom also acts as the dressing area with a wall of hanging space.
The heart of the hotel’s dining experience is Hearth Restaurant and Lounge on the ground floor offering views across Elizabeth Quay and its popular promenade. Here, executive chef Jed Gerrard oversees a menu based on local and sustainable produce. Jed had a country WA childhood and his ambition is to showcase the endeavours of the state’s farmers, fishermen and artisans. He’s keen to use ingredients such as youlk, a native carrot, boab tubers and saline greens. A fire blazes in Hearth’s kitchen and the promise of every dish is that at least one element has had contact with it, either grilled, smoked or charred. My gain-fed pork with ash-baked white onion, blood plum, lime, ginger and sesame, served with grilled brassica salad, is a delight. On the flip side of the menu, a map of WA shows where the produce is sourced. The food is complemented by a wide range of great regional wines.
Hearth is where breakfast is served, which is either the chef’s harvest (buffet) or a la carte; the restaurant’s namesake dish of eggs, cider-glazed bacon, sage and ginger sausage, potato hash with a pepper marinade gets the day off to a hearty start. But the taste sensation of my stay goes to a cold-pressed juice made of coconut, dragon fruit, rockmelon and seasonal apple. On another morning I have breakfast and lunch in The Ritz-Carlton Club, a private indoor-outdoor venue on the sixth floor that strengthens the hotel’s exclusive offerings.
If there’s a price to pay for all this indulgence it can be sweated out in a well-equipped gym, but I opt to go the hard yards with a deep recovery massage in the aromatic and super-stylish Spa. The aim is to “remedy discomfort and guide misguided stress”.
After it, a new me heads for the nearby infinity pool, which adjoins Songbird, just in time for another perfect sunset. After such an arduous day (well, I have been sightseeing too), bar manager Eoin Kenny rocks up with an appreciated aperitif, a Rosella made of Adelaide Hills rose, hibiscus and Geraldton wax soda. It is served in a glass with a cube of ice encasing what appears to be gold leaf. What flair. Eoin’s aim is to use local botanicals to give the bar its special stamp.
For a visitor from the eastern states, there’s those funny little jolts about Perth that make it different. You journey through suburbs with “west” in their name that are in the direction of the beach and the sun sinks over the ocean. On a visit to the Art Gallery of Western Australia, paintings of Sydney Harbour and Melbourne’s industrial Yarra River seem as far removed as those of pastoral Eng-land. The west has its own narrative, which The Ritz-Carlton has set out to capture.
Graham Erbacher was a guest of The Ritz-Carlton Perth.
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MORE TO THE STORY
The Ritz-Carlton Perth tower, sitting on a limestone base, is the design of architectural firm Cottee Parker, which is also working on the huge Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane. But Perth is also celebrating the 40th anniversary of a very different style of building, the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Designed by Charles Sierakowski of the Public Works Department, the gallery is considered a Brutalist masterwork for
its use of exposed raw concrete. The term was first applied by Le Corbusier to his own work. Until February 17, catch Perth Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete at
the gallery.
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IN THE KNOW
Rates for deluxe rooms at The Ritz-Carlton Perth from $349. The Ritz-Carlton Club is accessible to all guests at $95 a room a day (up to two guests).