Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park – Three Keys, and a final chapter for Heston

At 66 Knightsbridge, where London's most moneyed shopping street gives way to the quiet of Hyde Park, stands a hotel that began life as an address for bachelors rather than travellers. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London occupies a red-brick Edwardian building that opened in 1889 as an exclusive apartment block, was converted into a hotel in 1902, and passed into Mandarin Oriental's hands in 1996 before a renovation led by architects Purcell and designer Joyce Wang reopened it in 2019 with 181 rooms and suites. The MICHELIN Guide now rates it Three Keys, its highest hotel distinction, placing it among a small group of London addresses to hold the award. Inside, three restaurants sit under one roof, including Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which has held two MICHELIN stars since 2013 — though 2026 marks the final full year of a residency that began in 2011. Royalty, wartime soldiers and a young Princess Elizabeth have all passed through its doors; the hotel still keeps a dedicated Royal Entrance for the guests who follow them.

01The house

The building predates the hotel by thirteen years. Hyde Park Court was constructed by businessman Jabez Balfour and his associate, South London builder James William Hobbs, as an exclusive apartment block, and it included 138 flats and a private gentleman's club, the Hyde Park Club. Design work was begun by architects Thomas Archer and Arthur Green, but they broke up their partnership in 1889, and work was completed by Archer and his new partner, Francis Hooper. The Edwardian-style building opened in 1889 as apartments and was converted to a hotel in 1902, with César Ritz serving as a consultant for the conversion.

Guests since have included, by the hotel's own account, HM King George VI, Sir Winston Churchill and HM Queen Elizabeth II, many of whom entered through a dedicated Royal Entrance still used by distinguished guests today. The hotel became part of the Mandarin Oriental family in 1996, and an extensive, multi-million-pound restoration was completed in 2019, with architects Purcell leading the refurbishment of all 181 rooms and suites, public spaces, restaurants and spa, and adding a new rooftop level to the Hyde Park Wing for two Presidential Suites with uninterrupted park views. In 2024 the project earned the hotel its first MICHELIN Key; it now holds Three, the Guide's top rating, awarded to only a handful of UK and Ireland hotels.

02Rooms and suites

The hotel counts 141 rooms and 40 suites, redesigned during the 2019 renovation. Designer Joyce Wang drew inspiration from the natural beauty of Hyde Park and the twentieth century's Golden Age of travel, giving every room art deco-inspired features and carefully curated artworks. Rooms look out over Knightsbridge, Hyde Park or a quieter internal courtyard, with signature categories including Knightsbridge and Turret Suites facing the street, and Hyde Park and Presidential Suites facing the park. Connecting layouts — the Mandarin Family Room and Knightsbridge Family Room among them — are built for families and groups travelling together, and the hotel notes that a majority of rooms can be interconnected on request.

Insider tip

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal closes January 2027 after 16 years; book its farewell tasting menu ahead.

03Where to eat

With three restaurants, including a two-Michelin-starred dining room, a Japanese izakaya and a fashionable tearoom, plus a bar, the hotel is one of the city's more serious culinary addresses. The headline name is Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which opened in January 2011 under head chef Ashley Palmer-Watts and was awarded its first MICHELIN star in 2012 and a second in 2013. Its menu reworks historic English recipes — the illusionist Meat Fruit, a chicken-liver parfait shaped and painted like a mandarin, and Tipsy Cake among its best-known dishes — served either as a set lunch, a four-course Discovery menu or the six-course Legacy menu, with a private Chef's Table and a Tudor-inspired King's Table seating up to twelve. The restaurant's run, however, is coming to a close: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will close at the end of January 2027, almost exactly sixteen years to the day it opened, after a residency originally due to conclude in summer 2026 that was extended by six months to mark the anniversary. Its farewell menu, A Journey Through History, moves through five centuries of British food, and January 2027 will bring back dishes from the archive alongside classics such as Meat Fruit, Tipsy Cake and Rice & Flesh.

Downstairs, The Aubrey turns the mood Japanese after dark: a late-night izakaya decorated with more than 250 pieces of Japonistic art, serving omakase, bar snacks and, since its latest addition, the UK's first dedicated Sando Bar for Tokyo-style sandwiches on shokupan bread. For gentler hours, The Rosebery holds the hotel's award-winning afternoon tea, while in-room dining and a dedicated breakfast menu round out the kitchens.

04The bar

Mandarin Bar, designed by Adam D. Tihany, is built around a rectangular, catwalk-style counter under suspended copper-glass light fixtures and a gold geometric frosted-glass wall. Champagne, cocktails, mocktails and a dedicated caviar menu are served from 5pm on weekdays and from noon at weekends; Dinner by Heston Blumenthal also runs a 'Time for Aperitivo' menu through the bar. In 2025 it was named a winner of Forbes Travel Guide's Hotel Star Bars award, recognising bars within Star-Rated hotels for outstanding service.

05Spa and wellbeing

The Spa runs across thirteen single treatment rooms and a couple's Oriental Suite with its own Rasul water temple, alongside a Traditional Chinese Medicine room and Bastien Gonzalez Pedi:Mani:Cure studios. A heat-and-water circuit — amethyst crystal steam room, sanarium, vitality pool and a Zen colour-therapy relaxation area — sits beside a fully equipped Technogym fitness centre and a 17-metre twin-lane indoor pool with its own lap timer. The Spa is open from 9am to 9:30pm.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits where two worlds converge, an iconic landmark that sits both on Knightsbridge and in Hyde Park. Step out of the front doors and Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Sloane Street are minutes away; step out of the back and the paths of Hyde Park and the Serpentine open up — the same lake whose shadowing by the original building so worried Victorian Londoners during construction. The address has long doubled as a social hub: its ballroom and function rooms, finished with twenty-four-carat gilding, have hosted everything from royal celebrations to wartime gatherings over more than a century.

07Making the most of a stay

Check-in is at 3pm and check-out at noon, with early arrival or late departure possible on request. Standard rooms can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before arrival, suites up to 72 hours. Pets are welcome throughout the public areas — up to two dogs under 10kg or one under 20kg, plus cats — with the exception of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, The Spa and the event spaces, and dogs can even order from their own menu at The Aubrey's weekend brunch. Anyone wanting Heston Blumenthal's cooking should move quickly: with the restaurant's January 2027 close date now fixed, its final tables are likely to go early.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.