Expectations have been great that the Sofitel Wentworth’s owners should at last dig deep and restore it to its once near-supermodel status.
For too long this authentic swinging ’60s Sydney landmark has felt less Jean Shrimpton and more Mrs Havisham. Well, perhaps not quite that classic Charles Dickens character, but certainly expectations have been great that the Sofitel Wentworth’s owners should at last dig deep and fund a facelift for its dowager and restore it to its once near-supermodel status. Now the owners of the 436-room hotel – which speaking of the ’60s, is pushing 60 itself – have done just that.
The bulk of the bucks on the heritage-listed hotel with its striking semi-circular brick and bronze facade have been spent on its all-important internals even though the boldest, if not, most impressive feature of architecture and interior design firm Fender Katsalidis’ entire makeover involves an elevated quasi al fresco space.It’s an elaborate yet graceful semi-circular glass, timber and copper “canopy” which wraps around a large portion of the erstwhile fifth-floor Garden Court terrace.
Elsewhere, FK’s designers, in their choice of colour palette, have employed dark greens throughout, an effective nod, perhaps, to theMy comfortable 28-square-metre room on level 17 of the 20-storey building room is billed as a luxury king Club Sofitel room, though no one informed me as to whether it included access to the attractive-looking and exclusive Club Millésime guest lounge on level five.
They’ve turned over much of the lobby to the snazzy, independently operated restaurant, the New York grill-like and recently well-reviewed Tilda.Back up on the salubrious fifth floor, there’s also another newcomer, the French-Vietnamese but really more Vietnamese, Delta Rue, which also manages to double as the location for breakfast. At lunchtime, a mobile banh mi trolley, atop which what may now be Australia’s unofficial national dish is prepared and served tableside, is a cute and fun touch.
Make your way to the Art Gallery of NSW straight across The Domain behind the Mitchell Library and NSW Parliament House, to view Australia’s first and not-to-be-missed retrospective of the celebrated Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, running until early February.From grande dame to dowager and back again to grande dame, or near enough, the careful and considered revival of the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney is greatly belated and warmly welcomed.
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