Nobu Hotel Shoreditch

Nobu is better known in London for its standalone restaurants than for its hotels, but with the advent of the Nobu Hotel Shoreditch, that might be about to change. On the back of successful hotel openings in Asia and the Americas, the famous sushi concern has chosen London’s hottest neighborhood for its first European hotel, and the result is more or less exactly what you’d predict — which, in Nobu’s case, is a good thing indeed.

The building, a new build, is equal parts industrial patina and inventive contemporary construction, and the rooms are distinctive, steering well clear of all the London lodging clichés, taking their inspiration from Shoreditch street art and traditional Japanese design. They start out smallish but impeccably composed — they’ve been likened to bento boxes more than once — but the suites offer room to spread out if you’re willing to splash out.

And, as you may imagine, they’ve got the food and beverage program pretty well sorted, from the much-remarked-upon matcha chicken and waffles for breakfast to the typically inventive sushi-derived creations at lunch and dinner. The kitchen was never in question — what’s remarkable about the Nobu Hotel Shoreditch is that the rest of the experience is worthy of the name.