The World's 8 Best Room Service Menus
Once upon a time, ordering a meal up to your hotel room signified a certain degree of defeat. You were too tired to go find a hip local spot. Or too inhibited to brave a strange city's streets. Or too lazy to put on shoes.
Now, however, truly transcendent meals can be had in the comfort of a borrowed robe. At hotels around the world, the best room service menus combine local culture, stellar ingredients and, sometimes, an internationally renowned chef's personal handiwork. From Zakarian-approved hangover cures in Atlantic City to Pierre Hermé pastries with a view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, here are the best places to order in before you check out.
- Puerto Bories, Chile: The Singular
Chile has its fair share of luxury lodging, but The Singular stands out for its unbeatable connections to Patagonian history. The hotel occupies the turn-of-the-century meatpacking plant where lambs were first introduced to southern Chile, and the industrial chic interiors include antique equipment and one particularly oversized Victorian engine. Fittingly, in-room dining celebrates Chilean game with guanaco burgers, Patagonian hare and, of course, wood-fired lamb. All are prepared at the new restaurant "El Asador," which occupies a converted blacksmith workshop. Puerto Bories, s/n. Patagonia, Chile, + 56 61 2722-030, thesingular.com
None other than Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian created the room service menu for the high-end mecca of gambling and taffy that is The Water Club at Borgata. To celebrate the unique terroir of Atlantic City, Zakarian created aptly named in-room specials like "Long night," which combines hanger steak and eggs with Emergen-C vitamin powder, and a dedicated late-night breakfast menu called "Breakfast before bed," available from 12 a.m.–6 p.m. Sleep well, high rollers. One Renaissance Way, Atlantic City, NJ, 609-317-8888, thewaterclubhotel.com
Thirsty for American history? This 1910-era, Beaux Arts building in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter is listed on the National Register for Historic Places and named for its architect's father, Ulysses S. Grant. Room service menus pay homage to a more recent neighborhood development: San Diego's craft beer explosion is celebrated with an all-local list for in-room drinking, including area all-stars like Stone and Mission Brewery. 326 Broadway, San Diego, CA, 866-837-4270, usgrant.net
Less than 100 miles from Guatemala City, tiny Casa Polopo has nine guestrooms but hundreds of pieces of traditional and modern Guatemalan artwork. The best way to take in the panoramic views of Lake Atitlan and its surrounding volcanoes from your private terrace is by ordering in desayuno chapin, the traditional Guatemalan breakfast of champions. Casa Palopo's version includes farm-fresh eggs, velvety refried beans, fresh corn tortillas, maduros and an array of local fruits like watermelon, papaya and pitaya, or cactus fruit. Carretera a San Antonio Palopo km 6.8, San Antonio Palopo, Guatemala, + 50 2 7762 2270, casapalopo.com
You heard it here first: Chicago has some pretty exciting restaurant openings on the horizon. But for those times when you want to stick to the classics, there is The James. The hotel's David Burke's Primehouse brings a considerable amount of old-school swagger to the Magnificent Mile. The Top Chef Master gets Midwestern meaty in dishes like a ribeye sandwich and the South Side filet mignon, both dry-aged on the premises. Better still, Primehouse's menu is entirely available via room service, so carnivorous guests can beef it up at any hour. 55 East Ontario, Chicago, IL. 312-337-1000, jameshotels.com
At this swanky, 74-key resort, all accommodations have private infinity pools overlooking Laem Yai Bay and the Gulf of Siam. For those evenings when wearing anything but swim trunks to dinner simply won't do, the resort staff will deliver a "bucket barbecue" to your door. In addition to a customized list of proteins, sauces and sides, the bucket contains an awfully elegant container of red-hot coals to be installed right on your personal patio for backyard grilling, Four Seasons-style. 219 Moo 5, Angthong, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, Thailand, +66 77 243 000, fourseasons.com
Getting a table at Paul Liebrandt's new Williamsburg boite The Elm can be a challenge for even the savviest New Yorkers. Outsmart the locals by ordering in: Liebrandt's entire menu, including the lobster-studded Swiss chard agnolotti, pillow-y scallop gnudi, and mind-bending kanpachi "jamon," in which slivers of Atlantic amberjack weave through an elegant tomato and watermelon salad, can be delivered to its 64 guestrooms with the mere push of a button. It sure beats a crowded ride on the L train. 160 North 12th St., Brooklyn, NY 718-218-7500, kingandgrove.com
Parisian pastries are the stuff of legend. Go for the gold at the Philippe Starck–designed Raffles palace hotel in the 8th arrondissement. Room service menus here span both of the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurants, but the ultimate indulgence is at breakfast. Start your morning right by ordering in a basket of impossibly flaky croissants and maybe a macaron or two by local celebrity chef Pierre Hermé, named the "Picasso of Pastry" by the carbohydrate enthusiasts at French Vogue. 37 Avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris, + 33 1 42 99 8800, leroyalmonceau.com
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