Banke Hotel, Paris – review written 27 January 2016

When I reached the Gare du Nord after a fairly uneventful journey from St. Pancras International, I called the hotel to ask a simple question: is it easy to reach by Metro or should I take a cab? I didn’t want to hail a taxi so when I was told to take line four and change to line seven when I reached the Gare de ‘Est, alighting at Chaussée d’Antin – La Fayette, I headed for the subway.

Banke is a ‘boutique’ hotel. It’s full of quirky this and quirky that, slightly loud furniture and fittings and a hip vibe that I liked. The smell of burning incense followed me wherever I went. Well, not in the public areas, but in the corridors, in the lifts, and it was kind of pleasant. The corridors were dark and mysterious, deliberately so, but it had a kind of X-Files chic that I found appealing – the room numbers were somehow projected on to the walls next to the doors. Fantastic.

A porter followed me to my room, carrying my suitcase. I don’t particularly like over-attentiveness. I’m happy to lug my own case into the lift and along the corridor to my room and I hate that unnecessary guilt that goes hand-in-hand with not giving a tip.

The room was pleasant and I did the usual checks, the main one being, could I escape if a bunch of jihadists raided the hotel? Well, no. Not without difficulty. There was a window that opened on to Jason Bourne-style ledge (I was in 507) and I figured I could edge my way along and somehow escape – if it had to, but there was a problem. The window opened no more than five inches so I would end up having to smash my way out and needless to say the jihadist would follow.

The room was fantastic – a full minibar, a decent bathroom and a hallway from the door to the bed. Nothing better than a hallway!

Clutching my 20% discount card, I moseyed on down to Josefin, the hotel restaurant on the ground floor opposite a noisy bar and part of a rather splendid – and slightly over-the-top – galleried area that embraced the front desk and the elevators. But wow! What a restaurant! And what amazing service too. The menu was fantastic. Starters were pretentiously branded as 'foreplay' and followed by the 'flavours of the sea'. Very droll.

I opted for cooked meat with peppers followed by roasted cod and an amazing Tahon Rioja; and then I made a mistake and ordered dessert (a long French name, but it involved a pear and sorbet and some kind of bakery item with cream). The mistake was the suggested cocktail accompaniment, but I finished it and then headed back to the room, after a brief walk along the Rue La Fayette.

The room was unbelievably hot and this led to a broken night. It wasn’t until 0700hrs that I (at last) had the good sense to open the window.

Next up was breakfast in the basement and very nice it was too. I didn’t go over the top: cereal, fresh fruit, a slice of bread and a pot of tea. But I could have opened a bottle of Champagne if I wanted to – as a rather attractive Japanese woman did.

This really was a fantastic hotel in every sense of the word. I haven’t stopped recommending it to all and sundry. It’s relatively close to the Gare du Nord and its stylish quirkiness makes it a most appealing place to stay. I loved it so much I didn’t want to check out.

Amazing food, great service, incredible wine, a decent breakfast, an easy check-in and check-out and a pleasant room. Only one downside and that was the hot room – oh and the window that opened about five inches. Thankfully, no jihadists!

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