Each hotel is being equally honored in no particular order.
With the world’s best room service, bland food is shooed away and replaced with an indulgent world of local flavors brought straight into your luxe suite.
Room service is often a disappointment. The food is bland and boring, and gets delivered to your room in a lukewarm state of disrepair. That burger might have been good 48 minutes ago, but somewhere on its circuitous journey to your room, it lost its luster. The cheese congealed; the tomato and lettuce withered; the fries are soggy. However, if you’ve been writing room service off as good for nothing beyond an emergency fix, you might want to consider a perspective shift.
The best room service in the world isn’t just caloric fodder, it’s a foodie’s paradise. Local flavors come alive with inspiring dishes that call to mind your locale, whether you’re in Thailand, Morocco, or Japan. Extravagant presentations encourage you to snap a round of photos for the ‘gram. And DIY feasts — barbecue or shabu shabu from your back deck, anybody? — even take on a starring role, offering a fun, hands-on experience that you can enjoy from the comfort of your room.
Now you don’t have to feel as if you’re missing out on a quality meal or an authentic evening by ordering room service. I can say with complete sincerity that as a full-time traveler, several of the most memorable meals I’ve had on the road in recent years have come after I hit “0” on my phone and placed an order downstairs. With the best room service in the world, you can make your dreams come true: fantastic eats you’ll brag about back home, enjoyed while wearing your robe in some extravagant suite or villa halfway around the world.
Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba
At the soon-to-be, adults-only Boardwalk Boutique Hotel in Aruba, the bounty from the Caribbean comes right to the private patio of your charming casita. Order a barbecue feast or a paella meal kit, both sourced from fresh, local purveyors, and either prepare it yourself on your outdoor grill or with help from staffers. Take it a step further with a multi-course feast on your patio, with Aruban chef Taki, who the hotel says serves up stories as delicious as his food.
Hoshinoya Okinawa
The Hoshinoya Okinawa whisks guests away to an earlier era with a traditional way of life, one best enjoyed with modern, ocean-view ryokan accommodations, of course. Its Gathering Dining Service is worth traveling for all on its own, spearheaded by an elaborate in-room shabu shabu feast, with the hotel team leaving a huge spread of ready-to-use ingredients — I suggest the wagyu steak hot pot — in your room’s full-size refrigerator, even setting up the burner and utensils you’ll need as well. It’s a lot for two people, could be a filling meal for four, and for solo travelers, well, follow your hearts and dreams, friends.
If, somehow, you’re actually hungry in the morning, the in-room Japanese breakfast sets are among the best I’ve had anywhere in the country. Each includes dozens of individual components for you to sample from as you prepare to embark on another calm day of leisure activities across the property. In my case, that’s probably napping it off until the complimentary afternoon tea service or meditation sessions.
Four Seasons New York Downtown
At the Four Seasons New York Downtown, around the corner from the World Trade Center, the property knows that for all the wonderful outings the city has to offer, the most prized evening is often the one spent staying in. Enter the hotel’s Restaurant-in-Room Chef Series, a high-powered culinary collaboration designed for your hotel room. This year, the hotel’s Executive Chef Maria Tampakis has partnered with the likes of Chef Mitsunobu Nagae of the Michelin-starred l’abeille for a three-course, fine-dining feast the likes of which aren’t within the typical realm of reason for room service. There are ongoing collaborations so be sure to make note of what’s available during your next stay.
That’s not all you can order via room service, though. When you are ready to leave the room, the Four Seasons New York Downtown also offers a special chef-curated Picnic in the Park experience, weather and season allowing. Guests can order one of four loaded menus packed up in a picnic to go, along with a blanket, and optionally, a bike with helmet and bike lock, to make the most of your in-city exploration.
The Little Nell
Sick of being price gouged for bad booze in the mini bar? Aspen’s The Little Nell has the answer for you. The hotel’s full wine list is available everywhere across the property, including your room. Wine director Chris Dunaway has curated a collection with 20,000 bottles to deploy, so we think you’re going to find something you actually want to have for a change. Après-ski has never been cozier.
Four Seasons Koh Samui
The Four Seasons Koh Samui boasts the type of lavish villas that you’ll never want to leave. With its DIY in-villa Thai BBQ or Moo Kra Ta, you can stay right where you are while enjoying the best meal you’ll eat on the island. This style of barbecue is a Thai roadside specialty, with seafood and meat cooked on a pan over charcoals, surrounded by a heated trough of broth that is used to cook up vegetables and enjoy as soup. Choose from beef, prawns, chicken, or a mixed assortment, with Thai sides, starters, and sauces thrown in for good measure. Work it off with some Muay Thai training the next day, perhaps.
The Ned NoMad
Hungry travelers and locals alike fill the room and line the bar of the bustling Cecconi’s, located on the ground floor of The Ned NoMad, a hotel and members club. But as a hotel guest, you have a secret weapon at your disposal: Cecconi’s delivered via room service. The in-room dining menu sources from across the hotel’s dining venues, but the highlights come from the Cecconi’s kitchen, including some of its signature dishes. Select from an assortment that includes beef tartare with quail egg and crostini, lobster spaghetti, and seasonal options such as cavatelli with lamb ragu and fava beans, backed up by tiramisu for dessert.
Nobu Hotel Miami Beach
The Nobu hotels come with the allure of dining at a Nobu restaurant during your stay. Insiders know there’s an even better option: Nobu in your room. Consider the Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, which offers a loaded Nobu lineup available throughout the day via room service. Order up trays of sashimi, a full selection of sushi rolls and nigiri, signature crispy rice cubes, tempura dishes, and even famed Nobu specialties, including that always-so-good black cod with miso. Bland and boring room service? Yeah, not so much.
Raffles Istanbul
A Turkish breakfast spread is a must-do for visitors to the country, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better option than the one that Raffles Istanbul will set up in your personal dining room. There are cheeses and olives, loads of spreads (clotted cream, honeycomb, grape molasses, tahini), and entrees like menemen eggs (scrambled eggs with tomatoes and peppers).
The room service team also keeps the needs and preferences of its guests top of mind at all times. On my first night, exhausted after a flight delay at the tail end of a journey that began some 36 hours earlier, I called down for a light dinner and ended up with a flight of Turkish raki and snacks as well, because knowing I was a whiskey fan — strong notes! — they recommended I try some local spirits, too. I’ve remembered the exchange ever since.
Royal Mansour Marrakech
A Moroccan breakfast spread is another sight to behold, a feast for the eyes as much as the stomach. Try it in the palatial three-story riad that guests at the Royal Mansour Marrakech call their rooms. Because who in their right mind would let themselves be dragged away from such environs? The jaw-dropping accommodations somehow come with even better service, thanks to underground walkways with direct, private exits into each floor of every riad on the property. Later in the day, cool off at your rooftop plunge pool, looking down at the vibrant colors of the city, while enjoying an enormous mezze spread or a chicken tagine that would hold up side by side among the best purveyors from down in the medina below.
Feature image courtesy of Hoshino Resorts
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