The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong is no ordinary hotel, it’s the highest hotel in the world, home to the highest hotel spa, the highest pool and the highest bar too. A stay here not only guarantees you one of the finest city hotel stays you’ll ever experience, but you’ll also get to clock up a few memorable experiences too. Cocktails at the world’s highest bar anyoneLocated in the prestigious International Commerce Centre and situated in West Kowloon waterfront area, Central Hong Kong is just 5 minutes away and the international airport is easily reached via private transfer or from nearby Kowloon MRT. Ritz-Carlton Club Level guests can benefit from a complimentary limousine service to the local area and we were impressed to see that they are using the new, highly acclaimed and environmentally friendly Teslas. These fully electric, planet friendly vehicles are not only the cars of the future but they make for a luxurious, smooth and silent ride into town. Luxury car lovers will enjoy this aspect of the service for sure. The hotel entrance is on the 9th floor of the ICC building but check in is all the way up on the 103rd floor in the central lobby area. Luckily, there’s a lift taking a speedy 52 seconds to smoothly transport you up to the hotel where you’ll be treated by a modern design inspired by Hong Kong’s ‘East meets West’ culture.
There are 312 guest rooms and all have an amazing view of either Hong Kong City or Victoria Harbour. The views are like no other in Hong Kong and as soon as we got to our room, we must have spent a good 10 minutes admiring the different perspective of the city and the surrounding island. We had great weather and could literally see for miles; from our great height on the 114th floor the boats below looked like toys and the streams of traffic flowing over the 1000m Stonecutters Bridge were positively minuscule; it’s a view that is hypnotising. The Club Lounge is on the 116th floor, a staggering 465 meters above sea level; expect those spectacular views of the city and Victoria Harbour from all angles, enjoyed through floor to ceiling windows. Service is attentive and personal, something that is always helpful when you are a guest that has special requirements like being vegan. If you can drag yourself away from admiring the views and relaxing in the Club Lounge, then the pool is the place to head to; it’s quite simply stunning. Located on the 116th floor it’s the highest pool and spa in the world (so you’ll get those awesome views here too); swim, relax poolside on one of the cool loungers or sit in one of the 3 jacuzzis (cold, warm and hot) enjoying a feeling that you really are somewhere special. There’s no doubt that The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong is one of those remarkable, world class and ‘must visit’ kind of places, but we’re never 100% sold until we’ve tested out the vegan food. We checked in to find out just how vegan friendly this luxury hotel could be.
The Vegan Food
We chose to eat in the Club Lounge and take advantage of one of the 6 daily food presentations, staff were really helpful about answering questions about food from the buffet meaning we could create tasty salads with a few vegan favourites like guacamole, chickpeas, beetroot, marinated artichokes and sun-blush tomatoes. There was also a standard vegetarian menu available that we could order separately from (there was a choice of dishes that could be easily veganised). The stir-fried rice noodles were full of smoked tofu, vegetables and sesame seeds; no boring noodle dishes here! Our favourite choice was definitely the vegetable curry which came with rice and a vegan paratha; it was spicy, full of flavour from coconut cream and spices and had a generous amount of vegetables and chick peas; vegan curry heaven for sure.
The staff in the Club Lounge were so helpful that we’re sure they would have kept bringing us food and drinks until bedtime but there’s a good reason to resist this during your stay and that’s to leave room for dinner at Tin Lung Heen, the two Michelin starred restaurant located on the 102nd floor. We made a reservation, admired more epic views and enjoyed traditional Cantonese foods that had been veganised, all polished off with a spectacularly theatrical pot of tea, here you can read the full review of our meal at Tin Lung Heen.
The Vegan Essentials
Vegan pillows can be arranged by calling housekeeping who were happy to come and swap our feather pillows. The in room amenities were from luxury brand Asprey, from their ‘Purple Water’ range; we’ve contacted them and are waiting for them to reply to confirm whether their products were vegan or not. The Ritz-Carlton Spa by ESPA is located on the 116th floor (it’s the highest hotel spa in the world). ESPA use animal ingredients in their products including beeswax, honey, keratin (from wool) and sodium lactate (derived from milk) so sadly their products aren’t vegan.
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
Check in to The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong for a luxury hotel stay in the world’s highest hotel. Eat tasty vegan food in the Club Lounge and spend time admiring the views from your room, the pool and the world’s highest bar too. Treat yourself with a meal at Tin Lung Heen where you can enjoy traditional Cantonese food in a world class setting.
We were guests of The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views
The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong
International Commerce Centre
1 Austin Road West
Kowloon
Hong Kong
Telephone: +852 2263 2263