Lifestyle

Sir Albert, Amsterdam – hotel review



Where is it?

The Sir Albert Hotel is the original Sir Hotel – the group now also runs the Sir Adam in Amsterdam North plus hotels in Berlin, Barcelona and Amsterdam. It’s located on the edges of De Pijp, a beautiful area of Amsterdam where you’ll find countless cafes, boutique stores and restaurants, so if that’s your kind of thing (if you like east London, it will be) then you couldn’t be better placed.

It’s around 10 minutes to the Rijksmuseum and 25 minutes to the city centre, which is close enough to make it easily accessible but far enough away to enjoy a far more relaxed atmosphere than the tourist clogged centre – you’re unlikely to bump into too many stag and hen dos around here.

Style

Located in an old diamond cutting factory, the Sir Albert has a sturdy, almost foreboding appearance from the outside, its red brick facade punctuated with large iron-frame windows. A huge painted mural of a grey heron on the building’s side, however, gives a hint of the thoroughly contemporary style found inside. The small lobby area has bookshelves filled with beautiful volumes on art and design, big comfy sofas and armchairs, and plenty of striking modern artworks – a wall of porcelain hippo heads is particularly memorable.

A creaky wooden staircase leads up to the bedrooms, which is about the noisiest thing on the hotel’s otherwise dark and silent carpeted corridors on the upper levels.

Facilities

This is a boutique hotel in one of the world’s most exciting cities so don’t expect spa treatments and turn down service, although there is a gym a few doors down that guests can use for free. Instead, the Sir Albert has quite rightly chosen to focus on guest experience both within and outside the hotel and through its ‘Sir Explore’ programme. Guests can sign up for everything from vinyl shopping to tours of local night spots all lead by the hotel’s group of local ambassadors who know the city inside out. Take the vintage shopping section led by local stylist Lukas Lewandowski, a three-hour tour of Amsterdam’s best vintage clothes shops (there’s lots of them), plus styling tips from Lukas and even some local history thrown in for good measure. Sir Explore tours from €40

(Sir Albert)

Food & Drink

Unexpectedly for a hotel of this small size, Sir Albert is home to one of Amsterdam’s hottest restaurants, Izakaya. Whereas the name refers to the ‘pubs’ that can be found all over japan serving cold beer, sake, and cheap eats, Izakaya at the Sir Albert is rather a different affair. Around 6pm every evening the whole place roars into life as very fancy cars start pulling up outside the hotel and expensive handbags are thrown down on tables – by 6:30 the place has the feeling of part restaurant / part club. It all makes sense when you know that the chef, Hariprasad Shetty, previously worked at London’s Nobu, an education that shines through here in the exquisite Japanese dishes on offer. Among the many highlights are fresh sushi; sashimi swimming in citrusy yuzu dressing; scallop with clarified butter and yuzu mayo (a revelation); and sweetcorn fritters which have the unmistakable flavour of popcorn but taste infinitely better with added crunch from the tempura batter.

In the morning, the restaurant is considerably less hectic as hotel guests graze over an excellent breakfast buffet. There’s freshly made eggs, fruit, yoghurts, juices, and, this being Amsterdam, thin slices of local cheese and hams. A great start to the day.

Which room?

The ‘Boutique’ and ‘Deluxe’ categories make up the majority of Sir Albert’s 90 rooms and these will definitely suffice for most people, although high rollers may want to check out the suites which come with bathtubs. Our Deluxe room was on the 4th floor in the loft and had a sloped ceiling that definitely let you know you were in Amsterdam. A huge skylight let in plenty of light and fresh air, and allowed us to look down on the rooftops and out on the city in front of us. Across the board, rooms are designed in the same modern style as the public spaces, with a neutral colour palate, dark floors, artfully scuffed rugs, bookshelves, and big comfy beds adorned with velvet-soft throws. Rooms are stocked with Sir Hotels’ own bathroom products as well as tea, coffee, iron, hairdryer, Bluetooth speaker and everything else you might need.

What to Instagram

Book in for dinner at Izakaya on a Saturday night and you’ve got your choice of the colourful sushi or the colourful characters that fill the dining room. However, it was the pretty streets of De Pijp that were filling our feeds, with beautiful rows of houses draped in Wisteria and Ivy.

(Sir Albert)

Best for?

Best for lovers of art, design, food, and culture who will appreciate both the hotel’s design, plus its location in one of Amsterdam’s best alternative neighbourhoods.

Details

Rooms from €139 with WiFi included. Breakfast is extra at €21 a day.

Albert Cuypstraat 2-6, Amsterdam, 1072

sirhotels.com/en/albert/



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