THE FACTS ABOUT THE LUXE MANOR

China Hong_Kong

Trompe-l'oeil frames painted on the walls and ceilings; vistas of antique tenement blocks; a gallimaufry of hi-tech gizmos: there's more than a touch of Salvador Dali and a dash of Bladerunner to The Luxe Manor, a boutique hotel roosting in the backstreets of Kowloon. Transformed by its youthful owner from a workaday yet highly profitable three-star, the 159-bedroom manor is a spirited alternative to the grandiose chain hotels normally patronised by Hong Kong's visitors - a high-rise European mansion with a very surreal twist. While not huge, there's space enough to swing a mouse in the rooms, where the wall-mounted, Internet-friendly TV is contained in a gilded mirror above a faux fireplace, and whose cordless phone can be toted around the whole wireless-enabled property. The six suites ratchet up the surreal experience, variously decorated to imitate a Bedouin tent, or with mirrored wallpaper. Arrestingly avant garde though the interiors may be, the hotel's main restaurant-cum-bar, Aspasia, is solidly Italian haute cuisine and helmed by the Michelin-starred Roland Schuller, formerly executive chef on Christina O, the yacht once owned by Onassis. A bonsai gym lies in the basement, while Kowloon Park lies a couple of hundred yards away across Nathan Road. For alternative diversions, the manor backs onto a lively strip of restaurants and bars in Knutsford Terrace. WHEN TO GO September to October, when the typhoons have dispersed and days are sunny yet cool before the onset of winter. ROOM TO BOOK One of the six themed suites. CONTACT 39 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong (00 852 3763 8888; www.theluxemanor.com). COST Doubles from HK$1,342 (about £90); themed suites from £225