Opening Shot is a column that peeks inside new hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops with dreamy interiors.
HOTEL HANA
Designer: Laura Gonzalez and Olivier Leone
Location: Paris
On Offer: This winter, a one-time office block tucked between Opéra Garnier and Palais Brongniart has become the latest confection from Laura Gonzalez, this time in a collaboration with creative director Olivier Leone. A sister to Anouska Hempel’s Monsieur George Hotel & Spa in the 8th, Hotel Hana has an identity all its own, a five-star tribute to both the Japanese diaspora who made the neighborhood a “Little Tokyo” in the 1920s and the eternal magic of Paris itself. Hana dispenses with the traditional reception—instead, guests are greeted individually with matcha and sesame madeleines and then led to one of the 26 rooms and suites, each secured with perfect feng shui by Hélène Weber. Straw walls, floral poufs, and glossy lacquer complement the carpeting of either signed examples by Marguerite Lemaire or Gonzalez’s own designs for Pierre Frey over parquet.
Standout Amenities: Bespoke spa specialists Lymfea devised the spa, which offers energy treatments including Reiki, Kobido, and Chi Nei Tsang. Shirley Garrier of the Social Food crafted the menus, from traditional Ochazuke with dashi and tea-broth as a nourishing room-service breakfast, to a lunch of shiitake and brown butter risotto at the Zen-meets-Belle Epoque restaurant Hanabi, to a golden-hour aperitif of a dry martini with Japanese gin and sansho pepper-infused vermouth at the glowing bar. Cap it off with a Hanabi dinner at the marble chef’s bar or floral banquettes starring mushi nabe pot-au-feau and Okinawa sweet potato crème brûlée.
