Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills
Andaz Tokyo, which is part of the Hyatt chain, is a boutique hotel with a relatively small number of rooms at 164. It's located near Shimbashi station about a 10 minute walk or next to Toranomon station on the Ginza line. It's part of the Toranomon Hills Mori Tower skyscrapper complex so there's no grand entrance or anything like that but it does have its own little door entering from the street.
The Hotel
After entering the building, there's the pastry shop and a casual dining cafe which both belong to Andaz so you can charge the costs back to your room. Going past the shops will lead you to the little area with the elevators that take you straight up to level 51 lobby for check-in.
Origami is the theme of the hotel and everywhere from the lobby to the room has decorations inspired by origami.
You are ushered into the lounge area for your check-in where you can also rest during your stay for some drinks
The Room
Just in case if you're like my friend who was wondering where the room numbers are written when looking for my room, it's on the bottom next to the room.
From 51, you take the elevators next to the lounge area down. I got a twin with bay view and the room is quite big for Japanese standards. You get a little changing area as soon as you enter the room which connects to the bathroom. Toilet is separate to the bath but it's a see through glass door into the bath so unless you're close, friends would have to wait to use the toilet if staying together.
The artistic origami theme continues in the room with the walls in rectangle patterns like the traditional Japanese shoji. There's some other artistic touches like a transparent lamp by the doorway which is also where the room safe is located. The main section of the room is relatively small though with a long table by the window. As with more and more modern luxury hotels, the blinds are controlled by a switch next to the bed
As the bay view room, you can see Odaiba and the rainbow bridge from the room.
Food
The hotel is not short of places to eat although due to COVID, some places are closed or have shorten hours. It's best you check the hotel website for further details. Being located near Shimbashi though, there's plenty of places to eat if you want to try more local cuisines.
I received some welcome treats which were quite tasty and if you want more, are available to purchase at the pastry shop on the first floor. And after you've had these, everything in the minibar except for alcohol are all free so you can raid the snacks and drinks inside.
I had a lunch menu at the restaurant on the ground floor where it's casual dining serving burgers. It was good and very reasonably priced at 2500 yen including salad, burger, fries and dessert. Breakfast is at the restaurant next to the lounge / check-in area and is buffet style plus one dish you can order off the menu.
Surprisingly, there's not a lot of choice at the buffet with Western and Eastern choices but even other less luxury hotels like Hilton have more choices. However, Andaz went for quality not quantity as the food were all very good including the menu dish.
Finally, having a sweet tooth, I had to try the pastry shop downstairs and it did not disappoint. It's a relatively small shop though, maybe enough seats for 20 people so if you prefer to stay away from people during these times, you can buy it as takeaway. If you really want value though, I wouldn't recommend the coffee as there's a Starbucks next door and the coffee here was over 800 yen.
Conclusion
Overall, this is a great hotel. It's located close to Shimbashi station and also within walking distance to Hibiya. The staff were very helpful and helped resolved an issue for me during check-in.The rooms are nice, quiet and modern and the food were very good. I would recommend trying this hotel if you don't have a favourite one in Tokyo and are looking for one close to the station with a decent choice of local restaurants around.
