The Suite Life
By Howard Jarvis.
23.02.2011
The 5-star Grand Palace Hotel has long been favored for its upscale parties. But when it launched the unveiling of Suite and Lounge, its two new entertainment magnets, several hundred curious people crowded in to take a look.
Hand-picked international DJs created sounds and lighting effects worthy of an upscale club for VIPs in Ibiza, while a feast of food and wine was consumed with gusto. After which the music proved too irresistible not to get up and dance.
Needless to say, both of these new additions to one of Riga’s most opulent hotels – a member of the Leading Hotels of the World organization – are continuing to entertain hotel guests and non-guests alike on a weekly basis. The best evenings to drop by are Thursdays to Saturdays, when Riga’s well-connected and well-garbed (though rarely overdressed) come to enjoy a night out with a touch of exclusivity.
That’s not to say that Suite, the hotels’ exclusive, new-look restaurant, and Lounge, a petite lounge-style club, are strictly for a certain class of client. These are high-class venues certainly, but they’re open to all.
There are two segments to Suite. On the left as you walk in, the Grand Palace restaurant has been glammed up with a 600-kilogram statue of three female forms that took 12 men to carry in, furniture upholstered in glitzy golds, and mirrors that multiply the room and its finely adorned inhabitants many times over. The result is an intriguing combination of Belle Époque Paris and a stage set from the climax of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
The other area of Suite is a smaller but even more luxurious room curtained off by thick velveteen drapes, its walls garnished with Rothkoesque canvases and heavy, pricy-looking adornments. This is clearly meant as a sumptuous sanctuary for the affluent and influential.
The music that feeds Suite varies from upbeat melodies during the day to softer, more relaxing background sounds as the evening sets in. One of the Spanish DJs who helped host the opening party, DJ Bubble, arranged the seamless harmonies personally.
Similarly, in Lounge, the aptly named chic and laidback “club” next door, the music pumps away gently without ever resorting to tasteless techno or soporific ambiance. Multi-shaded lighting paints the lushly designed room in deep reds and greens, pinks, yellows and blues, and infinite color combinations in between. Brown leather sofas, low-lying tables made to resemble chests or piles of large historical books, massive candlesticks and more bi-colored canvases complete the picture. The compact space holds around six tables, adding to the venue’s intimacy.
RESERVATIONS
Suite and Lounge, Grand Palace Hotel, Pils 12. Tel. 6704 4000. Suite opens daily at 7pm, Lounge from 5pm until well into the early hours
