{"id":19903,"date":"2013-03-07T07:21:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T21:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/?p=19903"},"modified":"2018-05-15T03:47:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T17:47:02","slug":"a-suite-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/a-suite-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"A suite escape"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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lastminute lovely Erin reviews the Diamant Boutique Hotel Brisbane and in the process discovers why mini-breaks in your own town are a winner. <\/strong>
\nHow many times have you booked a hotel room in your own hometown? I can count on one hand and not even need my thumb. After my surprisingly fab stay at Diamant Boutique Hotel Brisbane<\/a>, I\u2019ve realised that you don\u2019t need to travel far from home to enjoy a great escape.
\nThe hotel<\/strong>
\nDiamant is part of the 8Hotels Collection which offers boutique accommodation in prime locations. The inner-city suburb of Spring Hill is definitely a fantastic spot for either a quick getaway or a Brissie business trip. Even in heels I\u2019m able to make my way from Diamant\u2019s door to the Treasury Casino in less than 15 minutes (a trip that takes you through Queen Street Mall and the heart of the CBD). A 15 minute stroll in the other direction will lead you to the top nosh and buzzing nightlife of Fortitude Valley. It\u2019s a win-win!<\/p>\n

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Boutique begins here<\/p><\/div>\n\"<\/a>\n

After walking through the wrought iron gates at Diamant\u2019s entry, I am immediately drawn to a pop of colour to my left and a chandelier hanging above me. Kudos to whoever decked out the reception area because I can\u2019t get these peacocks out of my head.<\/p>\n

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The contrast of the luxe wallpaper with the colourful d\u00e9cor is sophisticated, yet playful<\/p><\/div>\n

My check in is super efficient and I appreciate the offer of some local knowledge even though I\u2019m a Brisbane gal. More importantly, I\u2019m told when the hotel\u2019s onsite bar and restaurant O Bar<\/a> is open over the weekend.<\/p>\n\"<\/a>\n

We get to our room for the evening – a Diamant Suite, thank you very much. I\u2019d read some reviews that the accommodation is compact but I think 8Hotels pulls off the perfect layout with a kitchenette, lounge area, king bed and a huge bathroom with plenty of space in between.<\/p>\n

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Big city living<\/p><\/div>\n

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Lounge area and kitchenette<\/p><\/div>\n

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Make yourself comfortable, Mr LML<\/p><\/div>\n

Speaking of the bathroom, the rain shower, tub, and his and hers vanities definitely give this one gold star status in my book.<\/p>\n\"<\/a>\n\"<\/a>\n

I have to mention the extra Diamant touches that really help make your stay special. There\u2019s no waking up to a supermarket cup of tea\u2014you get treated to T2 here. Forgot your hair straightener? No problem. They\u2019re available on request. And when so many other travellers are weeping at the cost of Wi-Fi, Diamant is happy to hook you up free of charge.<\/p>\n

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Premium tea for the premium cuppa<\/p><\/div>\n

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Finding a chilled bottle of bubbly and some Dello Mano brownies waiting for us helps kick off our night<\/p><\/div>\n

The restaurant<\/strong>
\nDinner at O Bar exceeds my expectations. I L.O.V.E. the rough-cut sandstone walls and the warm lighting from the quirky lamps gives the place an uber chic atmosphere.<\/p>\n\"<\/a>\n

The place is buzzing and the lone barman, Ricardo, is being kept busy whipping up drinks, taking orders and delivering food to tables. We get a spot right across from the bar and even though cocktails aren\u2019t on the menu tonight (they\u2019re only available Monday to Friday), the recommendation of a boutique WA cider called Forbidden Fruit <\/a> keeps me just as happy.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

Busy at the bar<\/p><\/div>\n

We start off with two types of bruschetta for an entr\u00e9e. I personally prefer the sweet and tangy flavours in the caramelised onion and goats cheese version but Mr LML liked the freshness of the more traditional tomato, onion and buffalo mozzarella.<\/p>\n

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A taste sensation to get us started<\/p><\/div>\n

Our generously-sized mains make their way to our table soon enough. Mr LML keenly tucks into his Angus rib eye fillet accompanied by Lyonnaise potato, broccolini and jus. He\u2019s very satisfied, rating the steak an 8 on his recently coined \u20180 to Vanuatu\u2019 scale (refer to my How to vacay in Vila<\/a> blog to see how that came about). My wild mushroom risotto is also delish and I have to admit, I spend way too much time making sure I get a good mix of mushroom, spinach and parmesan in every mouthful.<\/p>\n

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Big, beautiful and delicious<\/p><\/div>\n

We sip our way through another drink and chat to Ricardo about other quality venues in Brisbane including Limes Hotel<\/a> (another boutique beauty from 8Hotels featuring its own rooftop bar and cinema) and Alfred & Constance<\/a> (did someone say tiki bar?). I\u2019ve really got to take the time to rediscover my own city. Tonight though, I have a date with a king bed that\u2019s so soft it\u2019s like sleeping in cloudland (not to be confused with the ultra modern Valley mega club called Cloudland<\/a>).
\nAfter our Sunday sleep-in we\u2019re back at O Bar for breakfast. I settle on the \u2018Potato N Feta Hash Cakes\u2019 while Mr LML orders \u2018The Truck Stop\u2019. Every table in the restaurant is soon filled and the barista looks to be making coffees non-stop. Our food arrives and my first thought is that Mr LML is being treated to the fanciest \u2018Truck Stop\u2019 breakfast I\u2019ve ever seen: bacon, house-made baked beans and gourmet hash cakes (usually a fried egg\u2014but Mr LML\u2019s allergic).<\/p>\n\"<\/a>\n

We\u2019re both wowed by the rustic, rosemary infused hash cakes and the coriander in the baked beans gives them a unique punch of their own. I give my poached egg a little tap and the yolk oozes onto the avocado salsa hiding amongst my roasted tomatoes. Uh-mazing.<\/p>\n\"<\/a>\n

By the time we scrape our plates clean we\u2019re both in agreement that we\u2019ll definitely be making the trip back to O Bar for a weekend brekkie.
\nThanks to our fantastic stay at Diamant, Brisbane is now on our radar as a possible possie for future mini-breaks.
\nErin and Mr LML travelled as guests of Diamant Boutique Hotel Brisbane. <\/em>
\n\"O<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Flights to Brisbane<\/a><\/div>\n
More hotels in Brisbane<\/a><\/div>\n
Experiences in Brisbane<\/a><\/div>\n
Car Hire in Brisbane<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

lastminute lovely Erin reviews the Diamant Boutique Hotel Brisbane and in the process discovers why mini-breaks in your own town..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":19983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[2957,957,211,446,2958,2192,557,2959,2960,563,2961,1786,88,2775],"acf":{"credits":[{"name":"","label":"","full_url":""}],"enable_review_score":false},"posts_api_cpm_point":{"name":"","description":"","thumbnail":"","address":"Brisbane QLD, Australia","latitude":"-27.4697707","longitude":"153.02512350000006","icon":"\/images\/icons\/marker.png"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44417,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903\/revisions\/44417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lastminute.com.au\/vc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}