"This place certainly doesn’t front like a standard hotel, and that’s a great thing. Creatives in all black and sharp glasses sip flat whites and hold lunch meetings over slick Mac laptops in the sun-drenched Paramount Coffee Project, ostensibly the lobby of the hotel. Wander toward the back, taking in all the mid-century olive green and exposed brick from the building’s past life as the Paramount Pictures Studios building, and make an educated guess that the woman smiling behind a desk selling T-shirts and jackets is also your check-in (she is). It’s quite the welcome to this hip new Surry Hills hotel, which not only serves to anchor an already food-and-culture-focused neighborhood but has become a de facto hang for locals—what all hoteliers want these days. Thankfully, the guest rooms are just as welcoming: Should you be suffering jet lag, just pull the blackout curtains shut; take a leisurely bath in the Japanese wooden soaking tub; settle into the insanely comfortable bed, the blush-and-blue duvet and recycled Merino throw pulled up to your chin; and pass out for 12 hours in what feels like a friend’s chic apartment. Paramount House is the only truly cool boutique hotel in a Sydney neighborhood you want to be in, with food and design to make you stay indoors all day. FLASH POINT Chef Mat Lyndsey of the city’s hip Ester runs on-site Poly, which steals a lot of the crowd from Chin Chin, an outpost of Melbourne’s legendary Thai spot across the street. +612 92-111-222; paramounthousehotel.com. Doubles from about $170." - CNT Editors
