Textures of life: Solaire North
A first overnight stay at Solaire North, Quezon City: the 2,500-piece art collection, a Grand Deluxe corner room with city views, the food lineup, and the small touches worth going back for.
LIFE
8/29/20263 min read
I've lost count of my afternoons at Solaire down south, but I'd never actually stayed the night until Solaire North in Quezon City. The skyline moment is real, you see the building before you're anywhere near it, but that's not what stuck with me. It was everything under that: the art, the food, the little interactions with staff that added up to something better than a normal hotel stay.
First impression
Solaire North is 38 floors, sitting over Vertis North, and it cost about $1 billion to build. Aedas and Casas+Architects designed the building, and Habitus Design Group handled the interiors, right down to the guest room headboards and the statement chandeliers you notice the second you walk in. From outside it's the kind of building that makes you crane your neck. Inside, it doesn't feel as cold or corporate as I expected from something that size.
One thing I noticed walking around: there are separate family corridors, so kids can get from one part of the property to another without walking through the casino. Small detail, but it tells you this place wasn't just built for a big weekend blowout. It's set up for people who might actually come back with their families.
The art is the real draw
The lobby centerpiece is a sculpture called "Mangrove," by American artist Nikolas Weinstein. It's built from glass, stainless steel, cable, silicone, and acrylic, and it was constructed right there on-site over a few years. Solaire's apparently going for a Guinness World Record with it, tallest indoor glass sculpture. I don't know how that gets verified, but standing under it, I believe it. The light hits it differently depending on the time of day, and it changes the whole feel of the lobby.
That's just the first piece you see. There are more than 2,500 artworks around the property, paintings, sculptures, photography, textiles, curated by Tarzeer Pictures, Inc., a gallery and creative production group based in Manila. A lot of it is contemporary Filipino work, including some sculptural pieces from BenCab. It doesn't feel like decoration picked to match the furniture. It feels curated by people who actually care about local art.
The room
We stayed in a Grand Deluxe Room, and the view alone was worth the upgrade. It's a corner room, 49 square meters, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. I'd catch myself just standing there looking out at the city instead of unpacking.
The rest of the room held up its end too. A plush king-sized bed. Our pillows were firm, hypoallergenic, and encased in their own customized pillowcases, sourced from a luxury bedding supplier known for white goose down and high thread count fabric, which explained why they felt noticeably better than a normal hotel pillow. The bathroom had a separate rain shower and a tub, with bespoke amenities from Italian perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi. There's a coffee and tea setup, a mini bar, an in-room safe big enough for a laptop, a large flat-screen TV with a long IPTV list, free high-speed internet, an international direct-dial phone with voicemail, and a flat iron with an ironing board if you actually need to look presentable the next day.
What we ate
We pretty much ate our way through the whole property:
Lunch at Lucky Noodles. Big portions, fresh, and the service paid attention without hovering.
Dinner at Manyaman. Kapampangan food done in a more modern way, still felt like heritage cooking, not a gimmick.
A nightcap at Skybar. Jazz, a view of the city, cocktails I didn't want to finish too fast.
Breakfast at the Fresh Buffet. An international spread that makes it hard to stop at one plate.
Lunch at Red Lantern. A sit-down buffet, mostly Asian dishes, all done well.
The staff made the difference
The part I didn't expect: the Lobby Lounge sent up champagne, bonbons, and strawberry cheesecake for my birthday, and t balloons and genuinely warm greetings. Nothing about it felt scripted. That's usually the thing that decides whether I'd go back to a place, not the building, the people running it.
Should you go
If you're looking for a different reason to spend a day or two in Quezon City, this is a solid one. The art collection is worth seeing on its own, the Grand Deluxe Room is worth the upgrade if the view matters to you, the food covers a full day without repeating itself, and the staff make it feel less transactional than most hotel stays.
Solaire Resort North
Address: 1 Solaire Way, Vertis North, Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City 1105
Website: sn.solaireresort.com
Email: sn.reservations@solaireresort.com
Phone: +632 8888-8888
Facebook: facebook.com/northsolaireresort
Instagram: @solaireresortnorth
Images: Solaire | RSC