No. 21 · The Selection · age 27
Samanta chooses the programme
A concert programme with two pieces circled, and an ice cold martini afterwards.
Available today Dinner plans locked in by three o'clock
- Age
- 27
- Height
- 174 cm · 5 ft 9 in
- Hair
- Long dark brown
- Eyes
- Brown
- Figure
- Slim
- Languages
- English
- Home district
- Mayfair
Profile updated September 2026 · portraits checked in person
Behind the glass
Samanta held a violin before she could ride a bicycle, and she still plays most days, usually scales, occasionally Bach when nobody is listening. Slim, 174 cm tall, dark brown hair lying long and sleek down her back: her gaze is steady and brown, and it makes people finish their sentences properly. Her look is noir and immaculate: black tailoring, a crisp white shirt, one piece of very good jewellery.
Elegant and composed, with the kind of pull that makes a busy room turn slightly towards her. Late twenties, she speaks English with a musician's ear for other tongues, collecting phrases the way some people collect postcards, though English is the only one she will claim. Design hotels are a near professional interest: she notices the chairs, the lighting and the typeface on the key card, and holds a view on nearly every hotel lobby in the West End.
Music opens her W1 evening, at the Royal Academy of Music on Marylebone Road, facing Regent's Park, where the Academy's own musicians give concerts in the Duke's Hall that most visitors to London never hear about. She chooses the programme, and she has never once chosen badly. Afterwards, a short taxi to a design hotel bar she has already rated, a martini so cold it hurts, and a conversation about what you heard.
Mayfair is home, so Regent's Park and Marylebone Road are ten minutes away. Dinner bookings suit her best, with the plan confirmed by 3pm on the day. Send your evening through booking, and mention whether you prefer strings or piano.
Samanta's ladder
Whole pounds for whole hours, and the figure shown is the figure paid. Travel inside Zones 1 and 2 comes included; every term sits on the rates page.
| Length | Fee | Good for | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| One hour60 min | £250 | A drink in the bar or an hour of talk upstairs | Ask |
| Ninety minutes90 min | £400 | Unhurried, with time for a second glass | Ask |
| Two hours2 hrs | £500 | Dinner nearby and the stroll back to your hotel | Ask |
| Three hours3 hrs | £700 | A show and a late supper, or a long night in | Ask |
| Dinner date4 hrs | £900 | Four hours built around a proper table | Ask |
| Overnight10 hrs | £1,800 | Ten hours, late evening through to breakfast | Ask |
| WeekendFri to Sun | On request | Priced around your plans by the desk | Ask |
Message ready
Fill the brackets, press send, and keep the room number back until the booking is confirmed.
Hello, I would like to book Samanta on [date] at [time] for [duration]. I am staying at [hotel name], and will share the room number on confirmation.
Samanta after dark
Six thirty at the hall doors, and she hands you a programme with two pieces circled. The first is for you, she says, and the second is for her. The concert runs under an hour. She listens with her eyes closed and her hands perfectly still, and afterwards she tells you exactly where the violinist took a risk.
Dinner is at a design hotel she chose for its chairs as much as its kitchen. She notices the lighting, the linen and the way the staff move, and makes it all sound fascinating. Over dessert she teaches you a phrase in a language you do not speak and dares you to use it on the waiter. She is composed all evening, but right at the end, over a last espresso, she laughs properly, and it is worth the wait.
Samanta, asked
The silence just before the first note. Everyone in the hall holds their breath together. It is the best moment in music.
I change my mind every month. Currently one with a fireplace, very good lamps and a doorman who remembers everyone.
My grandmother kept one in a cupboard. I opened the case one afternoon and never gave it back to her. She pretended to mind for about a week.
What guests wrote
This pane has no guest notes yet. They go up after genuine bookings only, once the desk has checked them; each carries a first name and when it was written, nothing explicit, and Samanta can ask for any of them to come off the glass.
- 6 min readArtesian hours: The Langham, where Regent Street turns into Portland PlaceLondon's first grand hotel sits where the shops give way to Portland Place. Three rooms downstairs, one famous bar, and how an evening there is timed from the first glass to the last.
- 5 min readBeyond the Foodhall: sitting down inside Selfridges between the shopsThe store's dining rooms are the civilised pause in a long shopping afternoon. Where to perch, where to linger, and how a day on Oxford Street is paced with a companion beside you.
