PROFILE -- 7:

TAJ SAVOY OOTY SPORTING A BRAND NEW LOOK !!

BY P S SUNDAR. 

Soon after taking over in December 2018 as General Manager of the historic Taj Savoy Hotel with 6.5 acre land spread around it, Ritesh Choudhary dedicated to the visitors the upgraded infrastructural facility in the 178 year-old hotel.

Consequently, Savoy now offers a brand new facility to the guests coming for the 2019 New Year celebrations and beyond.

Right at the portico, the improvement is visible.  

A brand new open-air lobby attracts guests with facility for them to relax on comfortable sofa or enjoy short meals and beverages overlooking the spacious lawn and the heritage building.  

Ritesh interacts with the guests right at this vantage point.

And, as guests enter the ‘Dining Room’, they breathe the typical colonial English air in the ambience but the entire room wears a new look.  So, even for repeat guests, the feeling would be in a new environment without losing the historic charm.

There is a Board listing Chef's Specials for the day::

“This is a new creation – a section for intimate dining experience.  It comes with mood-lighting as value-addition”, said Ritesh who until last month was Director of Food and Beverage at the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, with as many as 560 rooms.

“Everything in the ‘Dining Room’ is new – plates, vessels, cutlery, tables, chairs, linen etc.  Even repeat guests will feel the difference”, he disclosed.

And, to add to the exclusive dining experience, Executive Chef Arun Mohanraj with 16-year experience in various hotels and locations who has recently taken over at Savoy on transfer from Kumarakom, not only lists chosen menu but himself prepares the food at kitchen range where required.

For our visit, he prepared this menu: 

  

The door of this room leads to the ‘Canterbury Bar’ in its new location.  

Very tastefully created, the Bar invites guests to spend several friendly hours amidst the spirit of fraternity. 

    

Besides, it provides the great opportunity to juxtapose drinks with food as the Dining Room and the Bar are adjacent.

Another cousin of this complex is the Banquet Hall which also sports a fresh look enhancing the celebration mood.     

To tease the visual treat of guests, especially foreigners, live ‘metre coffee and tea’ prominent in roadside shops has been introduced in the ‘Dining Room’.  “We serve Dabarah Coffee, equivalent to Kumbakonam degree coffee, in brass tumblers and ‘cutting chai’ in glass tumblers which foreigners cannot usually enjoy in a five-star hotel”, Food and Beverage Manager Om Prakash said.

Taj Savoy is the first hotel in India to win the ‘Heritage Grand’ status certified by the Government of India.  “We are now creating a ‘Heritage Wall’ to celebrate this”, Ritesh said.

“We have upgraded the interiors of all the 40 rooms, villas or cottages to ensure that the guests have a unique experience of benefiting from modern comforts even as they feel staying in the historic 178 years old campus”, disclosed Front Office Manager Thameemul Ansari.

The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the furniture, the bathing facility, the lights, TV locations – everything in the rooms has been upgraded but the exterior, windows, doors, ventilators, fireplace, dressing space, colonial veranda – all remain the same to give the guests the feel of tradition, heritage and history.

“Our Executive Chef Arun Mohanraj has prepared an elaborate celebration menu for Christmas and New Year including a lavish serving of beverages.   To usher in the New Year, there will be music, dance, games and hampers on December 31 night”, Ritesh added.

(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)