Last night we went to a Restaurant here in the hotel called the Spice Route. It has won awards— Conde Naste for example. it is deemed to be a ‘destination’ restaurant. The idea behind the name is that it follows the trade route taken by the spices through India/Asia—-starting in Kerala & moving on to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia & Vietnam. They serve food from all these places & delicious it was too.
Even more special though, was the decor & we discovered that it took 7 yrs to decorate the interior & that it had been done by a renowned Indian artist ( whose name we can’t now remember). The staff were lovely & after we had finished eating one of them walked us round explaining the concept to us. The whole idea of the place is like a journey through life, from birth to fulfilment following the Hindu concept. Each part of the restaurant represented a stage in life & the decor/materials used throughout were representative of this. There were reclaimed wooden pillars from a derelict Temple, symbols of Sun & Moon, gold leaf, stone pillars & the prow of a ship. It was truly amazing & a wonderful finale to a cultural day.
We had a leisurely start to today & ventured out into New Delhi. Several friendly pedestrians later & a very exciting ride in a tuk-tuk, we got ourselves back in one piece. We have just had afternoon tea in the Atrium & I will have to start packing soon. We will be leaving here at 9h45 tomorrow for a 13h30 flight to London & another night in a hotel. It will be sad leave here but nice to be back in Vaour & It will be good to see Theo’s friendly face on Sat morning when we get back to Toulouse.
I will post a few photos of the hotel.
New home at Ribatou