Travel: A Weekend Getaway to The Lalit Chandigarh

The long Eid weekend called for a weekend getaway, and the only options left after waking up at the 11^th hour were close by places like Jaipur, Chandigarh, Agra and the likes. Narrowed down on Chandigarh and booked The Lalit Chandigarh. I’ve stayed at Lalit Delhi, Lalit Mangar and Lalit Mumbai before, so this was the 4^th Lalit property I was staying at. Imagine how much I would like the Lalit properties to be choosing them everywhere I go. And I’m glad I made this choice the 4^th time too. In a gist, my experience at The Lalit Chandigarh was amazing!
The property

The hotel has all the amenities and recreational stuff you expect in a hotel- a gym, a pool, a huge entrance and lobby, classy corridors, restaurants catering to different cuisines, a club in-house, good room service; so you get the idea that they have everything. It’s located a little on the outskirts of the city but Chandigarh is anyway such a small city that nothing feels too far. The famous pubs, markets and restaurants are all at a distance of 10-20 minutes, so not far at all (like I was told by people).

Checked into the hotel around 5PM on day 1, and headed straight to the hotel’s bar even before we  saw our room. That was our first experience with any of the hotel’s F&B establishments. The bar that’s set up on the ground floor of the hotel right when you enter, is a casual cosy place to enjoy a few drinks at. Came here two more times over the span of next 2 days because of how comfortable the space was and how prompt the service was.

Rooms

The rooms at The Lalit have always been spacious and modern. The décor of the room across all their hotels I’ve been to is contemporary and chic, and the size of the room too has always impressed me, this time too being no exception. A view of the city from the room, a king-sized comfortable bed, sofa on the side and a study table too, and a nice mini walk-in wardrobe outside the washroom. One look at my room and I was so looking forward to the next few days filled with laziness and excessive sleeping on the comfortable bed.

Clubbing at Kitty Su

The first night in Chandigarh was disappointing in the beginning because all pubs and bars were either shut or weren’t serving liquor because of the alcohol ban by the Supreme Court. We literally toured at least 5 kms from our hotel to find one decent lounge or club but we couldn’t find any. So we decided to come back to the hotel and head to the hotel’s nightclub, Kitty Su. Kitty Su is a well-known name in the clubbing scene across all the cities that it is present in. The one in Chandigarh is divided into two floors- the ground floor being for the general entry and first floor for the VIP. Got a table inside and what came after this was nothing we had imagined. We went in thinking we’ll order a few drinks and head to the rooms, drinking some more there, but all of us got into the groove and ended up ordering a bottle of alcohol at Kitty Su, and making a night to remember right there. The night started with only English music but post 11PM the DJ alternated between Hindi and English song, pumping up the vibe along the way. Great service at Kitty Su even with all that rush. The food too was really good. The area in Kitty Su is divided into two parts- indoor and outdoor. Outdoor works well in winters, but also acts as a smoking area for people. When you’ve chilled at Kitty Su enough and want 5 minutes of calm, or some time to get fresh air, this is the space you come to. Quite a chiller place, I would love to spend an evening just in this outdoor area because of the calm vibe here. Breakfast at 24x7

Our room package included breakfast buffet, the best part about a hotel stay! Woke up on day 2, excited to go see the breakfast spread and dig in! Entered 24x7, Lalit Hotels’ patent multi-cuisine restaurant and coffee shop, and was surprised to see the rush. Now you need to note that this restaurant is huge. Huge means huge! Comparing with all other hotels, this restaurant really is huge. And seeing a huge restaurant packed is overwhelming. But we instantly got a table and didn’t have to wait. The buffet was beautiful by all means! Consisted of everything you can think of a hotel’s buffet breakfast to showcase. South Indian, North Indian, Continental, a live eggs counter, a live dosa and uttapam counter, waffles and pancakes on the table, juices, cereals, fruits, yoghurt, bakery products, cheese- they had it all. The South Indian fare here is extraordinarily good for a buffet breakfast. The kind of dosa varieties they do makes you want to never leave the restaurant! On day 2 of the breakfast I tried their Cheese Mysore Masala Dosa which was out of this world! Also had idli with gunpowder which was so soft and fluffy.
 

There’s a live omelet and sunny side up counter where they add anything you want to your eggs, and another counter that makes French Toast and the likes. The Indian here is mind-blowing too. Poori Bhaji, Chhole Poori, Paneer Parantha (on order), were all too delicious in taste. Not like those things made in bulk not keeping the taste in mind. Sausages and potato wedges, hash browns- the fried stuff was being replenished like crazy and all of them were piping hot and crisp (for the latter two). On both the days had truckloads of fresh Watermelon juice and Fresh Lime Soda, and a Cold Coffee to begin with which was made exactly to our specifications. The staff during breakfast service deserves a special mention to be catering to 400 hungry Indians and putting up with their tantrums and nonsense with a smile. Tried waffles on one day and pancakes on the other. If you come here for breakfast and don’t try the pancakes, you’re committing a sin. So damn fluffy it’s unreal!!

Lunch at Oko
On day 2 we had an early breakfast so we could go have lunch somewhere and not skip it. But we ended up going to the hotel’s bar again and headed to Oko, the hotel’s Oriental restaurant. Whatever I said about the breakfast being so food, multiply that by 10, that’s how good Oko is. I am going to do a full-fledged blog post about Oko alone because of the number of dishes I tried there and how each dish was a beauty in itself. But to give you a crux, Oko has a menu full of Chinese, Thai and Japanese dishes. You get a fair range of sushi, some nice Thai appetizers and main course, Chinese flavours with rice, noodles, curries and appetizers, and a great variety of desserts. The restaurant is set up beautifully, just how classic Oriental places are- with hues of red and black, nice formal seating and trained staff to guide with recommendations.

Ordered some sushi, a chicken appetizer, a prawn main dish, a chicken main dish, some noodles and rice, and 4 desserts. Trust me when I say this, the food is par excellence. There wasn’t one thing that we tried that didn’t stun us. The quality of food, the spice balance, the flavours, the quantity that came, the presentation- they pleased us with all the dishes with every aspect possible. Tried 4 desserts, two of which were ice creams, and loved the Caramel Custard so much that we asked for another portion of it, but sadly the kitchen had closed by then. Oko is soon opening in Delhi and I cannot wait for it to open!!!

I basically spent my entire trip to Chandigarh in my hotel. Except for 2 meals that I had elsewhere, every meal, all the partying, all the drinking, chilling, sleeping, everything happened here. Our check-in was smooth and so was the check-out. The staff was damn sweet and the service was great too. Special mention to Mr. Amalok for looking after us and constantly ensuring we were comfortable and having a good time. 4^th Lalit property and I had a great time again! Highly recommended for your stay in Chandigarh.

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