The word luxury is often tossed around ever so casually. Everything is labelled as luxurious but often it’s far from it. So when an invitation to experience a Luxury Dining Series came in the mail I was skeptical. Then I’m told this is an exclusive series hosted by the Marriott Group of Hotels and instantly I knew it would be foolish of me to skip this invitation.
A weekend spent at the JW Marriott Bangalore Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa was enough to remind me that some brands really do keep their word and understand how to provide an exclusive service. Full disclosure, I was hosted for this weekend at the hotel where I had the pleasure of doing nothing but relaxing and indulging in one decadent meal after another. The Luxury Dining Series is where several Marriott hotels across Asia participate in creating elaborate supremely exclusive dining experiences for their guests ( the guest has to book in advance this isn’t your regular dinner ) to show case the culinary talent across Marriott hotels and this year the Bangalore Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa had the pleasure of being the only hotel to represent India and honor this year’s theme – Forgotten Flavours – a culinary journey to revive forgotten ingredients and re imagine heritage through a contemporary lens.
The hotel of course is beautiful and I think was chosen for its vast open spaces. A sprawling golf course ( I believe one of only two in the city ) 300 plus rooms, and just wide open space surrounded by greenery with the backdrop of the Nandi hills. The attention to detail here is fabulous and for me personally that is a game changer. I’m what you call a picky guest. I see everything ( the lax staff, the turn down service done late, the dirty tables at a busy breakfast buffet – but this time I found it hard to find fault. If you’re ever passing through Bangalore, make a pit stop at the JW Marriott Bangalore Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa, it’s on the outskirts so you escape that dreaded city traffic and just enjoy that famous Bangalore weather in the lap of luxury.
The Luxury Dining Series was special and started out with an exclusive Alice in Wonderland like Garden themed dinner where the emphasis was on farm to table. Earlier that morning much before my plane landed, several other guests took a trip to the hotel farms to pluck their ingredients which was used for this dinner. The center piece at each table was a large herb floral arrangement with candle light complimenting the table set up and a menu that chef Neeraj Rawoot created. I thought this menu was an excellent ode to forgotten flavours with a Puducherry Boulabaise with scallop and lobster from Kochi with ingredients like moringa to give it a more local touch. Kashmiri Morels being the star of the plate instead of Truffle often associated with any luxury meal but complimented with both green and white asparagus and black garlic. For bread lovers a course dedicated to bread making it the main character of the course and not just an accompaniment – the bread butter ritual of a small loaf with a rosemary mustard butter candle lit with a wick that melted into all that glorious flavourful fat mopped up with the bread. Just beautiful. Simple but so effective.
The second culinary experience was a Lakeside Lazy Lunch. One of the many USP’s at this hotel is this lovely lake running through where guests can actually take a boat ride out. Lunch was sit right near the lake at their Asian restaurant EAST with flowing cocktails, a menu that listed all the greatest hits from any Asian restaurant – dim sum sushi, baos, noodles, lamb chop – you name it they had it ! and even a violinist serenading guests on a boat from the lake. Every measure taken to make you feel special. The highlighit of this menu being the baked miso cod fish – flaky soft and beautifully covered in miso and the Prawn Tempura with a light broth full of leeks, shitake mushroom and noodle masquerading as a ramen but far more delightful.
The grand dinner that wrapped up this series officially ( there was a Sunday brunch following but that’s usually held at the hotel ) was an extraordinary production. I think it’s possible every department of the hotel was involved in some way. A 5 Elements themed dinner where they took guests on a culinary journey – first to different unused spaces in the hotel and then created elaborate tables with a matching menu to represent all the elements – earth, fire, water, wind and space.
Each set up had its own charm, its own menu with matching cocktail and felt so special because of their location. The water element had guests seated at a table inside a kiddie swimming pool and the wind element had guests escorted to the top of an unused terrace above their spa with a fabulous view of the hills and the entire hotel. The real icing on this cake was the last element – space. Where guests ( at this point stuffed and excitedly trying to guess each location) were escorted on golfcarts to the middle of the golf course to dine in the open. I’ve been to several golf courses but I’ve never had the luxury of dining on one. It’s incredibly hard to pick favourites from what eventually turned into a 15 possibly 17 course dinner spread over 3 hours. However, I will say the Lobster Ghee Roast, Torched Scallop Nigiri, Burrata Tortellini and the Salmon on Fire (literally flaming at the table) are dishes I still think of fondly.
If you are a resident of Bangalore and having come to this hotel for what can only be described as the MOTHER OF ALL SUNDAY BRUNCHES then you need to rectify this grave error. I’m someone who enjoys a good spread but this hotel goes above and beyond. The Great Getaway Brunch is one where kids have their pick of games, bouncy castle, access to the swimming pool to all brunch guests and a sprawling indoor and outdoor spread with easily over 200 dishes. I’m sure there’s an official number that’s more but this just what I could tell. Most of the time a buffet is a bit of a disappointment but live counters and so much choice (Japanese Chinese Indian, European, Lebanese etc ) ensure it’s a buffet worth your time money and calories.
It’s hard to talk about this experience without giving away all their secrets because you can book any of these culinary experiences but what I will say is that the Luxury Dining Series takes the luxury and dining parts very seriously 😊