Jaipur has always been synonymous with royalty and when taking a vacation in this vibrant city of Rajasthan, Fairmont, Jaipur is your perfect abode to royalty and luxury like never before. Upon stopping my car at the porch of the Fairmont Hotel, Jaipur, I became overwhelmed with feelings of opulence, royalty, class, expanse, and luxury. It was at the welcome when a man clad in traditional Rajasthani clothing sang “Padharo Mare Des”, that the feeling of Rajasthan’s royal welcome started to sink in. Whenever this song is sung with a deep tone, it gives me goosebumps.
As I moved towards the lobby, smiling faces awaited me to process a smooth check-in. While it just took about 5 minutes for the entire process, even in those 5 minutes, glimpses of luxury started to show. With Cold Towels, Welcome Drink and Escorted entry to my room, I had already started to enjoy my short vacation.
All the words that were clouding my mind began to become reality as I moved from the porch to the entrance and finally to my room.
Words cannot justify the feeling that I got the moment I stepped into my room. It felt straight out of a fantasy land. Oozing out opulence and class in every element, calling it lavish would be an understatement. While touring the room, my heart almost skipped a beat when I opened the doors of the bathroom. I had never seen a bathtub so huge and classy. It was everything luxury. I wanted to fill it up with hot water and dip myself in a long luxurious bath, but as I reached late in the afternoon, my hunger didn’t let me indulge in the bath at that moment, and it had to wait for a later time in the night.
Now to satiate my hunger, I headed down to Zoya, the all-day dining multi-cuisine restaurant. A chicken caesar salad, a platter of non-veg kebabs and lamb biryani comprised of my hearty meal. The salad was good and gave me a refreshing start to the meal. From the kebab platter, I loved the Kasundi Mahi Tikka the most and also the Chicken Tikka and Chicken Malai Tikka were done well, but the best was the fish.
The Lamb Biryani is surely something you shouldn’t miss, it was one of the highlights. The rice was perfectly spiced and the fried onions garnish added another layer of flavour to it. The mutton pieces were soft and tender. Served with raita, it’s a complete meal; believe me, you won’t need anything else. 5 senses and toffee date pudding are the desserts you can’t afford to miss again. They will melt in your mouth.
After this appetising meal, I retired to my room for a small nap, whereas my son tried his hand at Table Tennis in the hotel itself. The hotel does offer quite a lot of activities for children of all age groups. Later I spent most time of my evening dipping myself in the expansive pool, for almost 2 hours it made me feel refreshed and tired at the same time, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
After a quick shower and was ready for yet another culinary exploration and this time headed to Zarin, a speciality restaurant that serves Persian delicacies. Shashlik, boneless lamb chops on skewers was a melt-in-the-mouth experience and is a must-try. Juheh Kebabs were the next dish on my platter, succulent pieces of barbecued chicken, this was too delicious. We also ordered roasted lamb chops and they too were a delight, full of flavours, but only I wished that the meat was a little more tender.
For the main course, we tried Dal Zarin, Nihari Khas and a Chicken based gravy dish, and all the main course dishes were fabulous and should surely be given a try. But the best was yet to come, it was the dessert platter, with Baklawa and some other Arabic sweets, I just could not have enough of these items. They were simply the best I have ever eaten.
After a very hearty meal yet again, I headed to the comfort of my room for a good night’s sleep. I had a very peaceful sleep as the rooms are completely soundproof, I got up just in time for breakfast. The breakfast was a lavish spread at Zoya and one can get a lot of options from English breakfast to American and Indian with regional delicacies as well.
I spent the day at leisure, indulging in games, hitting the gym and dipping in the pool. The lunch was special on this day, as we got to savour the typical Rajasthani Thali and no amount of words can justify the flavours, the presentation and the taste. You need to have it yourself to believe the goodness of it. I have to admit that I had tasted the Rajasthani Thali earlier but didn’t like it much back then, but here at Fairmont, it was easily one of the best things I had. The veg thali especially included things which I had never tasted before and I loved all of them. Papad Mangodi ki Subzi, Gatte ki Subzi, Sagri Ke Kofte and Dal Batti Churma, everything was outstandingly delicious. In the non-veg thali, Laal Maas was the highlight. Finishing the meal with Kulfi Falooda was just the thing to do.
For dinner, we had a private set up done at the terrace overlooking the pool and a magnificent tomb. We settled for some Asian food that night and I think this is one area where the hotel needs to work a bit. In comparison to Indian and Persian food, Asian food did not meet much of expectations. The Main Course consisting of Sichuan Chicken and Chicken Garlic Noodles was really good whereas the starters except for Chicken Spring Rolls were disappointing.
After a luxurious bath at night, I once again had a comfortable sleep at the Hotel. The third morning, after a continental brunch at Zoya, I had to bid goodbye to this luxury and head back home. I enjoyed a grilled chicken breast with mushroom sauce for my brunch and it truly was delicious.
Goodbyes are often the most difficult thing and who wants to leave such comfort, class and luxury, but like they say ‘all good things come to an end’ and so did my short 2 night-3 day trip to Fairmont Jaipur. But I am sure I will be going there back very soon as I fell in love with the place. If you haven’t stayed at this hotel, it should be on your list. I am still swooning over the place.
