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Published: April 21st 2008
Special Coffee
We thought this "special" coffee available at Kamat Restaurant (Goa) was the best coffee we have had so far in India. It was South Indian style, rich and very tasteful.17 April, today we head back to Bombay.
Our last day in Goa, we had breakfast downtown at Kamat restaurant. It is about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. Kamat restaurant was full of people so we figured it must be a decent place to eat. Their special coffee (south Indian coffee) was one of the best we've had so far. It only costs Rs. 20 (CDN 50 cents) each, while regular coffee or chai was only Rs.10. Keep it mind this was the “inflated” price because we were dining in the A/C room. We had tomato onion uttapam, uppuma and vada for breakfast, all were delicious. Stuffed, we wanted to take a rickshaw back to the hotel because my foot was starting to hurt but they demanded Rs. 50 when it should only be about Rs. 15-20. We ended up walking back to the hotel.
We checked out at about 11:30am and had about 2 hours to kill. The hotel let us use their internet connected machine (very slow!) while we waited to go to the airport. Our flight is at 4:15pm and takes about an hour, flying Jet Airways. Got to the airport early at 2:30pm,
Kamat Restaurant, Panjim, Goa
Had breakfast here before we catch our flight back to Mumbai later in the day. flight delayed by an hour leaving at 5:15 pm now. Decided to catch an earlier flight at 3:15, that too was delayed until 3:45pm. Flight left on time, service onboard was excellent and we arrived in Mumbai at 5:00pm. The hotel Leela, had a car waiting for us and it was so nice to not haggle with taxi fares, etc. and be whisked off to the hotel as soon as we arrived.
Glad to be back at the Leela. Had complimentary cocktails during happy hour and Cognac with hot tea with chocolates and cakes for nightcap! Relaxed, we were too full to have dinner as the hotel kept feeding us hor d'ourves all night long!
Decided to forgo the Ajanta & Ellora caves tour as we are still coughing. My foot is slowly getting better. Found out the medication I was given for gout in my foot was the one that gave me the runs lately. Checked out the medication and the side effects online. My foot is getting better later on in the day, not so much of a limp anymore. The cough still there. So is Prem's cough, it seems to be getting worse despite a
Breakfast at Kamat Restaurant, Goa
I had a couple of vada and Prem had some uppuma for breakfast. Both were excellent. round of antibiotics she had since Trivandrum. As a result we decided to head home early. We changed our flight to 22 April, 4 days earlier than originally scheduled. We can get some rest before going back to work and check ourselves out at the doctors. Hope they don't demand more blood work! Yikes!!
The next day, Friday 18 April, we headed down to a local popular shopping area near the hotel along Linking Road. It was obvious our bargaining skills were poor here as the vendors would not budge on their prices. We hardly bought anything. Came back to the hotel to rest. Both of us weren't feeling good. Still, we decided we should check out a club before returning to Canada.
Later in the day, we decided to go to the club in the Leela Hotel - The Bling!. Here's an excerpt of her experiences there...
Currently, there are 3 top clubs in Mumbai - Poison, Enigma and Bling. First 2 clubs are quite far from our hotel so we decided to bail on them. But for Bling, we were in luck, as it's right here in our hotel. But there's a catch - it's
Champagne at the Leela
Free champagne while waiting to check in! a private club, and you either need to be a member, or be on the invitation list to get in. The famous DJ Aqueel is the resident DJ at Bling and Poison. So lots of Bollywood stars play at these two clubs. Our concierge was nice to try to get us on the guest list, but no guarantee. Also we would need to pay the cover charge of Rs.1600 per couple (Cdn $40) if we got in.
By the time 11:30pm, I was not feeling good, and neither was Prem. But out of principle, Prem decided she still should check Bling out after all the trouble we went through to get our names on the list. I decided to stay back as my foot was hurting by the end of the day, and my cough wouldn't subside - I'd been having “cough attacks!”. Despite her bad coughing, Prem went to Bling located at the lobby floor at 12;45am, only to find her name was not on the list! Incredibly, they let her in for free. Prem found out that 12:45am was way too early. The club manager and bartender told her the place only fills up at 2:00 or
Blog Update
Prem having "Blueberry Tea' while watching Bollywood video and updating our blog! 3:00am right up to 5:30am. Bling is the only club that stays open late, while the rest closes at 1:00 or 2:00am.
The manager was kind to look out for Prem, giving details on the guests (who's who, who to avoid and how much these regulars spend!). By the way, there are no bar stools available, and the lounge seats are only for reserved guests. If you don't have a table, you stand all night! To reserve a table, you need to:
a) have a certain income
b) spend a minimum of Rs.15,000. This gets you a bottle of liquor of your choice - Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker etc. One regular client spends at least Rs.30,000 minimum for a bottle of Champagne.
True enough, the club was pretty dead till 2:00am. It just wasn't Prem's night, no DJ Aqueel in sight as he already played the night before for Hrithik Roshan and entourage!! Only last week, Abhishek Bachchan and Ajay Devgan were partying there!! How unlucky can Prem be, she felt? Instead, we got DJ Aqueel's protege playing the music. It was still really good music. No Bollywood stars in sight except for local MTV stars. Of
course these guys are unknown to us. By the time 3:00am came, this place was totally rocking.
Prem came back at 4:30am full of stories to tell. Not only was she treated well by the club manager and bartender, she was offered free drinks as many as she wanted on the house, which was great considering a Cosmopolitan costs Rs.600 (Cdn $15) each!
She was also “scouted” by MTV producers to appear in their local reality show to be shot in Bangkok, Thailand. They also wanted her to hang out with them after dancing, offering her “whatever stuff she needed to party”, they could get it for her for free!! They gave Prem their tel numbers and told her to contact them the very next day, and asked her to call them if she needed to check out other clubs, as they had membership privileges to those. Needless to say, Prem declined them all graciously and slid past them quietly. Said thanks and goodbye to the manager and bartender who made great drinks and came back up to our room. That's the end of the club saga....😊
Saturday, 18 April. We woke up early. Had a wonderful
Prem Online
Browsing the net on the EeePC breakfast, which is included with the room rate. Had appam, idli, vada and masala dosa for breakfast. Stuffed, we hopped on the hotel shuttle that took us to the Colaba area for the day at around 11:00am. The hotel offers this free shuttle service for their guests. Much to Prem's delight, the shuttle bus was a fully air-conditioned tinted Mercedes! The shuttle also picks everyone up at the end of the day, around 5:00pm at the Taj Hotel and the Oberoi in the same area. To take a taxi from our hotel to the Colaba area will cost about Rs. 400 one way! This was quite a savings.
We spent the day in the Colaba and Fort area doing some shopping and had lunch at one of our fav restaurants in that area, Mahesh. We had gone there the last trip and loved it. We had fish curry, prawns briyani, neer dosa and Mangalorean chicken curry this time. All were excellent!
Sunday, 19 April. Pretty much a duplicate of yesterday. Took the hotel shuttle to the Colaba area again. This time we had revisited another restaurant from our last trip - Noodle bar. The closest to Vietnamese/Thai cuisine
Shoes
Shoe shopping at a nearby bazaar. Again she could not find any her size! we could find here. Again the food was good. Caught the hotel shuttle back to the hotel at around 5:00pm. Did some packing as we leave for home (yipee!) tomorrow.
Monday, 20 April. A day of rest today. Enjoyed our last breakfast here. The assistant manager went to great lengths to secure 2 wonderful Alphonso mangoes for me! It had been difficult searching for those, and the season is finally in. I was thrilled to be able to taste my favourite mangoes!! Nothing quite like the Alphonso mangoes for the sweet perfume, succulence and juiciness.
We then went to check out a nearby shopping mall, called Infinity. It was not much as it was a small mall. Had lunch at the food court there. This time we tried a Gujarati thali from a popular joint called Radjhani. They are famous for their vegetarian Gujarati food. The food here is very tasty no matter where you eat. It was a good thali. Headed back to the hotel in the early afternoon to relax. Had afternoon tea at the hotel which is again complimentary.
More packing today, getting all the bags packed. Again they may be overweight. Our flight
More Shoes...
There were shop after shop selling the same thing here - shoes and sandals. Prem was very frustrated she could not find any that she liked in her size here! is very early tomorrow, at 2:50am. Looking forward to coming back home as we are very tired and the persistent coughing really makes getting through the day difficult for both of us. Not to mention my foot! I don't limp much now but there is still a slight pain in my foot when I walk. Cannot walk fast either. Our eyes have cleared from the infection, still taking medication for that. We will have to get them checked out again when we get back.
Despite being happy to come home, we will miss The Leela hotel. It has been a superb stay, where all staff from the reservations desk, bellhop, concierge, wait staff, housekeepers and managers have been so welcoming, friendly and super helpful. Even the independent bookstore vendor at the lobby was so nice! Not forgetting the excellent care Prem got from Bling manager and staff.
Truly, they have excellent staff and impeccable service in this hotel. We will miss:
a) the awesome breakfast which includes both Continental and Indian food
b) high tea
c) evening cocktails
d) chocolates and nightcap
e) pillow service - we have a pillow menu to select
Clothes Bazaar
This was an indoor bazaar selling pretty much the same thing in every store - clothes. from!
f) friendly and knowledgeable staff who go the extra mile to get you want you want
g) staff who are clearly appreciative of your presence in their hotel, knowing full well there is competition out there.
h) staff who remember our names and room number, our favourite items and even remember our inquiries and asking if we managed to get the items we wanted.
i) staff who actually call your room confirming departure time, asking if we needed a wake-up call and a car to the airport!
j) staff who actually does domestic flight check-ins from the hotel for you if you fly Jet airways so we can skip checking in at the airport.
That's impeccable service in our eyes, considering they are complimentary services! We have not had such service from The Taj President in our last trip, and the Leela tops it all so far. It is truly a 5-star hotel in our humble opinion.
Enough said, we are thrilled to come home. See you all shortly when we get back...
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Eileen
non-member comment
I see you did some shopping... Jennie's preference is Louis V., Marguerite is Prada and I prefer Guicci... I see you came back early...hope you're WELL rested for Monday. We missed you.