One mile to the King's House... Battle of the Indian giants: Taj and ITC hotel groups

I ring Bruce, an Australian with dubious English heritage checking if he is free for coffee and a catch-up. He happens to be at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo and I'm at the Shangri-la Hotel, they are about a twenty-minute walk apart. In a flash, The Whinging Pome has the great idea to meet at the Taj Samudra, one mile from the King's House and halfway between our two locations. Bruce sets off walking and sends me a photo of two lovely ladies who I assume are joining us for a coffee. He arrives alas with no ladies, he just took their photos, could get arrested for less in some countries.

I show him the Crystal Ballroom and the grandstand building. Going back in the day it was the centre of the Galle Face Green, which is now likely 30% of its original size. I wrote about the building in an article about the Green a decade ago. At one time the very prestigious Colombo Club founded in 1871 met in this building which was developed as an assembly room/ pavilion. Fifty years earlier horse racing, cricket and other sports took place on the Green. (Known as the Colpetty Race Course) There was up until 1905 a cemetery also on the green, more of that in an upcoming Tapophile story.

From all accounts when the prestigious Indian hotel group 'TAJ' bought the land to build their luxury hotel, the government decided to keep the ownership of the pavilion building at the front. It had to be upgraded and Taj still runs it today. The hotel opened in 1980 and is one of the oldest five-star hotels in the city sitting on a massive block of land of 4-5 hectares. The hotel has 300 bedrooms, 6 restaurants and 6 event spaces that can accommodate 50 to 3500 people.

Darby Raju, an electrical and sound engineer from Bangalore was part of the team building the Taj Hotel. He and his wife took up digs nearby and they fell in love with Colombo, considering they would spend their life on this paradise island. It was not to be, the Colombo riots resulted in many Indians having to return home. He is a good friend and my business partner in a winery close to Bangalore. If there was no riot he would still be in Sri Lanka and we may never have met. Or perhaps he would have started making wine in Sri Lanka. He is the only Indian I know who wears a beret.

The Whinging Pome Random Rule No. 289:?"Perfect strangers can become your best friend"

I've likely been to the Taj hotel a maximum of 60 times in twenty years so it does not rank as one of my favourites. Its Navratna and Golden Dragon restaurants are famous for their Indian and Chinese cuisine. I find the food a bit heavy. Back in the day I enjoyed the then-best Sunday lunch in the city, their Japanese restaurant - Yumi.

Bruce and I have a rummage around the pavilion and find that there is a 21st birthday party about to happen in this beautiful piece of history from 1825. We then head for the pool as it's a balmy late afternoon and this makes it "beer time" for my buddy. There is no one in or about the pool but it looks well positioned with lots of greenery around it. It happens to be happy hour. Well two hours, so we make the most of the great service, quiet location and the cheap beer, obviously not in that order. Some sixty minutes later we have the company of our wives and the gin is now flowing, the Japanese platters arrive and we settle in for a great night.

Possibly my best experience of the Taj was recently. I met some friends in the bar and whilst service was slow the bar was full and the female singer was entertaining. From the bar, we go to the well-established marquee venue with the best toilets in town. An event called "One Stage" with five of the top Sri Lanka bands is a huge success with thousands of people now attending these regular concerts.

Ironically, being built next door to the Taj is the ITC (Indian Tobacco Company), a hotel with two towers one 50 stories high with a link between the two which is also a pool feature. With 352 bedrooms plus apartments and numerous restaurants in a modern building, this will be the grandest five-star hotel in town. Their budget to complete keeps changing and now it is upwards of 400 million dollars with some form of opening in 2024. The front of the hotel is looking quite advanced. "Very Indian," remarks the wife as we pass by. It’s a reference to the Indian show factor. It already overshadows the old Taj which is progress but also slightly sad.

My Indian friends and I believe ITC have the best restaurants in hotels in India. My 2nd home for three years was the ITC Maratha Hotel Mumbai where I spent about 150 nights in three years. Fantastic restaurants and service. Can't wait to walk the 4 minutes from home to some great new restaurants at ITC.