It's our last night at The Imperial and we're sad enough about leaving the best hotel in the world, but then we head down for our meal at Daniel's one of the hotel's restaurants that was designated for our meal that night. We stop to look into The Spice Route, another restaurant in the hotel, rated by Conde Naste as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world.
When we ask to have a look inside, the hostess invites us to have dinner, using our voucher for Daniel's, but we'd be having the "Special Menu". I figure this means we'll be having a pine float and coffee, but it turns out to be quite different.
For every 10 times your flight is cancelled, your luggage is lost, or your dinner reservation falls between the cracks, you get a serendipitous bonus, which is what we got this Delhi night.
We're presented with the "Special Menu" and choose one of 2 soups, one of four main courses and one of two desserts. But when we order, we're told there is no choice. We get everything, and everything is wonderful. We can't come close to finishing any course, but the flavors are extraordinary, the service, Imperial.
The restaurant decor is mesmerizing. After the meal, we get a 20 minute tour of the restaurant with the hostess. It's about 11 PM and dinner has taken 2 1/2 hours. Construction of the restaurant took 7 years to complete. The walls are solid art work in various media, including sculptures, wooden blocks, boats, (yeah, boats), crowns, statues. Sounds over the top, but it worked. All art work is relevant to various destinations on the original Spice Route from India to Bali, including Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam, and the food reflects the cuisine of these countries. The restaurant has nine distinct areas that blend into each other seamlessly, and was designed with the the Feng Shui of the site carefully considered. For us, it was a dining memory we will never forget.
The next morning we're up early (late for Max, it was 4:30). I feel melancholy to be leaving this wonderful old gracious hotel. Prandesh and the driver meet us and get us to the New Delhi Train Station in time for our 7 AM departure for Simla, via Chandigarh. It's already a mob scene with red-shirted porters tapping on our car window as soon as we enter the station parking lot.
It's still dark because of the fog and haze, with a full moon, which should be beautiful in Simla. When I was here in '86, it was reported in the Hindustan Times that Delhi was the most polluted city in the world. I believe it has managed to retain the title after all these years.
We're in coach C-6, seats 64 and 65, our names printed on a sheet of paper on the side of the train. It's a bit grimy. Full house. A bunch of bizmen going to Chandigarh, our transfer point.
Going thru the Old Delhi slums at dawn in the early morning haze, with smoldering fires, smoldering garbage, people abluting everywhere - amazing stuff. And Max is loving it.
We're served a B'fast of a sort as soon as we're moving. First, a liter of bottled water, then tea and biscuits and candy (sugar-free!). An hour later, they come by with more food - a couple of deep-fried items with peas, a sandwich of some sort, juice, rice.
Chandigarh is only a couple of hours away.
After that, it's the Lose Your Cookies Route.
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