The Oberoi Grand Kolkata, Calcutta

...ehtnically Bangladeshi and Live in the UK my whole life.. We went back to visit the family in dhaka (capital of bangladesh) and decided to go for a little trip to our neughbouring country!! Getting a visa was a tedius job, and in retrospect we should have sorted that out in the UK before leaving for holiday..

Kolkata was a wonderful city to visit - remnants of the old british raj are all well and truly alive in this almost forgotten ...
...for you folks) Aside from the race course, victoria memorial, restaurants such as Oh! Culcutta and cafes such as Flury's that must be visited in kolkatta, the main reason bangladeshi's g to india is by and large to go shopping!! The indian materials, designers, and outfits are brought from all over india to culcutta still after 60+ years since the british left it is in this sense quite a culutral hub where you see many faces and cultures of india ... more

So I went to Culcutta now known as Kolkatta with my family a few months ago, Im ehtnically Bangladeshi and Live in the UK my whole life.. We went back to visit the family in dhaka (capital of bangladesh) and decided to go for a little trip to our neughbouring country!! Getting a visa was a tedius job, and in retrospect we should have sorted that out in the UK before leaving for holiday..

Kolkata was a wonderful city to visit - remnants of the old british raj are all well and truly alive in this almost forgotten city as well as the unusual sight of actual hippies, in dhaka we see alot of foreign diplomats/aid workers but not many come to just backpack around which is a shame as bangladesh is sooo unbelievably beautiful! (hehe look at me selling it for you folks) Aside from the race course, victoria memorial, restaurants such as Oh! Culcutta and cafes such as Flury's that must be visited in kolkatta, the main reason bangladeshi's g to india is by and large to go shopping!! The indian materials, designers, and outfits are brought from all over india to culcutta still after 60+ years since the british left it is in this sense quite a culutral hub where you see many faces and cultures of india all happily co-existing the so called City of Joy. What shouldn't be missed are the large street markets knowns as New Market, Cahdni Chowk - which are all just around the corner of the Oberoi!!

I litreally walked out of the hotel.. the cloisters outside the hotel are full of local small business men selling all sort of brick and brack just outside the hotel, you simple have to turn left and your at new market!! As with most markets its crowded and noisy and may even be somewhat dangerous for lone females ( i sggest go in a group or with a male). Because of this odd location the oberoi from the outiside it almost indistinguisable as a 5* hotel.. infact I was littel suprsed when the chauffer who picked us up the airpot took a turning towards it.

The Hotel is in fact very old, in fact the building has stood there for over 125 years and was bought and renovated to become a hotel in 1934 by Oberoi (whose son now runs the oberoi group). It is known fondly as the Great Dame of chowringhee road and indeed it does from across the road look like a rather imposing grande imposition on what would be a rather dull and somehwat dirty area. Now of course times change and while once the Jawarhelal Nehru Road and all the old parts of town such as Ballgunge and Alipore where once quite posh and residential much commerce, money and wealthy educated young things have since moved onto the New parts of the city and salt lake... but a tourist.. i would definetly reccomend the oberoi as its location is unbeatable for soaking in true day to day culcutta life... the
new city thought nice isnt a whole lot different from parts of london and new york and was modelled as such in an effort to force the decadent city into the 21st century... therefore oberoi was perfect for us.

The hotel service was impeccable and quite easily one of the best I have ever experienced, I believe my mother and I stayed in a twin room and my brother and his wife had their own double room, I am not sure how much it cost - roughly 1000 US Dollar for 3 nights, so compared to the other Oberoi branches this is actually fairly reasonable then again its still a 5* hotel... While speaking with some of the staff there I found out that workers wake up at around4 o'clock every morning to clean the whole hotel.. being rather large and very old it must take alot of work to maintain the place...

We were recieved at the airport by a chauffer who placed pretty garlands around our neck.. how very indian!! I loved it, he was himself dressed in a fine indian suit and a pagri (the clothe hat thing they wear in some parts of india notable Punjab).. On entering the Hotel you may think its a bit dingy from the outside but it ha something of an old school british charm to the drive in and once you have been through security clearnce in the front you will notice an imposing chandeliar and beautiful marble and wooden decor. The front lobby is a large space made to look like a peacful lounge than a waiting area.. the sumptuous leather seating was very comfortablt thank-you very much! We were led upto our room and when we tried to give a tip was actually refused!! Later I read a note in the bathroom stating that tips were not to be paid directly to staff but in an envelope with the persons name on it upon departure - oh how very quaint and british (and a little pretentious)..

The rooms had a slightly austere Victorian quality to them, both in decoration and atmosphere with alot of wooden panneling and sombre colouring - peaches, yellows and white. There was a beautiful re-creation on an old persian painting on the wall which was nice to look at and the room was certainly very posh - resembling some of those old houses and flats you may find in Knightsbridge and Mayfair. The products in the bathroom were supplied by a company called Kama Ayurveda.. they were very generous with the amount of products they gave and I was astounded by the shampoo and especially a conditioner.. I have been desperatly looking to purchase them again, the conditioner left my hair extremely silky and shiny and soft without any frizz despite the humidity of summer in Kolkata! Would love to know if they stock this line in the UK.. I will be going to Paris soon so might hve hunt around there (can always find some unsual indian brands as well as art in france for some reason).

The complimentary breakfast was really very nice. Serving both a cold buffet style layout as well as warm menue where they had items ranginf from french toast to a south indian platter.. in the three nights we stayed there, I sampled almost everything on that menue and a dozen complements to the Chef and The brilliant staff who worked the restaurant.. they were always very friendly and would often come and have a little chat with us in the mornings. There is a pool opposite the brasserie and I believe there are two othe restaurants in the hotel, We ate at one of them - Baan Thai which was pretty good if very expensive (approx 100 for 4 people) I could write a whole other review on this restaurant alone so wnt go into it now - if you ever find yourself though do definetly try the mango and basil ice-cream dessert!

All in all was very satisfied with the service, and atmophere for the Hotel which resembled in ways the atmosphere and temperament og Culcutta - In decadent remorse of its glorius past, in nostalgic remembrance of the british raj and yet busy and teaming with fresh new blood looking for something ever better to look farward to - a centre for commerice - only this time created by indians not foreigners! It attractes people from allover india, the world over and many people from bangladesh too apparently! Although is by and large a business hotel with excellent business rooms with high speed wifi it is very family friendly and there were quite a few families staying there as well.
 

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