By DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 22 SEPTEMBER 2023:
The mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and state urban development minister, Firhad Hakim has inaugurated The Legacy Lounge in Asia’s first luxury hotel, LaLit Great Eastern Hotel in the City of Joy on Thursday evening.
The hotel has awsome architecture and artefacts.
Mr. Kamal Raja, the Resident manager of The LaLit Great Eastern and Mr. Anil Punjabi, member of the executive committee of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) were also present on the occassion.
Talking To The Travel and Tourism Times, Mr. Kamal Raja has informed that keeping in mind that Kolkata is a food loving city, the hotel has concentrated on the four pillars of cuisine – Bengali, Nababi, Chinese and Anglo.
“ We wish to offer something exclusive to the food afioconadoes of the City of Joyand national award winning chef Madhumita Mohante and others will prepare the cusines.The ambience of the place is very much exciting and people will relate it with the past ( 1837), the spices are hand picked by the chef and the taste will be authentic. It will be a retro food of the by gone era with authentic taste,” he added.
He further briefed that the restaurant will have a capacity of 36 seats and will be open in the evening for dinner only ( 7 PM to 11 PM). However for private parties it will open for the lunch time also.
Mr. Anil Punjabi said that Kolkata is increasingly becoming an important city in the eastern part of the country at this juncture the new upgradations and inaugurations of the city’s top hotels will surely boost the tourism sector of the state.
LaLit Great Eastern –
The LaLiT Great Eastern Kolkata was built in 1840 as the “Auckland Hotel” and is the longest continuously operating luxury hotel in Asia with 165 years of operation until its renovation in 2006. The architecture at this hotel is a combination of Victorian, Edwardian, and contemporary styles. One of the best 5-star luxury hotels in Kolkata, it is centrally located in close proximity to key commercial and business locations.
The LaLiT Great Eastern Kolkata operates 215 rooms and suites and offers over 8,000 square feet of conference and banqueting space. The spa at this hotel is spread over 13,000 square feet and includes a salon.
Asia’s First Luxury Hotel:
It’s the first luxury hotel of Asia, build & launched in 1840, by David Wilson under the support of the-then British Governor General, Lord Auckland.
Jewel of the East:
From its early days as a thriving confectionery shop and meeting place for the East India Company’s officers in the late 1830’s, this finest five-star hotel in Kolkata is a celebration of the iconic legacy of the Raj. Referred to as the “Jewel of the East” and the “Best Hotel East of the Suez” by Mark Twain, it has been one of the top hotels in Kolkata for nearly 165 years.
Amalgamation of Three Eras:
The renovated property has three different wings resembling three different historic era, namely the Victorian era (Heritage Block I), the Edwardian era (Heritage Block II), and the Contemporary era (New Block), and is counted amongst the best hotels in Kolkata.
Stay of the legends:
Rudyard Kipling, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Twain, Ho Chi Minh, Nikita Khruschev, Nikolai Bulganin and Queen Elizabeth II are few who have experienced the hospitality at this iconic hotel.
The West Bengal government had acquired the hotel in 1975 and in 2013 has been taken over by the lalit Suri Hospitality Group’s Bharat Hotels Limited and reopened in its present avataar.
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