The welcome
My flight arrives early, but the Shangri-La has an arrivals representative at the airport for those who have booked hotel transfers. I’m in a Mercedes E-Class within about 10 minutes of reaching arrivals. The hotel is 34 kilometres away and the journey takes 45 minutes. On arrival, the car is security-checked before being allowed through a barrier. The hotel lobby is bright, opulent and businesslike. I’m given a welcome ritual blessing, including a forehead marking, plus a pretty tiara made from flowers and wire. I’m in a Horizon Club room on the 15th floor, and check-in is in-room, while a staff member pours a tasty cup of tulsi tea.
The neighbourhood
The hotel is on Palace Road in Vasanth Nagar, an affluent pocket of town just north of the city centre. The National Gallery of Modern Art and the Bangalore Palace are very close.
The room
The hotel is a slick, new, 20-storey block with 397 rooms and suites. Regular rooms are on floors 5 to 14; Horizon Club rooms are on floors 15 to 17. Mine is a “Bangalore View Room”, with an excellent aerial view of an attractive, fairly green section of the city, with the central buildings beyond. I have 41 square metres of space, but it feels larger. There’s a luxurious, marble-clad bathroom with generous cupboard space, a tea-and-coffee-making area, a desk and a bed with 300-thread-count Frette linen. The rest of the room is mostly brown and beige. The curtains are nice and thick and the air-con is good and quiet. The only problem is when the fire alarm goes off in the middle of my second night. Luckily, it’s a false alarm and we don’t have to evacuate.
The service
Attentive and confident. On arrival, I request foam pillows, which arrive in 10 minutes and are fantastically comfortable. Phones are answered quickly and restaurant staff know what they’re talking about.
The scene
The hotel interiors were designed by Wilson Associates from Singapore, and have a functional luxury to them – think marble, chandeliers and titanium-coated steel. The lobby is a good place for informal meetings, while the all-day-dining restaurant, b Café, has a more celebratory atmosphere. The rooftop, with five bars and restaurants, is where things really get going.
The food
The hotel has seven restaurants. b Cafe rivals UAE buffets: at dinner, I revel in its South Indian speciality station, with unusual, spicy vegetable curries, excellent tandoori chicken and paneer, plus birianis. The unlimited buffet costs 1,920 rupees (Dh106). The excellent fresh lime soda is 400 rupees (Dh22). At rooftop Italian outlet Caprese, the caprese salad (550 rupees [Dh30]) gets its creamy burrata cheese from a priest who makes it locally. The mushroom risotto (800 rupees [Dh44]) makes you forget you’re in India. At pan-Indian gourmet restaurant Ssaffron, also on the rooftop, I love the starters of chargrilled vegetables with masala, tandoor-cooked marinated lamb chops and chicken (from 600 rupees [Dh33]).
Loved
The sense of decadence in an exciting city.
Hated
The fire alarm, and the fact that rain meant the swimming pool was unusable the following morning. The steam room and Jacuzzi were also out of action when I wanted to use them.
The verdict
A great base for a short break.
The bottom line
Double rooms at the Shangri-La Bengaluru (www.shangri-la.com) cost from 10,890 rupees (Dh600) per night, including taxes.
This review was done at the invitation of the hotel.
