Curtains up at colonial Connemara

The 164-year-old Taj Connemara opened its doors to an eager clientele who awaited this event for two years. The all-white Art decor building has a period look about it with the high ceiling lobby, grand stairways and well-lit corridors leading to the facilities.

The opening itself was attended by the Chairman of Tatas Mr. Chandrasekaran and M.D of the Taj group Mr. Chhatwal, besides regional heads and marketing honchos from the Taj, Corporate heads and Consular representatives.

Celebrities and the media were seen in ample measure to participate in a glittering ceremony marked by a fashion show by the magical weaver Gaurang Shah, followed by a Son et lumiere projected on to the building.

The visuals showed the scenes of historical Madras and the presence of the British East India Co in their remarkable headquarters, the impressive Fort St. George. Laser beams swayed to modern sounds and eventually focused onto the centre of the pool wherein rose a model of the building itself.

Chefs like Arun Sunderaj and his team created a very special menu of snacks like Cauliflower mousseline with caviar, chicken Paniyaram with mango chutney, pimentos, vadai, flat macaroons filled with feta and sliced tomato...

The dinner was an array of food stations throughout the Verandah, the coffee shop,..small bowls of delicious Sambar Bath, Biryani, Channas and Alleppey curry, Anglo Indian lamb curry and some rich Hyderabadi Haleem were passed around.

While fresh sea food and Asian dishes flanked either side, the long tables between them were stacked with international cheeses with truffle and other flavours, fruit preserves, rare types of cold cuts and home invented bread varieties. Every type of cold cut, and home invented bread varieties were available.

The desserts of salted caramel and strawberry mousse cakes were so tempting to the palate as also a profusion of chocolates. Fresh juices and great choice of wines kept the conversation and bonhomie going for a long while.

The Connemara hotel of the old times is here in its spanking new modernised avatar adding to the cultural and economic landscape of a rather modern Chennai.