Grand Mercure Mysuru is a new property in the city of palaces! After having tasted success in Bangalore, it was time for Karnataka to get another Grand Mercure destination! Grand Mercure is part of Accor hotels which also owns other brands like Novotel, Thalassa, Ibis, Raffles and Fairmont.

Be it Asia, Latin America, Pacific or the Middle-east, you’re not far from Grand Mercure 🙂 With their presence in the most popular holiday destinations viz. Abu Dhabi, Melbourne, Wellington, Bangkok, Phuket, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro Singapore & Goa, they’re targeting the uber cool guests who won’t settle for anything less 🙂 Grand Mercure believes in making sure each hotel combines ultra modern amenities with a touch of local flavors.

Mysuru in many ways is a beautiful city sans all the hustle-bustle of a metropolitan city. The greenery is intact and the air is just so pure!

I(Buttertheory) was invited to the Grand Mercure Mysuru property to experience their princely hospitality and make me feel like the Prince of Mysore, well almost 😉 It was around the time the Prince was getting married and the week of Ramzan. It was only fitting that the chef spruced up a Ramzan special menu for us. A lot of thought went into that menu, more on that later 🙂

DECOR

The gates here are quite royal and traditional, which has floriated designs and is quite tall ! It’s got the Grand Mercure branding on it. It bears a nice combination of colors; Gold and Black!

This is the reception lobby which looked very elegant to me!

As you enter, the first thing that you’ll run into is this painting of the fabulous Mysore palace.

A lot of emphasis has been put on decorating the walls with paintings. Here’s a pic of some of those!

The travel desk is there to assist you on the various attractions in and around the hotel! Feel free to consult the staff over for any of your needs!

Or if you’re one of those who like to find out everything by yourself and don’t prefer asking people, this is where you need to be; The Web station!!

Since Mysore is close to Channapatna, the land of wooden artifacts, Grand Mercure Mysuru has done a great job of showcasing just that! Look at these custom made artifacts with a kickass branding on them!

ROOM

Grand Mercure Mysuru has 146 rooms, each room having a comfy bed, tea/coffee making facilities, mini bar,electronic safe, LCD TV, work desk and other amenities.
The room that I got to stay was a Deluxe room with a single double bed.

Restroom

For a food blogger(or is Buttertheory just a food blog? Explore other possibilities? 🙂 ) , the most important thing is food. Duh, that goes without saying ! I’ve always always focused on the food, more than anything else in a hotel, like the ambience or amenities. What does this property have to offer in terms of the dining options? There’s ‘La Uppu’, which when dissected means ‘The Salt’, where ‘La’, in French means ‘the’ and ‘Uppu’ in Kannada means ‘salt’.
Then you have the ‘Deli’, which is the bakery. Then you have a Indian Restaurant by the name ‘By the Blue’. There’s also a small luxury lounge that goes by the name ‘Silk’ which can house no more than 20 guests at a time!

DELI

When you pass the reception area, you’ll come across the Deli , which offers you some baked goods like breads and cakes!

Some of these breads cost a bomb, but they’re of premium quality and fresh!

While the breads were a bit on the expensive side, the cakes and other desserts were surprisingly cheap!

LA UPPU

A tastefully done outdoor seating by the fountain is a perfect choice for a date!

Well if you’re here with your entire family and have kids, the outdoor seating also has a play area nearby !!

The indoor seating is quite classy!

Traditional cookware on display!

BY THE BLUE

By the blue is a poolside resto-bar which offers Indian speciality cuisine. The ambience is just spectacular as you get to have some delightful food by the blue pool!

This is a set if paintings you’ll see when you enter By the Blue!

The seating is very relaxed. There’s indoor as well as outdoor seating by the pool.
This is the indoor seating:

Some very cool speakers that are disguised in the form of rocks!

Pool is pretty long and about 6 feet deep !

SILK BAR

This is a very high end lounge bar where you can relax and revive yourself with an exclusive selection of the finest wines, single malts, Scotches and array of international and local spirits.

LUNCH

We arrived just in time for some Ramzan special lunch, the menu crafted specially for us! The spread was just amazing and it was all about this Nawabi feel 🙂 Even though most of the dishes were rich in preparation, they didn’t make us feel that way!

Surkh Lal Shorba

This was a fresh tomato broth flavored with smokey caraway seed, garnished with fresh coriander, served with a pudina lachcha paratha!

APPETIZERS

Murgh Akbari Kebab

This was an exotic chicken breast preparation flavored with cardamom and cashew nut. This was a beautiful creation and something very rare to spot even in Bangalore!

Palak aur Khubani ki Tikki

Slow cooked spinach patties with apricot relish.

MAIN COURSE

Paneer Gulnar

Paneer rolls stuffed with almond and fig in a bed of saffron scented cashew gravy!

Dum Aloo Sikandari

Potato stuffed with dry fruits and cottage cheese that’s deep fried and finished with brown onion and cashew gravy.

Dum Gosht Biriyani

Slow cooked lamb pilaf preparation scented with whole spice.

Handi Wala Kukkad

Tender chicken cooked in clay pot with onion, tomatoes and spices.

Nalli Nihari

Slow cooked lamb shanks with aromatic indian spices!

Mulaqat-e-Musallam

Duo of broccoli and cauliflower cooked in traditional musallam gravy.
Musallam is a mughal word meaning whole and this dish means a whole cauliflower that’s blanched and then roasted.

DESSERT

Kesar Phirni & Kulfi

DINNER

Amuse bouche

This is a term in French, literally translated as “mouth amuser”. It’s a bite size treat that’s not ordered but offered by the chef for no extra charge!

Appetizer

The appetizer that was served was an assortment of Vegetable spirals with coconut creme.

Shot taken on my camera by my good friend Naveen Suresh 🙂 :

MAIN COURSE

We had grilled tiger prawns with Seilo scallops for the non vegetarians!

The vegetarians had saffron scented polenta topped with Ratatouille, served with Bell pepper coulis.

Pizza

We ordered a vegetarian pizza from the regular menu. It had sundried tomatoes, olives, bell peppers and loads of cheese 🙂

DESSERT

Choco Mania

This dessert was a treat to the eyes. It was a Belgian chocolate mousse tower( in inverted conical shape, which housed white chocolate ice cream and warm double chocolate flan! This was heavenly and I so badly wanted another one of this, but then I stopped myself from dying from overdose of sugar!!

BREAKFAST

I had a very satisfying continental breakfast here! The glazed chicken sausages, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, omelette, cold cuts and cheese were absolutely amazing!!

Cholle Bhature and Chana Masala was a perfect way to start a royal breakfast. The chana masala gravy was just so flavorful and the Bhatures were light! Blueberry puff pastry and pineapple cakes were also quite a delight!

Freshly cut fruits, fresh fruit juices and milkshakes, yoghurts, cheeses were all laid on a bed of ice to keep them chilled!

Watermelon juice!

No breakfast should ever be complete without an omelette and I requested the chef at the open counter to get me on masala omelette! I couldn’t have been more happier. Also, if you’re in South India and haven’t had a vada, you’re really missing out on one of the most famous accompaniments to what’s the most popular breakfasts in South India; Idly! I had a vada and it was pretty good in taste!
The baked beans were having just the right amount of sweetness and were a great thing to have alongside the chicken sausages!

SERVICE

The staff at Grand Mercure Mysuru were always on their toes to make sure we had everything we needed. They did a great job at making us feel at home 🙂
I’d like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Sachin Malhotra for hosting us!
He spent time with us during our lunch and we had a great time !!
I would also like to thanks Mrs. Khushbu Sharma for being a great sport and organizing a lot of fun events in the evening. She was there with us through the day and would occasionally go to attend her business meetings! She helped us understand a lot about the hotel and was fun to hang out with 🙂

A box of chocolates

They really went all the way to surprise me by quietly putting this on my bed while doing the room service. This was at about 7PM, to tuck me into sleep!! This kind of service really makes me happy and boy those custom made chocolates were just so good! I had to resist having them as I had an international dinner planned at the same time!

Click here to visit the Grand Mercure Website 🙂