Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the world’s top ten hotel groups. It’s impressive portfolio has 1400 hotels spreading over 115 countries! The brands Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson.
I was invited for a FAM trip to Country Inn & Suites by Carlson‘s Mysuru destination. They have close to 500 destinations from which you could choose. It is an upper midscale hotel brand that’s known for it’s wonderful hospitality experience which makes guests feel at home 🙂
There’s a selfie spot at the Reception area 🙂
Location
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson is a stone’s throw away from the World famous Infosys Training Center. From Bangalore, it took me 3 hours to get here by car and it was one of those long drives that I was keen on taking! Not everyday does one get a chance to get away from the hustle bustle of the city life 🙂 I went along with another famous food blogger from Bangalore, Pratheek Ponnappa. You can check his website; www.grubitizer.com! 🙂
Click to open hotel location on Google maps
Executive Suite
I was put up at their best room; Executive Suite, that features a king size bed, a private balcony with a superb view and an exclusive access to the club lounge.
The room was equipped with high speed WiFi, smart electrical console near the bed to control lighting, AC etc.
You could prepare some coffee, tea or sip some fine liquor that’s available in the Mini Bar.
Late at night, when you’re hungry but not hungry enough to order for in-room dining service, you could munch on the packed snacks kept in the draw next to the Mini Bar! If you do end up waking up late and miss the breakfast buffet, you can however order food from their In-room dining menu.
There are several cozy places within this suite, where you can just relax! There’s International Direct calling which you could probably use to call your friends and family living abroad. Because, science says that once you’re back to your regular routine, you’d hesitate to keep in touch! So, pick up the phone and be a good friend 🙂
There’s also a phone in the washroom, just in case you’d prefer making a call from there 😉
Some of the additional perks of being put up in the Executive Suite are : a powder room, a separate luggage room, and complimentary cookies and fruit basket.
Not to forget a separate guest washroom near the entrance, so your guests don’t have to go through your bedroom to the washroom 🙂
Hotel Amenities
Spa
The first thing that one must do after getting to his/her room is to book an appointment with the Spa, for one of their de-stressing therapies 🙂
So, pick up the phone and book a session for the best 1 hour of your stay 🙂 Not only does it calm you, but let’s you enjoy the remainder of your stay all the more! I chose their Thai massage after which I took a steam bath. The heat of a steam bath speeds up the chemical processes in the body, making steam therapy one of the simplest and most comfortable ways to eliminate accumulated toxins.
Gymnasium
For those who work out on a daily basis, a decent gymnasium is one of the criterion to pick a hotel.
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson focusses on the wellness of its guests by providing a very highly maintained gymnasium. They also have 20 odd bikes for guests to keep themselves on the move and be fit 🙂
Swimming Pool
Being away from the comfort of one’s home could be strenuous to both mind and body. It’s a well known fact that spending an hour in the pool every day could help improve cardiovascular and muscular health. Also, if you’re someone who doesn’t like the idea of a high intensity workout at the gym, then spending some time at the pool could let you burn a lot of calories!! Additionally, if you’re spending time with your kids, it could be a great place to have fun and bond 🙂
The swimming pool here is next to the gymnasium and is also next to the Pool Bar & Grill restaurant. It could well become a place to socialize with your friends over a Barbecue session 🙂
Indoor games
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson has a couple of carrom boards where you can show off your skills!
They do have a play area for kids which has a lot of stuffed toys and TV with cartoon network tuned in!
Gift Stores
They do have a couple of stores where you could purchase gifts to take back to your loved ones at home 🙂
Restaurants
Country Inn & Suites by Carlson has 3 restaurants;
POOL BAR & GRILL : Pool side restaurant with an attached bar
SPICE : Restaurant that serves Indian cuisine
MOSAIC : Their 24/7 coffee shop
POOL BAR & GRILL
So, after a relaxing session at the Spa, we headed to this restaurant. Poolside dining is one of the most sought after dining experiences that one can crave for ! I loved the fact that there were tables arranged around the pool, even though the main dining area was slightly away from the pool, overlooking the gardens in the property next to Country Inn & Suites by Carlson. They have taken over the responsibility of maintaining that, which I felt is a good gesture 🙂
We’re both big tennis fans and watching live ATP tennis match on a big screen by the pool made us really happy! It’s like they did their bit of homework before inviting us over 😉
Chef Dipayan Chanda joined us for dinner and displayed his exemplary culinary art! We were treated to some fine multi-cuisine delicacies.
Beverages
A pool by one side, lush green garden on the other, it would be a crime to not have a full bar setup at the Pool Bar & Grill 🙂 While we sat, we asked the bar tenders to surprise us and while they did get us a couple of classic cocktails in the beginning, they did show their creativity at the end!
After the bit of experiments, another close friend of mine joined us. At that point, we stuck to the Grey Goose 🙂
Appetizers
What started with a simple Paneer Ghee Roast, we ended up having Masala Peanut in Potato Basket, Tandoori Chicken, Mutton Galouti Kebab, Tawa Fried Fish, Honey Chili Fish and Coorg Chicken!!
My favorite of the starters was the Peanuts in the potato basket as the potato basket was a good surprise and it went very well with the peanuts!
Mutton Galouti Kabab was yet another dish that hit a home run with us.
Salads
Grilled Pineapple Salad, Poached Mushroom a la Grecque and Char Grilled Vegetable Coronation Salad were the 3 salads served that night.
The Poached Mushroom a la Grecque salad is one of the mediterranean mezze dishes that’s usually served with a pita bread. It is also a cold salad with a lot of vegetables procured from the farmer’s market nearby. I thought that the dish was spectacular!
The pineapples in the Grilled Pineapple Salad were grilled to perfection and had the right tart taste to it.
Main Course
The chef did a good job of maintaining the right balance of taste and tradition to our meal.
We were happy to start things off with Appam with Chicken Stew, the simplicity of which impressed us.
The dish that easily looked the best and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before was the Baked Ratatouille with red pepper coulis along with Parmesan shavings.
I did request the Chef to get me some chicken steak if possible and he did fulfill my wish by bringing me his version of the South Western Chicken which was cooked with a red wine jus.
As south Indians say, no meal is complete without Curd rice, I would say no meal of mine is complete without a Biriyani! We ended out main course with the Awadhi Mutton Biryani 🙂
Desserts
We had 4 desserts to take down , namely Chocolate Silk Cake Basket, Baked Rasgulla, Strawberry Mille-feuille and Sacher Torte.
You could argue that 3 of these dishes were pastry dishes and weren’t as diverse, but you’d be wrong 🙂
The Sacher Torte is a dense chocolate cake with apricot jam and dark chocolate icing. It dates back to 1832 when In 1832, Prince Wenzel von Metternich charged his personal chef with creating a special dessert for several important guests. The head chef, having taken ill, let the task fall to his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Franz Sacher, after whom this cake was named !
A Mille-feuille is a French dessert with layers of puff pastry and creme. The Chocolate Silk Basket was a theatrical dish with a lot of oozing chocolate 🙂
Post our meal, my friend took us on a drive to Chamundi hills, the roads to which are manned by police at night. The sight from the top was just spectacular. The sense of calm and peace out there is a welcome change from the chaos of Bangalore 🙂
SPICE Restaurant
Spice restaurant serves Indian cuisine and has a very good traditional and royal decor. We didn’t quite get a chance to dine here during our short stay. This is something that I’ll definitely come back for 🙂
Mosaic
Mosaic is the 24 hour cafe at Country Inn & Suites by Carlson.
Breakfast
Our breakfast was at Mosaic. They serve a hot breakfast and a rather special buffet on Sundays! While you do get service by your table, you could also help yourselves at the buffet breakfast.
The buffet spread includes both Continental and Indian cuisines. You could get cold cuts, baked pastries, south indian, north indian, american dishes and fresh fruits and juices.
There is live omelette counter, and you could get it done the way you’d like your eggs 🙂
We had quite the herculean task of arranging our table with all the dishes that we were interested to taste. But I think we did a pretty good job at it! Here’s what our breakfast table looked like 🙂
After our royal breakfast, we headed to a nearby temple, where one of the staff accompanied us. The temple visit gave my mind some much wanted peace before we drove back to Bangalore.
LUNCH
But, wait, we weren’t done with the food yet! We could not go back from this on an empty stomach 🙂 Since we had quite a heavy breakfast, we initially thought we’ll just take a look at the lunch and then leave.
The lunch menu was quite extensive with a salad bar that has more than what meets the eye. They had dishes from the Oriental, Indian & Continental cuisines.
But, a couple of dishes really caught our eye and one of them was Pani Poori 🙂
The dessert selection was outstanding!
I loved the way the strawberry mousse was plated!
Taste wise, the lemon tart was perfect and the fig pie was soft and tasty 🙂
All good things come to an end and so did my staycation at the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson. I believe I now know where I should head to the next time I think about driving down to Mysore 🙂
I’d like to thank Chef Dipayan Chanda for taking such good care of us during our stay. Special mention to Mr. Vivek Chowdhary, the Director of Sales & Marketing of Country Inn & Suites for having invited us for a FAM trip!
You could reach them via :
Phone : +91 82166 42000
Fax : +91 82166 42100
Mobile : +91 88841 02700
E-mail : dosm@cismysore.in
BUTTER THEORY 