An evening at Taj Falaknuma Palace
October, 2018
Hyderabad is known as the city of Nawabs and the Taj Falaknuma Palace is a testament of its royalty. Falaknuma in Urdu means ‘Mirror of the Sky’ and the palace is undoubtedly one of the finest places in Hyderabad. Situated at a height of about 2000 feet above sea level, this palace has a panoramic view of the city.
History
The palace was built in the late 18th century in the shape of a scorpion and took about 9 years to complete. It was abandoned around 1950 and was actively used only after 2010 when it was leased by the Taj Group of hotels.
The Heritage Walk
The dinner was accompanied by a complementary guided, 1 hour long, heritage walk around the palace. The details and thoughtfulness behind every single element around blew me away! Everything from the paintings to even the curtains and carpets have been restored. The decor has Italian influences and extensive use of the finest silk, wood, ivory, marble and what not. Apparently, the Nizam was very rich. By very rich I mean he used diamonds-for-paperweight kind of rich.
The palace houses what was said to be the first ever bath tub, made out of a single slab of marble, a dining hall that can serve 101 guests at a time and a library which has many first-edition books.
Honestly, the guided tour served to reinforce the ‘luxuriousness’ of the venue as well as the experience.
Dinner
The palace has 3 restaurants. Adaa which serves Hyderabadi food, Celeste which serves Italian, Mediterranean and Thai and Gol Bungalow which serves North Indian.
I had dinner at Adaa and the food was absolutely delicious. It was definitely one of the best fine dine experiences ever. Coming to the cost, a dinner for 2 would be around Rs 11,000/- (due to the minimum spend rule of Rs 4,500/- per person, with the liberty to choose anything on the menu). Without commenting on the value for money, in my personal opinion, I would save something like this for a special occasion so that it does not pinch and yes it was a truly memorable experience.
Sadly no pictures of anything served between appetizers and desserts because I was too busy eating! 🙂
Happy dining!
