The 'Wow' Hospitality at Jakson Inns, Phaltan

When I was invited for a stay at the Jakson Inns, Phaltan, what I really didn’t anticipate would impress me was the hospitality rendered to us. Every request made was taken care of with utter diligence. Each meal planned for us was a unique experience different from the previous ones.

After a warm welcome and checking in to our rooms (Read here), it was lunch time and our lunch was to be served at Green Bean, the in-house multi cuisine restaurant.

Spotted this bird house in the hotel gardens. Probably the birds love the hospitality too. Jakson Inns, Phaltan

It was a colourful setup, with enough natural light coming in. Here we met the General Manager of Jakson Inns, Gautam Banerjee. As we went through a 2-hour long Indian lunch, that started with ‘spiced water’ (yes, spicy water but great for digestion and by taste), soup and appetisers, the main course and ended with desserts, Gautam told us about the history of Phaltan, places to see around, the story of the hotel’s coming into existence and why all the food was so spicy.

‘People here love spicy food and if it is too much for you, do let us know so we can decrease the spiciness a bit,’ Gautam told us. Although the food tasted great, I had water in my eyes with the first few sips of the soup and the spiced water. Seeing my predicament, he immediately instructed the chefs to serve less-spicy food to me.

'Green Bean' ready to host us for lunch. Jakson Inns, Phaltan

The 'spiced water' and soup were enough to eject tears from my eyes. Jakson Inns, Phaltan

A dozen or so pink-sari clad ladies sat in the table next to us and we were told that ‘they are the ladies from the extended rajgharana (Royal family) and they come here for the buffet lunch often’. Later that evening we spotted a group of Dutch citizens at the restaurant, clearly there on a business trip.

It rained that evening. The hot and dry weather during the day gave way to strong winds and couple of us took the opportunity to go to the first floor terrace, experience the pleasant weather and click some pictures.

That night we had a buffet dinner with a special mango tinge in everything (Verdict- mangos and curries should be kept away from each other). A ghazal night had been organised and although our persistent request for ‘Arijit Singh’ songs went unnoticed by the soulful retro singer, we had a great time getting to know each other amidst beer, mango shake and talks that went on for hours.

Ghazal night at Green Bean, Jakson Inns, Phaltan

All awake and ready to go at 8 AM for a day of unique experiences. Reception, Jakson Inns, Phaltan

Breakfast the next day was something unique, but more about it in my next post- the unique experiences at Phaltan.

The lunch on the second day was a la carte. We were a little apprehensive about how genuine the multi-cuisine food would be, and having tasted the Indian food the previous day, we decided to experiment with some Thai food. I ordered the Thai red chicken curry and it tasted very good. The veg counterpart which we ordered apparently tasted even better, but I was too guilty of not being able to finish the red curry because I was too full and so was everyone else who had turned vegetarian for some reason, and so I didn’t even go close to trying the veg curry..haha...

The dinner that night was what I wasn’t looking forward to much- authentic Maharashtrian food. Having lived in Mumbai for the last few months, I seem to have grown an aversion towards the local food in absence of Delhi’s good aloo-parathas and chole-bhature here. But the food that night was about to surprise me.

We were too full to 'keep our eyes open'? Oh, the flash! First Floor Terrace, Jakson Inns, Phaltan

And these were just the starters of the Maharashtrian meal, Jakson Inns, Phaltan

The dinner was laid on the first floor terrace along with a DJ and strong winds for company (That also sent the papads flying in the air). The starters were served and for the first time I realised the variety Maharashtrian food had. I particularly found the fried chicken very good and was too full even before the main course came with 4 different veg and non-veg curries and bhaakri (bajra-rotis). The kheer in the dessert couldn’t be missed. No wonder, each of our meals were nearly two hours long.

The hotel has a spacious area within its compound for long walks. It was of utmost requirement to us considering how full we used to be after every meal.

Breakfast on the western courtyard of the hotel, Jakson Inns, Phaltan

The Buffet (eggs) are laid. Jakson Inns, Phaltan

There was variety: fresh fruits and juices, cereal, and North & South Indian food. Jakson Inns, Phaltan

And I loved their parathas! Jakson Inns, Phaltan

On the final day, we had a buffet breakfast on the western side of the hotel and I kept falling in love with the north-Indian style stuffed parathas the chefs prepared.

Later on our request, the Jakson Inns team had some light lunch packed for our journey back to Mumbai.

Soraya, the Vice president- Human Relations & marketing Communications, accompanied us on some of the excursions and told us about the future expansion plans of the company which includes an amusement park on the backside of the hotel.

The hotel staff including Olivia, Ditesh and Sachin extended very warm hospitality and made sure all our need was met and that our stay was comfortable. There was no way I wouldn’t have requested for a group picture with the staff before leaving.

With the Jakson Inns Staff, the team that provided us 5 star hospitality at a 3 star hotel

Jakson Inns, Phaltan invited me for a weekend stay. Opinions on the blog, as always, are mine.

Read: Why a visit to this rural Indian town will leave you spellbound