WELCOME to the Taj Blue Diamond in Pune, a business hotel that embodies the spirit of the Queen of the Deccan with fine dining and legendary hospitality. It is ideally located in the prestigious Koregaon Park area, has 108 rooms and suites either facing the city or pool, business facilities, a 24-hour coffee shop, bar, night club and a new restaurant that opened this month. What more could the business traveller want!

The Blue Diamond belonged to the Kirloskar group for 30 years before the Taj took it over in October 1999. They completely spruced it up, gained a market share of 38 per cent over the Le Meridien and Holiday Inn in Pune, and addressed the need for the Puneite to go out for his evening entertainment. A health club was added, and a beauty parlour, the facade of the hotel and the approach was made more beautiful, and then attention was given to the restaurants.

With a lot of thought and careful manipulation, the Blue Diamond juggled around with its existing Indian and Chinese restaurants, shifting them from the lobby to the first floor and the pool area, while its new restaurant Mystic Masala was being readied. All that is over now and Mystic Masala has opened up to be the talk of the city. General Manager Sanjay Singh, F&B Manager Vinay Mahendru and Executive Chef Johnson are proud of the restaurant.

It has 56 covers and gives the feeling of belonging to the Peshwa era of Pune. A life-sized armoured Peshwa soldier at the entrance welcomes guests, the stairway to the restaurant is made of fort brown granite, and the entire place has a tin and brushed steel finish that lends to the Peshwa ambience. Other artifacts like two antique wood-carved jharokas and a series of daggers framed and mounted lend to the Peshwa touch. And a war elephant and the war drum and bugles. But it is the food that really matters.

Mystic Masala is, actually, a North Indian restaurant serving Peshawari, North West Frontier Province, tandoori and Punjabi cuisines, plus the local Maharashtrian fare of the Peshwas. Old Peshwa cooks have been invited to come into the Blue Diamond's kitchens and supplement the main menu with their ancient cuisine. A slip-in Peshwa menu, of which Mystic Masala has five varieties, will keep alternating with the main menu around the year and keep the interest in the cuisine alive.

The hotel is famous for one more thing, its locational advantage and the lush greenery of Koregaon Park aside. It has Pune's trendiest nightclub, the exclusive Polaris, in its basement. And for that itself, a visit to the Blue Diamond when you are in Pune and nightclub-hopping is a must. Business travellers find it convenient because it offers a fully-equipped business centre, 24-hour fax, telex, e-mail facilities, meeting rooms and workstations, secretarial services, currency exchange facilities, travel assistance, conference halls, car hire, and even sightseeing advice if they have time to kill in between!

Taj Blue Diamond
11, Koregaon Park Road,
Pune 411 0001.
Tel: 9520 612 5555
Fax: 9520 612 7755
E-mail: [email protected],
[email protected]