Taj Falaknuma Palace - III

Let's talk about fooooood!

A table with a view

This is the third and last (for now!) of my posts about the Taj Falaknuma Palace - here are the first and second posts.

After a tour of the palace, we proceeded to Adaa, the hotel's Indian restaurant, for a traditional Hyderabadi meal. We were seated at a table by a window with a gorgeous view - dark clouds were gathering in the sky, and it looked like it might finally rain, after weeks of uncharacteristic sultriness. We were served the Chef's special menu, a selection of some of the restaurant's best Hyderabadi dishes - I totally recommend going with it if you are confused about what to order. 

My jasmine martini

I chose a jasmine martini from their signature range of cocktails. I loved the subtle flavour, and the little flower used as a garnish made mine the prettiest drink on the table :) Meanwhile, the starters started coming in:

Delicious Dahi Ke Kabab

A platter of starters: Paneer Tikka, Baby Corn and Zimikand Shikampuri Yam Kabab
I really loved all three, but the Yam Kabab was particularly amazing.

Strawberry Sorbet

The main course followed this - there was Dal Makhni, Dakhni Saag (pureed and spiced spinach - I love green leaves, so this was my favourite dish) and a mixed vegetable subzi served with Indian breads. And of course, there was slowly and delicately cooked Hyderabadi Dum Biryani with Mirchi Ka Salan and Dahi Ki Chutney (Hyderabadi style Raita). 

A platter of Hyderabadi desserts:
Left: Qubani Ka Meetha  Top Right: Double Ka Meetha Bottom Right: Paan Ice Cream

The meal ended with a gorgeous dessert platter of Qubani Ka Meetha (a compote made of dried apricots-Qubani means apricot), Double Ka Meetha (a bread pudding that gets its name from 'double roti/bread' ) and Paan (betel leaf) flavored ice cream. I loved Adaa - lovely ambiance, great food, awesome service. Just as we were about to finish our lunch, the sky opened up and poured rain - we couldn't have asked for a more perfect end to the beautiful afternoon :)

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Taj Falaknuma Palace - II

I was invited to spend a beautiful afternoon at the Taj Falaknuma Palace a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to share the tons of photos I took, in a series of posts. So here it is, the second installment of pictures from the Nizam's home :) (The first part is here)

The residential portion of the palace is spread across two floors. This grand marble staircase lined with marble statues holding candelabras on one side and oil paintings of the palace's illustrious guests on the other, leads to the rooms on the first floor.

The imposing marble staircase

The gorgeous billiards room. This table was made by Burroughes and Watts, London, identical to the one in the Buckingham Palace. 

Billiards table made by Burroughes and Watts

This is one of the palace's most famous rooms - the dining room with the world's largest dining table that can seat 101 people simultaneously! Each side can accomodate 50, with the Nizam at the head of the table.

World's longest dining table

This is the Jade Room. It houses the palace's priceless jade collection. With its hand-painted ceiling, Belgian cut-glass chandeliers and gorgeous antique furniture, it was easily one of my favorite rooms in the palace!

The palace historian waits patiently as I click photos endlessly.

The verandah adjoining the Jade Room offers a breathtaking view of Hyderabad.

Our very poetic guide said, "Poora sheher aapke kadmon par"

The grand Ball Room almost made me swoon - if I closed my eyes, I could almost see this room full of handsome noblemen and beautiful ladies!

The Ball Room

Going back downstairs, this is the lobby adjoining the library with shelves where stacks and stacks of records of the Nizam's dominions in English and Urdu are stored.

I sneaked in a self portrait :)

The lobby opens into a garden, at the end of which is the Gol Bungalow, where the hotel's two restaurants Adaa and Celeste are. Adaa specializes in traditional Hyderabadi cuisine and Celeste serves Italian and Mediterranean fare. On either side are the rooms and suites, of which there are 60.

The garden lined with jasmine bushes and frangipani trees.

This verandah in the Gol Bungalow offers yet another spectacular view of the city and is also used as a venue for qawwalis by local musicians in the evenings.

By this time, it was drizzling lightly and I could see why the palace is called Falaknuma ('mirror of the sky')

I will end this post right here, but I'm not done yet! I hope you aren't bored, because there is one last post in the series coming up very soon :)

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Taj Falaknuma Palace - I

Every time I go to shoot pictures of an old building, I wish I was born way back in Hyderabad's 'good old days', but never as fervently as I did last week, when I was at the iconic Taj Falaknuma Palace! I had the opportunity to be invited to spend an afternoon at the exquisite palace, and what a wonderful journey back in time it was!

Falaknuma translates to "mirror of the sky" and built atop a hill and painted to match the sky, the palace does magically blend into the clouds. The Paigah Nawab Vikhar-ul-Umra commisioned the Falaknuma Palace in 1893, to be built by an English architect in the shape of a scorpion. Its interiors were filled with Belgian cut-glass chandeliers, marble statues, walls and floors in Italian marble, hand painted wooden ceilings and intricate wooden furniture. Unfortunately, all this put the Nawab into severe debt. His brother-in-law, the reigning Nizam Mahboob Ali Khan Asaf Jah VI, who came to visit his sister, loved the palace so much that the Nawab offered it to him as a gift! The generous Nizam would hear of no such thing, paid for the palace, and brought Nawab Vikhar-ul-Umra out of debt. He lived in this palace until his death in 1911. His son, Nizam Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII moved to the King Kothi palace and the Falaknuma Palace became the royal guesthouse. The last guest of the palace was India's first president, Dr Rajendra Prasad in 1951, after which it lay vacant for several decades. 

In 2000, The Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces began what would be a decade-long painstaking restoration of  the palace, personally supervised by Princess Esra Jah, the first wife of HEH Prince Mukarram Jah, the present Nizam. In 2010, The Taj Falaknuma Palace was opened to public, offering people around the world an opportunity to experience what it feels like to be a guest of the Nizam, in his own home! 

The imposing gateway painted, like the rest of the palace, to match the sky

'Aadab!', the guard greeted us. And we walked through the arched gateway, into the past, leaving the present behind. 

This adorable horse-drawn carriage took us up the winding road to the palace at the top of the hill.

The palace gradually came into view

Impressed? You aint seen nothing yet :P

We took the steps to the palace, led by a guard carrying the Nizam's emblem.

Showered with rose petals as we entered

Italian marble fountain, exquisite frescoes, and tantalizing glimpses of what lay inside the palace.

We were met in this stunning marble lobby by one of the palace historians, who took us on a tour of the palace. He kept us enthralled with anecdotes about the palace and its residents, and his poetic Urdu made everything sound extra beautiful. We started the tour with the Nizam's office - I fell in love with the swiveling book case:

Seated in the painting is Nizam Mahboob Ali Khan Asaf Jah VI 

The gorgeous, gorgeous palace library, said to be a replica of the one in the Windsor Castle and known for its priceless manuscripts and the Nizam's Holy Quran collection.

I am convinced that time stands still in this room.

Some of the library's treasures.

The Nizam's wife's bedroom:

So graceful and so feminine

A seating nook in her bedroom under a photograph of her two sons:

The little Sahibzadas :)

We spent an entire afternoon at the palace and I filled up my camera's memory card to the brim :D I could go on and on adding more pictures to this post, but I think I'd better make this a series. I'll leave you with these pictures now, but there is a lot more coming up :) 

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