"Wel gome to Vella Maaya," she said with the classic Kerala accent. The guy smiled with a 'first time?' coming right out of him. My eyes were all inside. The courtyard was magical. A place like this could be magical at night, but in broad daylight? It was magical then too. I was walked straight into the lobby space with two nice large sofas and loungers on either side of the entry. The wooden staircase that leads to somewhere equally magical, I suppose, was a treat for the eyes.

The property was still sinking into me. The beautiful lawn. The orchids on the wall of the lawn. The pencil art on the wall on either side of the large door. Everything was magical. The toilets....oh man. The toilets were so inviting, that if you decide to stay and sleep there, you would be forgiven.

The wooden stairs that I thought was leading to some magical place actually led to the master bedroom. It had two large beds. And equipment placed in a way that you can have a full meal on the bed. The table was built onto the bed and it just rolls over to you. After the little tour of the place, we came back to our table. Order was already placed and since it takes a while to paint the food, the tour happens.

Yes, I was talking about a restaurant. What did you think?

Welcome to Villa Maya. Its a villa and maya indeed! Food wasn't restricted by cuisine, but by passion to integrate ancient and modern. This can only be called the Villa Maya cuisine.

 

The dry beef with coconut and mango. Now, both were dry. The beef was dry and the mango and coconut were dry, but when you put them together in your mouth, juices just flow from nowhere. The fact that the waiters explain every dish before they arrive/as they arrive gives you an idea of what to expect and what to do to get the best. You had to eat the beef and the mango coconut together to experience this. Every dish that followed had some tradition to it. The beef was served in jackfruit leaves, which were used as spoons during ancient times. Nice touch.

This was followed by the Spice Box. Derived from spice box, this was a melange of kebabs with just a teeny-weeny hint of different spices in each of the kebabs. From the saunf laced chicken to the saffron laced fish to the mirchi kissed prawns to the cinnamon licked galouti kebabs, this was a spice journey without the spice overpowering the originality of the dish. The slightly dry galouti kebab was the only flaw in the entire meal.

Then came the painter's platter - a platter of paneer done three ways. With chutneys served in little paint bottles, this had the pineapple and mint chutneys (that were also there in the Spice box), but an excellent new chutney, the beetroot chutney. For a non-fan of paneer like me, I could eat that all my life. Soft and succulent, this was by far one of the best paneer I've had in my life.

Then the Puttu with prawns and coconut. Brilliant. The last part of the cooking is done on your table with the sawdust oven and the chef then pushes out the puttu onto your plate. While I was full, I could notice that the puttu was going in without my approval. Flavours were just right and the fish gravy served along with it was a stunner.

Wahtalappam, a Sri Lankan specialty for dessert was a fabulous way to finish the meal. While it was as good as the ones I've had in Sri Lanka, there was a twist here, the cinnamon cream. I thought the dish was a little sweet until I was told to eat it with the cream. Magically, it was balanced.

A lot of places claim that their food is an experience and I've written about some of those places, but not until today have I really experienced the real meaning of the food experience. All 5 senses were involved, there was no cuisine to limit the creativity and there was a touch of elegance, ancient-ness (if that is even a word), modernity and flavour in the perfect balance.

Reservations are recommended during weekends and during lunch and dinner times and they are open 11 am to 11 pm, so early dinner or lunch might be the best way if you don't have a reservation.

The master bedroom I was talking about? That is also a table that is apparently sold out very often. If you're lucky you can experience that sitting on the bed with your legs folded and the table coming to you after you have settled down, but I think I would still prefer the courtyard.

A meal for two costs about Rs. 2500 and for me, it was one of the best meal experiences thus far and it came from Trivandrum!

Sometimes you don't know what you want in a lazy holiday. You want the holiday, but you don't want the stress. Or the planning. Just to lie down. And then to fight the temptation to go around sight seeing. Especially when going with friends after a really really long time. You know the picture that sort of shows how there are a million people during the planning stage, but you end up alone on a holiday? This wasn't exactly like that. 3 couples planned to do nothing.

Our choice was narrowed down to the Gateway Taj at Varkala. Sitting atop a cliff, the rooms give you a fantastic view of both the gardens, the rooms, the cliff and the sea. Since it is on top of a cliff, no two rooms are on the same floor, but a few steps below/above the other. An email to the hotel requesting our rooms to be close to each other was met and off we went.

View from my room

And did nothing really. The hotel is not an activity centre, which sort of worked for us, but there was the little feeling during check out that we should have tried some action sports. There was a fuzzball game which kept us three guys entertained along with the shuttle court. For a property that has only 30 rooms, a tennis court was a surprise. The pool is small and shaped like a cashew nut, so it is for lazing around, not to work out your muscles. The rooms have a nice little balcony and two rooms have an extra space below the balcony. Ask for Room 207!

The best part of the hotel was the spa. Now, I was expecting Taj's JIVA spa, but they did the right thing by going with an Ayurvedic Spa instead of their in-house brand and being in Kerala, it is quite difficult to compete with the experts. The therapist was fantastic and knew what he was doing, while clearly staying away from what he didn't know. When he found out later that I was a wellness doctor myself, he was glad that he did not blabber stuff, something that I am used to hearing from spa therapists around India, who, after finding out my profession, end up in silence or spoiling the spa. Here, there was no such thing and I came out perfectly relaxed.

The walk to the beach is like passing through a little forest. On a single walk path, the six of us toed down the cliff to the road via this beautiful green patch of forest, past a few homes and restaurants. It is a 5-7 min walk, but an interesting one at that. From the road, the beach is about 20 seconds by foot, but there is nothing much about the Papanasam beach. You can do some people watching with a lot of expats practicing yoga or stretching or getting a tan. There are a lot of beach side food huts, but I suggest you hold your hunger.

The interesting part of the beach is the cliff on the opposite side. Its beautiful with sea on one side and the red cliff on the other and my phone's photograph is not going to do any justice. I asked you to hold your hunger because you need to make a 60 feet climb via steep steps up the cliff. Its worth it. At the top, you will reach another beautiful setting. Atop the cliff with views of the sea and a battery of restaurants to choose, each fighting for a better view than the other. I'm guessing the food is the same in most places, but its the view that is the hero here.

Breakfast at the hotel was the only disappointment for us. It is not a great spread and there was nothing from Kerala, really on the menu. The wellness section with a bunch of smoothies and 'health' drinks added a nice touch, but didn't really make up for the average breakfast. What did make it up though was the lunch.

Being inside a hotel for 3 days, you will get bored of the food, so a good idea would be to talk to the chef or manager there, give your budget and ask them to give you a nice lunch/dinner. They will. The chef almost welcomes every guest and goes around to make them happy, so they set up a fabulous meal for us. Every single dish, except maybe the dessert, was excellent. Starting with the mushroom soup, the beautiful sea food platter that followed and the pasta with seer fish. OK, the pasta didn't really go well with the fish and the flavours were rather confusing and didn't seem to marry. The starter platter with tiger prawns, squid and fish was fantastic though. This was followed by Kerala Style Beef preparation that went well with the naan and the Lamb Gravy, Kerala style was excellent. The dessert platter was blah. Room service was excellent and we loved the Nasi Goreng and ended up ordering that two nights to keep the 'spirits' high!!!

To and From the airport takes about an hour and a half, so keep this in mind while flying. All in all, we had a nice relaxing trip and came up fresher than we left Chennai. Our rooms cost us Rs 19950 for three nights in a superior sea facing room, spa starts at Rs 1500 and goes all the way up to 6k, while food is typically a Gateway priced and a meal for two could be about Rs. 1000. The special lunch/dinner can be set up based on your preferences from Rs. 1k per person for an elaborate meal with beef and tiger prawns etc.