Chinese Premier Fascinated By Hotel Taj

Interestingly, the Chinese premier preferred to stick to a largely Chinese menu for dinner Tuesday night, supervised by Oberoi.

The four course dinner included cold starters, Tofu, pickled winter melon and five pice nuts, followed by a sweet corn vegetable soup and a selection of main course non-vegetarian and vegetarian fare.

This included sliced lamb with onions, shredded chicken in red and green pepper, prawns kaseong, stir fried vegetables, kung pao vegetables, dry cooked haricot, stuffed peppers with mustard sauce and mixed fried rice. The meal was downed with a dessert comprising fresh mangoes and five spice sabayon.

To commemorate the Li Keqiang visit, the hotel's celebrated Golden Dragon restaurant launched a delectable Sunday Dimsum brunch.

A spokesperson said that the hotel's association with China goes back to four decades when it opened the country's first Sichuan restaurant Golden Dragon here in 1973, followed by the House of Ming in Hotel Taj Mahal, New Delhi, in 1978.

"Since then, we have been privileged to host several Chinese dignitaries including (former Chinese) president Hu Jintao, (former Chinese) premier Wen Jiabao, (classical pianist) Yuja Wang and several others," the spokesperson said.

Now, the Taj Group is spreading wings to China with the launch of Hotel Taj Temple of Heaven in Beijing next year, besides a property in Hainan island, a premium holiday resort.

Soon to follow would be another Vivanta By Taj Hotel in the Kunming Expo Garden in Yunnan province.

Prior to his departure, the Taj presented a coffee table book, "The Taj at Apollo Bunder" penned by historians Charles Allen and the late Sharda Dwivedi, written over two decades.

With a foreword by Ratan Tata, the book tells the story of a unique institution which has come to epitomize the resilient spirit of Mumbai since over a century.