I’m just going to come out & say it – we’re not very big or birthdays, anniversaries or special days at home. I was travelling for my parent’s silver jubilee & even my past birthday consisted of getting tattooed, lunch & an afternoon nap (yes, really) after which I went barhopping with a few friends (one of whom I actually shared a birthday with, ha!) But even that partying was very new, & as a newly minted twenty four year old this is the first time I actually partied – I chalk it up to being a very low key person who’d rather stay in & chill most of the time.
We often get cake though, but it’s less about the special day & more about our love for chocolate cake – any excuse for cake, am I right?! Not like we need an excuse, I’ve lost track of the number of times we bought chocolate cake just to eat it, you know? #NoExcuseOrOccasionNeeded!
I didn’t really have anything planned for this Mother’s Day either, so when The Park Hotel (in Navi Mumbai) got in touch to ask if I’d like to come over with mom to spend Mother’s Day with them, I said YES without hesitation! While they gave me a vague idea of the day, I wasn’t too sure what they had planned but hey, we just like surprises!
So what follows is pretty much a photo diary of our day, if you prefer video I also made a vlog of that day (you can watch it here or scroll down to the bottom of this post!)
So our Mother’s Day began quite early as we both hadn’t slept properly, for whatever reason. At 7:45 AM we got a call from the chauffeur that The Park sent to pick us up. We picked up our stuff & went downstairs to find a beautiful Mercedes sedan waiting for us – the kind in which the back seat has arm rests. Not just that, the car came fully equipped with Tintin comics. Tintin has a very special place in my heart & was the subject of one of the earliest posts on this blog (if you decide to read that, please keep me mind that was written more than seven years ago, I was still very much a teenager & this blog started as a very personal & often silly space. I’ve kept up most of my old posts for posterity!)
It was Sunday morning so there was practically no traffic & the ride was very smooth. We were there in no time! It was my first visit to The Park & I quite liked it. The architecture is inspired by Le Corbusier & while it’s not as big as many other five star hotel, but just big enough, & characterised by wonderfully warm & friendly staff just like it’s sister concern Zone by the Park. Also did I mention that it’s surrounded by hills? Urban yet beautiful.
We were received by Mehul who gave us quite a few options of what we could do first, we opted to get breakfast! There was a lovely variety of meat & vegetarian dishes, Indian & continental. I was quite excited to see Pongal at the breakfast buffet – it’s a Tamilian breakfast dish similar to khichdi or risotto. Incidentally my first time tasting it was during my first trip to Coimbatore with Zone by The Park, & I got pretty obsessed with it, to the point that I hunted for it on every subsequent visit to Tamil Nadu & even ordered Sona Masuri to try it at home – sadly it just didn’t taste as good! Mom was quite happy with the fruits & fresh fruit juices. 🙂
After breakfast it was on to the our room on the fourth floor. I couldn’t document the room properly because I didn’t carry my wide angle lens (oops!) but there’s a room tour in my vlog if you’d like to see! Basically it was pretty large, plush but still homely, with a wooden floor, high ceiling & plenty of natural light (the latter being the most important criteria for me, always!). I decided to take advantage of the beautiful location by doing a quick outfit shoot, just as I was getting ready we heard a knock on the door and we opened it to Mehul & another staffer wheel in a grand surprise for us – a chocolate cake (YAAAS!), fruit basket, a second basket with chocolate & cookies a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet. I was really quite overwhelmed at this point… we definitely weren’t expecting any of this!
We quickly went down to the poolside to snap a few pictures (which you’ll definitely see soon!) & came back to our room to pop open the bottle & cut the cake.
And it was a goooooooodd cake.
After a sufficient amount of celebratory sips & noms, we headed to Aqua Zone, the hotel spa where I dropped mom off for a one hour Swedish massage & I came back to the room to grab forty winks!
Once she was back it was time to grab brunch. The Sunday Brunch, along with dinner was billed as a Mother’s Day Special complete with a large Mother’s Day Cake at the dessert station.
Along with the regular dishes they had a lot of live counters like sautéed fish / mushrooms, chaat, sorbet (but more like gola, actually!) & ice tea.
The Ice Teas were so weather appropriate & I loved the unique flavors.
I wish I could say we did something interesting & fun after Brunch, there certainly wasn’t any shortage of options. But as I mentioned earlier, we hadn’t slept properly & the bed was just too damn inviting, so that’s how we spent the next few hours until dinner. #NoRegrets!
Soon we woke up & it was time for dinner…
Did you know I call mom Crazy Salad Lady? She acts mildly insulted but she’s actually super proud of it!
We paired our dinner with a Mojito & a coke and lime mocktail (I think they called it black rose?)
Just as we finished dinner & were about to leave the staff wished mom again & presented her with this beautiful bouquet of roses!
Thank you to The Park hotel for treating my mom like the queen that she is on Mother’s Day. I thoroughly enjoyed my day & look forward to returning soon. As it’s just out of Mumbai in Navi Mumbai, it’s the perfect place to spend a chilled out long weekend, I’m already making plans! x
The Park Hotel, Nirmaladevi Marg, No. 1, Sector 10, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400614
• official website • facebook • twitter @parkhotelsindia • instagram @theparkhotels
