Brook Boutique Hotel sounds as though it should be in a fashionable location, like Mayfair, instead of in the interior wilderness of Sri Lanka. Even though it is only a two-hour drive from Colombo’s international airport, it is nevertheless secluded in a tropical jungle over 10km from the nearest town.
The approach to the hotel gives no clue to its luxury, yet it surely ranks as Sri Lanka’s most surprising tourist resort. Open only a few weeks, it is a secret retreat whose name is being whispered discreetly among the highest echelons of Colombo’s society, company chairmen and expat cognoscenti.
The mystic of Brook Boutique Hotel begins as you drive inland off the A6 highway immediately after Melsiripura, a small town on the road linking Kurunegala with Dambulla.
There is a sign indicating the turn, but then you are on your own for about 8km to a second sign pointing along an unsurfaced road that winds through paddy fields and coconut plantations, going ever deeper into the forest. (Yes, go by van or 4WD vehicle.)
Perseverance results in the first surprise, a bamboo gate blocking the road. If you are expected, security guards give an “ayubowan” welcome as they open the gate. (This is not a hotel for “walk ins” so telephone first to check on the possibility of staying. And children must be at least 13 years old.)
As this was my first visit I became concerned because, even after driving a further couple of kilometres, fording a stream (the brook after which the hotel is named), and negotiating the formidable trees growing close to the forest trail, I still couldn’t see the hotel.
An indication that we were on the right track was when we passed a carpenter’s thatched workshop where a beautifully polished rocking chair was parked amidst logs and planks. I learned later that this rocking chair (an ingenious design of moving parts) is made on-site and that the teak ceilings and furniture of the hotel are all handmade from trees felled on the estate. (I was assured that 3,000 teak trees have been planted by the hotel to maintain an ecological balance.)
The next surprise was that where I expected architecture of genteel rusticity (thatched roofs, wooden stairs), I was confronted by tall, white columns, cut cement (like terrazzo) floors and a glass fronted air-conditioned lounge with plump settees and huge flat screen television. It was magic; transported suddenly from a jungle trail to a city-style parlour.
The reception hall is open to the elements, as is the adjoining lobby lined with those special rocking chairs, and the dining hall with bare teak tables. There is also a fine dining restaurant, and a garden bar with a rare wood counter and broad bar stools for dedicated drinkers.
I discovered that the creation of this boutique hotel has enabled experienced staff from the area to find a hotel job close to their home towns after working in Colombo or overseas. There are also new recruits from the area (including chambermaids as well as room boys) who are being expertly trained because Brook Boutique Hotel brooks nothing less than the best.
For dining, this means a menu of quality catering for guests’ requirements (halal or special diets). Our rice and curry lunch had each curry presented in banana leaf sachets (the executive chef, Kosala, grinds his own spices).
The a la carte menu has some surprising items like “Butternut Puree served with Candied Cashew Brittle” as a starter and a main course of “Broccoli Wellington”. There are meat dishes too, including a juicy foie gras accompanied by scallops wrapped in bacon, and Australian steak. The gourmet meals cost less than in Colombo and the price includes taxes and service.
It is not just the skill of the chefs but the quality of the food that makes every meal spectacular: artistically presented and perfectly cooked. It’s also because the best local produce is used, fused with imported gastronomic ingredients that are otherwise only available at Colombo’s finest five star restaurants.
The sophistication of the public areas (there is a mountain top swimming pool, a spa to come and a dungeon bar and wine cellar too) is spectacularly matched by the accommodation. At present there are 10 units set in this 70-acre tropical woodland and orchard (where mango, cashew, soursop, woodapple, passion fruit, coconuts, etc., grow). The rooms are reached by an easy walk along a path through trees alive with birds and butterflies.
There is a block of seven rooms, each one with different interiors, devoted to sheer comfort. I recommend what is modestly called “a luxury garden chalet” complete with private walled garden and plunge pool. The beds are blissfully comfortable with deep pile mattresses, snug sheets, and a variety of pillows.
The bathroom of my chalet (villa is a more appropriate description), number 9, has a curious all-singing fibre-glass cabinet with body shower, rain shower, and Jacuzzi bath, plus buttons that emit sing-a-long music. The towels are the softest, testament to the authenticity of labelling this a luxury boutique hotel. It was clear from the room design with its large, well-lit dressing table and mirror in the closet lobby, gloriously colourful walls (pomegranate red, buttermilk blush), and snazzy extras, that a woman was involved. In this case, she is British resident Karen Whyte, who worked with the hotel’s managing director, Pubudu Dassanayake, and architect Manjula Wickramasinghe of Kurunegala, to produce this masterpiece of a genuine boutique hotel in the middle of a tropical wilderness.
Brook Boutique Hotel, Alipallama, Melisiripura; tel: 0773 414747; www.brook.lk. Rooms with breakfast from US$200. |
E-mail
