Nyne’s Bentota art hotels warmed by personal touch
Driving down Galle Road in Bentota, you are enticed by two new elegant white properties lined with frangipani trees. They are Nyne’s latest twin resorts Anuprit and Anugrah – ‘art hotels’ where founder-owner Nayantara Fonseka has with intuitive style put together cosy spaces with a personal touch where details from the art on the walls and prints on the beds, to paperweights and coffee table books have been painstakingly chosen.
You enter the more opulent Anuprit (meaning ‘Love Within’) into its lobby-restaurant, where a giant Mudilla tree rears up and the airy space is graced with lots of modern Sri Lankan art and rusty sculpture. Each table has a single purple water lily, and beyond is the turquoise-grey sea, shimmering in the lazy midday heat through groves of pandanus.
Bentota’s latest beauties: Anuprit Anubava and Anugrah
The hotel’s ‘rooms’ are what in a less magnanimous realm would be advertised as suites coming in three grades, out of which Luxe is the best. These spacious rooms have everything from seven-layered beds and lounging spaces to a box of local sweets (that day, it was thala guli, pol toffee and aluwa).
Anuprit walso has an infinity pool, private dining areas, and a stunning rooftop.
Anubava (meaning ‘Experience’) that stands sandwiched in between the two properties – has a delightful two-storeyed reception area with a medley of cosy armchairs and sofas and is also home to a lot of striking art including a giant Laki Senanayake owl, with a pickleball court on the rooftop and pool table and lounge.
Anugrah (meaning ‘Divine Blessing’) the more minimalist, elegant twin with Anuprit, is designed with rough concrete finishing and pergolas entwined with thick passion fruit creepers, but with the same fastidious attention to little accents and cadences in decor as well as service.
Art everywhere. Pix by Indika Handuwala
Anugrah is more child-friendly than Anuprit, the latter being intimate – more for couples and honeymooners while the former has fewer balconies and no potentially precarious features.
Amidst eye-catching art (more than a hundred pieces adorning both hotels) are a gargantuan verdigris seashell on a wall at the entrance and exotic wild landscapes by Priyantha Udagedara. Few hotels in Asia, says the hotel’s Marketing and Operations Manager Charles de Zylva, can boast such a large collection of art. Washrooms and even closets open to reveal art.
The Tuck Shop, right across the Galle Road, is an haute patisserie lover’s dream. It is a very geometric shop in grays and blacks where they also have a selection of elegant clothes, bags and gifts designed for Nyne. Soothing with smells of fresh croffles, ice creams and buns, this rather Zen space has its own reed pond, and is relaxing to lounge in by the sunny Galle Road which is mercifully never busy around here.
Keeping with the theme of bountiful hospitality, these hotels’ all inclusive packages come with excursions to different sites (such as Madhu Ganga river safaris), beach dining, barbecue and the run of the mini bar…
Table by Nyne –The Beach is the main restaurant. All food is home-produced (down to jams, ice creams, flavoured butters, the pasta and the bread) while vegan diners don’t have to avoid cheese (they do vegan parmesan and mozzarella) and even milk, butter, and yogurt have vegan alternatives. Compared to Table by Nyne in Colombo, the Bentota restaurant is more ‘beachy’ with more lobster and fish, says Charles, and more grilled items.
The breakfast menu ranges from their signature ‘Nyne eggs royale’ to traditional local fare and western, and lunch from rice and curry to burgers, pizza and ramen.
As the night sea roars and candles flicker under stars, you can savour a seafood bisque, a “Nuwara Eliya beef fillet mignon”, grilled octopus and a crepe suzette.
Bentota has the sandiest beaches in the island, and Anuprit and Anugrah back onto a sprawling coastal stretch where beach parties can go on till one o’clock in the morning.
Little creature comforts like custom-made shower gels and shampoo, with curated fragrances, and a pillow menu, are paid attention to as they believe in pampering no less than nine senses; “time, touch, smell, intuition, presence, balance, sound, taste and vision”. Nannies for young children are also available.
The ultimate credo here, says Charles, is “anything the guests want, wherever they want, whenever they want”. Though the number of rooms seems small a very large staff has to be on the run.
“As the Sinhala (colloquial) term goes, all our staff offers their service ‘bokken’” assures Charles.
Opened last December, the twin hotels are catching up well with their beautiful spaces and spoiling service.
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