 Should we drive any further? Or should we turn back? These are the thoughts when you drive through the crowded roads exiting Gurgaon towards Sohna. By the time you cross Badshapur, you start having further doubts. When the car barely makes over the bumpy illegal speed-breakers through the villages leading to the Resort, you decide mentally never to return.
Until you finally reach the gates of Westin Resort and Spa, the nearest real Spa south of Delhi. Within the gated complex you travel another half a kilometre to reach the resort property. As you enter the lobby and have a glass of the cool welcoming concoction infused with vanilla and green apple, all the negative thoughts melt away and you feel you had just entered through the gates of heaven.
The venue and the relaxing plush green landscaping seems to have been transported from Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia or according to the swadeshi travellers- from the beach land of Goa. Through the tropical greenery, one sees spots of brick red which are in fact the small but spacious brick-finished cottages fully lined up with modern amenities with latest designs, including their patented Heavenly bed, tub for two, plasma TV and the works.
 The gym, the two swimming pools, jogging tracks, Heavenly spa and the various programmes to keep your leisurely time as busy as you want, are all there to engage you. But it is the professionalism, warmth and the personal attention that floored the 30+ members who were part of the wine dinner planned with a sleep-over option, a first for the Delhi Wine Club members. It was also the first and a historic wine dinner for the Westin, as we learnt later.
The wine dinner is planned
Rewind to a few weeks earlier. At the request of Isheeta Gupta, the dynamic daughter of Ranjit Gupta, owner of Amfora wines picked up the reluctant me to check out the place for a possible wine dinner. It was the beauty of the place hard to describe, that got me thinking positively towards organising the cumbersome event, two-hours away from the comfort of the city.
 The F& B Manager, Rajiv Kapur, an old Taj hand was quite receptive to the idea of a wine dinner and when I met the soft spoken San Amalan, the expat Sri Lankan GM from Westin Sydney (one of the Top 100 Best Hotels of the World), it was a 'decision at first sight.' Sam and his wife Rajini not only love wine, he is very positive and pro-active in promoting wines at the resort. Looking at the strength of their cuisine we planned an oriental menu with wines from Italy, France and New Zealand for a totally new experiment with fusion- not only in food but the wine match.
And it made for a truly magnificent and memorable event.
Wines for the evening
 Keeping in view that the oriental cuisine would normally not be a perfect match for very powerful and tannic wines and that the 150 % customs duties would not leave much scope for very expensive wines, following wines had been selected.
Müller Thurgau Frizzante 2006 Santa Margarita
Pinot Grigio Valdadige DOC 2006 Santa Margarita
Chateau Tour de Mirambeau AOC Bordeaux Reserve Blanc 2007 Despagne
Castello di Farnatella IGT Toscana 2005 Félsina Berardenga
Marlborough Pinot Noir 2006 Huia
Vino Liquoroso Moscato IGT 2006 Cantina Rallo
Menu and Veñu
The Menu was very deftly designed by the Executive Chef David Watson who is a Brit from London and was earlier the Executive Chef at Hyatt Regency, Delhi. He was ably assisted by the Malaysian Chinese Master Chef Chia Kok Sing who(I am sure believes Sing is King)looks after their Chinese Restaurant Xiao Chi, which doles out tapas type of bite foods. There was also Chef Qui Yun who does not speak English but his dim sums speak for themselves.
 Westin has a bar and lounge where one can relax throughout the day. A beautiful Australian girl, Naomi Crain croons to the keyboard music played by the Goan- Bonio. What better setting than this bar for the aperitifs! And then follow up with a sit down dinner at the Xiao Chi. It might be a perfect spot for winter but today was too hot and humid for the open restaurant. So the venue was changed smartly to the banquet with musicians in toe. An astounding grand Banquet style table laid for 40 people!
Most of the cooking was done 'live' from one side of the table. Here was the beauty of how a perfect balance between great food and affordable wine can be enhanced by the ambience, mood and the types of glasses and serving style- all very professionally handled.
 The prawn, duck, lamb and soft crab dishes were all delicious- their flavours enhanced by the presentation. But the deep fried soft shell crab, teriyaki mushrooms, hijiko risotto and miso yaki broth were the clear winners- a great fusion of Italian, Japanese and Chinese styles and a definite match with the Sangiovese. I would not go for an Italian Pinot Grigio with a smoked duck though.
Indians still do not like to have a dessert wine with dessert. But a day will come when they would not be able to resist the seductive powers of a good vin santo, icewine, late harvest or a Moscato all of which we have had at our events, the last one being the grand finale for the dinner at this heavenly resort.
Look at it from any angle (not the prices though!!), Westin Sohna Gurgaon Resort & Spa would turn out to be a heavenly experience. And if the owners decide to register the resort as Heavenly in Haryana, one hopes that they will consider parting with some Royalty for us for making the heavenly suggestion.
Subhash Arora
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