On the day of the launch of The Gateway Hotel Lakeside Hubli, the majestic Unkal lake in the distance is an endless silver sprawl. Hotel rooms do not usually open to views such as this. Nor do many hotels have nine acres of greens wrapped around them. No wonder then that an early riser is jogging around the lawns rather than in the health club.The shining white floors in the lobby are being swept. Long stemmed flowers have been arranged in tall vases. A bunch of Dollu Kunitha (a folk dance form from Karnataka) dancers are priming their drums and limbs for the demanding performance to follow. The sheer glass walls reflecting the lawns, the pool and the lake are like a series of living canvasses. The subdued colour palette of rust and white and graphic patterns that travel from the rugs to the wooden screens do not detract from the views but withdraw from the drama that is unfolding on the lawns adjoining the lake where a bunch of geese are cackling loudly and marching towards some unknown destination in a row. The engaging asides apart, this is an important occasion for the Gateway brand because this happens to be their first major footprint in North Karnataka, their fourth in Karnataka, and their 22nd in India.
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In a crowded bouquet of the luxurious marquee Taj hotels, palaces and resorts and the cutting edge Vivantas, The Gateway caters to the new age traveller who will go anywhere but on his own terms.At Gateway, everything is available 24×7, right from breakfast to laundry service, to the business centre to the health club. The ambience is not forbidding, it is welcoming. The Geography is compelling too. Hubli is not just the second fastest growing business hub in Karnataka but also a travel destination. It is well-connected by land and air and can be a stop-over for anyone wishing to explore a world heritage site like Hampi, or Goa or the wild life in Dandeli. The elephant camp at Sakrebyle, the historic sites at Bijapur, Badami and Aihole, the beaches of Gokarna.
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A spokesperson tells us that the hotel represents, “Familiarity and Flexibility.” The heart of every hospitality endeavour is however its kitchen and this is where the twist comes. Gateway has quietly but firmly disassociated itself from the broadly sketched menus of five star hotels that seek to please every palate without focussing on the fundamental need every traveller has. The need for food that satisfies more than just hunger. Food that is soul filling and reminiscent of the comfort and warmth and love we can only associate with the kitchen back home.
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At every single Gateway, including this one, the menu has the usual mix of Pan-Asian, Indian and Continental favourites but then it brings you something so utterly simple and heart-warming that you wonder why no one thought of it before. Tucked between the pages of the menu are secrets from local kitchens, handed down from one generation of home cooks to the next and cooked, not by a chef but a home maker who turns a five star restaurant like Buzz at The Gateway Hotel Lakeside Hubli into a hearth steeped with forgotten flavours of usli (sprouted matki lentils), sabakshi (sour micro greens), pundi palya (handpicked greens typical to North Karnataka tampered with cumin, groundnut and rava), thondekai (a mini cucumber like regional vegetable) perked with ground coconut and cumin, badanekai ennegai (plump baby brinjals stuffed with sweet and sour spices), gatti soppu (lentil curry with greens). All served with jowar or jolada roti, an assortment of chutneys and pickles.
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Not to forget desserts like holige (wholewheat pancakes, stuffed with lentils and jaggery) and godhi huggi (broken wheat payasam). A homecooked meal can also be ordered to sample the goodness of grains, vegetables and spices that hurried, city palates have forgotten and remember only when a deeply evocative smell wafts in from a kitchen somewhere and triggers unbearable nostalgia.
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Every Gateway menu in a way tries to pay tribute to the region it is located in without being too literal but yes, the choice to sample authentic regional food is available to guests who are tired of over articulated flavours. Natarajan Kulandai, the Corporate Chef, Gateway Hotels, his genial face always on the verge of a beaming smile, explains why it is important to create a signature note like this in the Gateway menu. And he should know the answers, considering he has spent 30 years (and counting) developing flavour profiles for various Taj properties, mastering diverse cuisines, travelling the world and across India absorbing, innovating, learning, teaching food in all its dimensions. Chef Nat also pioneered for Gateway, the concept of “active food,” or superfoods, packed with anti-oxidants, micro nutrients and with low glycemic index levels.
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He says, “Everyone is aware of health food and the calorific value of dishes but do people really count calories when they eat? My intention was to put honesty back into food. To simplify it and bring it down to the basics, to the fundamentals of well-chosen ingredients, fresh local produce and flavours that are not interfered with. When food is fresh, cooked honestly, it tastes better and is naturally healthy. At the same time, it is important to introduce new ways to use old ingredients so when we make pancakes with raagi flour, poha with red rice, we are pushing the envelope and we will continue to do so. My food philosophy? To go back to the roots, to keep them alive and nurtured, to revive old cooking traditions and use forgotten grains. To never experiment with regional food beyond a point but yes, to reinterpret local ingredients in a global way when possible and surprise the guests.”
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Hence the Karwari prawn spring rolls, the salmon saffron tikka and herb flavored water that guests were served at the launch among other delights. But clearly, certain things that the guests are served here go beyond what is on the menu. That inexplicable something comes from a legacy of hospitality with roots that are over a century old. A legacy that invests not just in business but in goodwill.
**The writer was a guest at The Gateway Hotel Lakeside Hubli.
A longer version of this story was carried in the TLF magazine.
Your writing is so evocative, I can almost taste the food! Great review.