It’s not difficult to find Aauris, Calcutta’s newest business boutique hotel. With Robinson Street making news in recent months, most people know where konkal bari is and Aauris lies just across the road at 4 Robinson Street. The hotel houses 60 rooms, four F&B outlets, a gym spa and pool and a sky bar across its six floors + rooftop. t2 gets you the first look before it opens today.
The highlight of Aauris hotel is the Black lounge, structured like a hangar with model aircrafts fixed to the ceiling. Located right next to the gym, it will open next week (targeting Friday the 13th if the licences fall into place). The colour palette is black, red and metallic and plays around with leather furnishing. “On weekends, the tables and chairs will be cleared to make space for a dance floor,” said Tejinder Singh Sahni, MD & CEO, better known as ‘Dimple’ to friends. The signature piece is a large mirror-work Buddha that greets you as you step out of the direct access lift. Expect concept cocktails and a “snacky” fusion food menu as refuel. Think Tandoori Chicken Chinese Style, nachos, quesadilla and tacos.
The theme of Aauris is inspired by “shades of luxury”. So each significant zone in the hotel is named after a colour. The first stop is Scarlet, the coffee lounge in the lobby area, which extends to a deck with seating outside. It’s done up in red and red can be a risky colour to play with, but this has been worked into the details with subtlety, with natural light sweeping in through the windows. “The menu has been conceptualised around office-goers so expect light bites like cup salads, sandwiches, wraps and a selection of coffee and tea,” said executive chef Sujit Mondal. Hookah will be introduced soon in the deck area. The signature item here? The Aauris Red Velvet Cake.
Blu, another “shade of luxury”, is the 100-cover coffee shop. In-house guests can go for the breakfast buffet serving the regular spread of idli-vada, puri-bhaji, live egg counter and so forth. The all-day dining menu is multi-cuisine and packs in Continental, Bengali and Pan-Asian elements. They serve to please. “If you don’t find your favourite dish, our chef will try to prepare something similar for you,” says the footnote.
Keep up with your cardio needs at Tuscan, the gym and spa. The compact space on the sixth floor houses a cross- trainer, cable cross, cycling machine, ab crunch machine and treadmill. There are four spa rooms too.
The rooms cover floors second to fifth. Most are deluxe (standard) rooms with one luxury room and two suites on each floor. The deluxe room is priced around Rs 6,000.
The banquet hall Brisque at the lobby level can hold up to 150-200 heads. The star of the space is this large chandelier-light spanning the length of the room.
Text: Karo Christine Kumar
Pictures: B. Halder
