Lemongrass lemongrass lemongrass
(Breakfast at the Chedi Hotel: Chiang Mai, Thailand)
As Pete clicked the shutter, I was possibly ranting about the hotel’s obsession with lemongrass – a similar rant to the one I am about to embark on. It’s not a rant really, but a series of observations along a scale of amusing to downright irritating. Our hotel provided a spectacular package of delights and amongst these extras was a welcome bottle of wine, free minibar and replacement of fruit and nuts in the room each day. Pete was the first to open the nuts (as he is even more constantly peckish than me) and after I tried them, the scent of lemongrass was unmistakable. They were remarkably addictive and I believe we polished each tub of nuts off daily.
As we embarked on the more nerve-wracking offer of a free ‘four hand massage’, I was amazed to discover, lying face down that the oil used had exactly the same fragrance as the nuts we had consumed in the room. We were also offered free cocktails and nibbles between 6pm and 8pm every night. Since the hotel has river views, the mosquitoes were merciless, yet the hotel impressed me with it’s ‘Chedi Hotel’ branded mosquito repellent. I sprayed it liberally over my legs and gassed both Pete and I in the process. It was incredibly potent and once the initial taste had crept away, I realized with some disgust that the taste and odour was exactly that of the oil and the nuts in the room. I decided to branch out from my regular fruity cocktails to the ‘Chedi Martini’, the hotel’s special blend of ingredients. It, of course was a liquid carbon copy of the nut selection, repellent and the massage oil.
There’s a lot to be said for a strong brand identity, and although it caused some amusement, the taste was tiresome for both of us, even though we continued to eat the nuts. Thankfully, the eggs Benedict in the photograph did not have even a faint whiff of lemongrass and neither did the salmon in front of me. I like lemongrass as a general rule, but I had had my fill by the time we left Chiang Mai.
