Summer is here, and life in Delhi feels like we go from one AC box to another. From a house to a car to the metro to a mall to a movie and then back to home.
Karma Lakelands felt like a home away from home, where nature can be truly reclaimed.
In sector 80 of Gurgaon, a sign indicates karma Lakelands is on your left. Along roving path lined with multicoloured blooming bougainvillaea leads you into about 300-acre property that Ashwani Khurana, an environmentalist, maintains with Tree-top development (no villa will be higher than a tree).
He creates a space that divides houses by green hedges and not walls.
A sewage treatment plant helps make the golf course sustainable as well. They aim to maintain the water table through respectful processes including through rainwater harvesting.
Benches made using eco-bricks, upcycled plastic bottles create a thematic of no waste. And fresh farm food grown on site creates a large part of the carbon-footprint-free culinary delights at their restaurants.
A special mention to their bee farming corner, which not only benefits the environment but also yields fresh jars of organic honey, proceeds from which contribute to the Karma Day Care.
Just as they look after their customers, they also look after their staff. The daycare run in collaboration with their NGO Saurabh Sanskriti Saurabh, where all the children of the staff go for their education and meals.
Karma chalets, decorated lovingly with unique Installations on walls boasts a Vegetable garden with edible Flowers- giving rise to delicious things on the menu such as sea bass wrapped in Listercium etc.
Pet goats, chickens, rabbits, cows will all melt your heart and remind you that your milk comes from a cow, and not a supermarket. Taking you to the origins of cooking, Chef Jayananand, first runner up for Master Chef India, is from Lucknow and has coined the term Farmer Chef. He can be seen in the morning freshly plucking flowers and veggies that will wind their way into your multiple course meals during the day.
He said Karma is like his dream project, and that he uses 70-80 per cent organic stuff in cooking. He also gave us a masterclass in cooking a mushroom Galauti (the not so secret ingredient is ghee and more ghee), and Shrikhand with green apple and cinnamon (a surprisingly quick dessert to whip up). He ensures that your vocabulary expands just as your palate does, by explaining the flavours are imbibed by smoking the mixture. You go away knowing how flavours like Huski jad, rose petals, and paan ki jad combine well together!
The brunch buffet included a host of cuisines, from a platter of cheeses, to masala dosa, to pizza, to sushi, to hummus and pita, to Chinese chicken, to nihari lamb, to Devine pork with grilled vegetables, to paneer gravy to make your own pasta and so much more! From the welcome drink which is made from freshly plucked Chinese oranges and ginger, to the end of the meal with his signature mouth freshener called Igloo paan, which is served inside an ice sculpture and gives new meaning to plating, to everything in between, you go away with an excellent meal, and post that you can also experience a masterclass! It is a foodies delight for sure!
My favourite thing about the place is that photos in most places are clicked and curated by the family which runs the place.
Cute E-Carts drive you around from one villa to another or to the 9 hole Golf Course, or to the swimming pool and restaurant, or to a place with a trampoline and a climbing area for children and for adults!
With forest trails, space for exhibition and displays, sporting activities, to restaurants, bar, golf, gym, spa, swimming pools and so much more, I can see how karma Lakelands could make for a leisure destination, or for social and corporate events, or perhaps even an artists retreat or an art residency with an exhibition space!
Karma Lakelands felt like a home away from home, where nature can be truly reclaimed.
In sector 80 of Gurgaon, a sign indicates karma Lakelands is on your left. Along roving path lined with multicoloured blooming bougainvillaea leads you into about 300-acre property that Ashwani Khurana, an environmentalist, maintains with Tree-top development (no villa will be higher than a tree).
He creates a space that divides houses by green hedges and not walls.
A sewage treatment plant helps make the golf course sustainable as well. They aim to maintain the water table through respectful processes including through rainwater harvesting.
Benches made using eco-bricks, upcycled plastic bottles create a thematic of no waste. And fresh farm food grown on site creates a large part of the carbon-footprint-free culinary delights at their restaurants.
A special mention to their bee farming corner, which not only benefits the environment but also yields fresh jars of organic honey, proceeds from which contribute to the Karma Day Care.
Just as they look after their customers, they also look after their staff. The daycare run in collaboration with their NGO Saurabh Sanskriti Saurabh, where all the children of the staff go for their education and meals.
Karma chalets, decorated lovingly with unique Installations on walls boasts a Vegetable garden with edible Flowers- giving rise to delicious things on the menu such as sea bass wrapped in Listercium etc.
Pet goats, chickens, rabbits, cows will all melt your heart and remind you that your milk comes from a cow, and not a supermarket. Taking you to the origins of cooking, Chef Jayananand, first runner up for Master Chef India, is from Lucknow and has coined the term Farmer Chef. He can be seen in the morning freshly plucking flowers and veggies that will wind their way into your multiple course meals during the day.
He said Karma is like his dream project, and that he uses 70-80 per cent organic stuff in cooking. He also gave us a masterclass in cooking a mushroom Galauti (the not so secret ingredient is ghee and more ghee), and Shrikhand with green apple and cinnamon (a surprisingly quick dessert to whip up). He ensures that your vocabulary expands just as your palate does, by explaining the flavours are imbibed by smoking the mixture. You go away knowing how flavours like Huski jad, rose petals, and paan ki jad combine well together!
The brunch buffet included a host of cuisines, from a platter of cheeses, to masala dosa, to pizza, to sushi, to hummus and pita, to Chinese chicken, to nihari lamb, to Devine pork with grilled vegetables, to paneer gravy to make your own pasta and so much more! From the welcome drink which is made from freshly plucked Chinese oranges and ginger, to the end of the meal with his signature mouth freshener called Igloo paan, which is served inside an ice sculpture and gives new meaning to plating, to everything in between, you go away with an excellent meal, and post that you can also experience a masterclass! It is a foodies delight for sure!
My favourite thing about the place is that photos in most places are clicked and curated by the family which runs the place.
Cute E-Carts drive you around from one villa to another or to the 9 hole Golf Course, or to the swimming pool and restaurant, or to a place with a trampoline and a climbing area for children and for adults!
With forest trails, space for exhibition and displays, sporting activities, to restaurants, bar, golf, gym, spa, swimming pools and so much more, I can see how karma Lakelands could make for a leisure destination, or for social and corporate events, or perhaps even an artists retreat or an art residency with an exhibition space!