Lonavala comes alive in the monsoon. The landscape turns a lush green, fog descends, temperature drops and people flock to its hills, where rain (unlike the city) is a celebration rather than an inconvenience. This year, we had the chance to welcome the monsoon with a short trip to Lonavala.
Any such rain-blessed outing would be incomplete without the warmth of delicious food and drink. This time, it was provided by Fiori, a newly opened restaurant at the Regenta SGS Greenotel, located right off the old Mumbai-Pune highway. The area's first glasshouse restaurant, Fiori promises an aesthetic concentration of some of the most beloved aspects of a typical Lonavala experience.
Guests can enjoy the cosiness of the weather without its drawbacks, thanks to polycarbonate sliding roofs. An innovative sibling duo form the force behind Fiori. Suraj Gupta and Sanskriti Gupta are second-generation entrepreneurs from the family-owned Regenta SG's Greenotel.
Sanskriti, an architecture graduate, played a major role in the thematic conceptualisation of the restaurant - from the glasshouse ambience to the plant motifs of the menu design. The completely vegetarian kitchen is led by Head Chef Gracian de Souza. The menu features a range of elegantly plated delicacies that highlight beloved European and Mediterranean flavours.
While selecting the dishes for Fiori, the focus was on choosing familiar flavours and giving them a signature twist, Suraj tells us. The objective is to allow guests to reli.
