Having grown up in Durban, it always feels like I’m
returning home when driving down the highway into the rolling green hills of
Kwa-Zulu Natal which, as you approach the coast, give way to miles of sugar
cane plantations and thick lush coastal forests laced with the intoxicating
smell of the warm Indian Ocean.
The seaside city of Durban, and its coast north and south,
is the new hip place to holiday - with its views of endless azure sea, stunning
long beaches (the warm Indian Ocean allowing long swimming sessions in the
waves), ‘amped’ surfers of every age lined up for the next big one, colourful
trendy bistros and bars, long beachside promenades filled with people jogging
or taking an afternoon stroll, grand old plantation style homes on the ridge,
lush frangipani scented gardens, the strong smell of Indian curry spices and of
course - an iconic red and white lighthouse…below it standing a very grand and
gracious hotel – The Oyster Box.
Situated just north of Durban in the resort haven of
Umhlanga, The Oyster Box first opened as a hotel in the 1950s. My first memory
of it in the 1990s was of its food. The
curry was always legendary and everyone in Durban knew that but the hotel
itself felt out of date and a bit drab. Things changed when the Founder and
President of Red Carnation Hotels, Stanley and Bea Tollman, purchased the
property in 2006.
To sit comfortably within Red Carnation’s stable of
luxurious hotels around the world, they were determined to restore it to its
former glory. Keeping a few iconic
pieces in place and an atmosphere authentic to grand and gracious days gone by,
the Oyster Box had a complete overhaul and the result is quite simply
exquisite. The new luxurious hotel that
has emerged is in perfect balance retaining the best of the traditional
yesteryear and mixing it seamlessly with the new, updated and modern world and
therefore establishing it securely for the future.
The moment you arrive you are treated like royalty. You hand over your car keys at the grand hotel entrance and, with warm welcoming smiles, you are ushered through the hotel’s original revolving doors into another world. You are now in a gracious colonial plantation home – complete with black and white terrazzo floor tiles, grand staircase, whirling bamboo ceiling fans, palms at every corner, pith helmeted helpers, turbaned waiters in starched white and long wooden shutters opening up to the iconic view of ocean and lighthouse. Something I also notice immediately is the artwork with some paintings being striking and modern although blending perfectly into this environment.
High Tea is being served as we are shown about and I have to
pull my sons away from the view of a large table bursting with cakes, pastries and every other
delectable snack you may feel like during the hazy lazy afternoon. A piano tinkers in the background - glasses
and teacups are "clinking". There is a
comforting peace about the place although it is humming with people; perhaps a
group of girlfriends celebrating a birthday tea, a wedding anniversary couple
in the corner, a burnt out executive reading a book on the lounger gazing over
the ocean or a family with young children, their little faces smeared with rich
chocolate cake.
Our accommodation is as lavish and sumptuous as I expect it
to be. We are in a Garden Suite – enough
space for the family. Great excitement
as we discover we have our own plunge pool, children downstairs and parents
upstairs and every luxury and attention to detail we can imagine. The best part of all is to find two menus on
my bed – one for a choice of luxury pillows from soft down to foam and the
other, a menu of luxury soaps – from magnolia to frangipani. Oh the extravagance! I can’t wait to phone housekeeping and order
fragrant magnolia for my bath.
The Oyster Box is especially famous for its outstanding
cuisine. On our first evening, my
husband and I are treated to a dinner at the Grill Room (a formal restaurant
offering fine dining) while our children enjoy the hotel’s well-loved pizzas on
the terrace with other families. In the
Grill Room, we meet a wonderful older Indian gentleman who tells us he has been
serving at the Oyster Box for over 30 years and it is touching to hear him talk
so endearingly of his “Oyster Box” family and the wonderful things he had
experienced over the years. I especially
enjoy the hors d’oeuvres trolley and allowed to sample a bit of it all. Then follows a meal fit for royalty;
delicately flavoured prawns and Duck A L’Orange, finishing off with Crepes
Suzette flambéed at our table. Talking
about cuisine, no visit to the Oyster Box is complete without experiencing
their curry buffet and it is exceptionally good as expected and certainly
applauded for a reason. The breakfasts
are a particular ‘hit’ with my family.
How could they not be with large platters of salmon, Parma ham, oysters,
pastries and tropical fruits – and that is before you have even got to the
usual English breakfast buffet.
The Oyster Box is an institution with a settled comfortable
soul – there is no doubt about that.
Some hotels just have the ‘wow’ factor and this one certainly does. For some, it is the five star luxury, the
attention to every detail, the discreet but attentive service, the grand
olde-worlde experience, sumptuous accommodation, the lush gardens – for others,
perhaps it is the comfortable at-home atmosphere for families, the ideal grand
wedding or other celebration venue, a classy meeting place in one of their
popular elegant bars, a world class spa or a perfect place to unwind taking a
walk down the beach promenade and enjoying the hotel’s world famous
cuisine. For me, it is about sitting
on their fabulous red and white Ocean Terrace overlooking the Lighthouse and
the vast Indian Ocean, listening to the ‘clink’ of glasses and the idle
chitchat of content people around me – counting the cargo ships on the horizon
waiting to enter the port just as I did as a young girl – and thinking, “Wow…
life feels jolly darn good!”
Oyster Box …the
legend continues
