Georgina Guedes discovers some luxurious comfort just outside Johannesburg and Pretoria.

For a weekend getaway, very little can compare to The Orient Boutique Hotel near Johannesburg and Pretoria. It's all about luxury and comfort and some of the best eating in South Africa.

Weekend getaway checklist

Book – check

Magazines – check

Swimming Costume – not sure, check anyway

Walking shoes – nah!

Flipflops – check

Slinky nighty – definitely check!

There’s something very satisfying in the simplicity of a checklist for a weekend away. Since you’re only leaving home for a short time, you can’t be going very far, and you need to cram as much downtime as possible into your two days.

The only effort that needs to go into these two days of instant relaxation is planning your destination. It has to be close – if you spend four hours driving there and another four hours back, that’s almost one full working day spent on the road when you should be calming down.

It should be located somewhere beautiful and interesting, but not so interesting that you can’t justify spending the weekend in bed if that’s what grabs you, and the place itself must be a real romantic treat. Oh, and the food must be outstanding.

For Johannesburgers and Pretorians, The Orient Hotel fits the bill perfectly. It’s less than an hour from either city, is situated in the Francolin Conservancy Area, so anyone wanting to go walking or game spotting can do so, it is a glorious and sumptuous destination in its own right and the food at Restaurant Mosaic, located in the hotel, is exceptional. Click here to see this Oriental holiday.

In fact, with this combination of factors, The Orient Hotel Hotel is attracting visitors from all over South Africa and the world, and not just those intent on a weekend getaway.

A touch of the exotic

The hotel is situated in a palace decorated with an Eastern theme, incorporating pieces from India, Persia, Nepal and even parts of northern Africa. The hotel isn’t pretending to be a Persian palace or an Indian temple – if it was, its attempts would not be successful – rather, it exhibits the pieces that owners Mari Dartnall and her partner Cobus, have collected as they travel around the world, in a suitably opulent setting.

Because of this, visiting The Orient Hotel Hotel is like a trip to a fascinating gallery with cozy spaces for reclining in exotic luxury in unexpected nooks around the sumptuous building. Water features have been included inside and out, bringing an atmosphere of tranquility.

The surroundings transport the guest into an era long gone, and it’s refreshing to visit a hotel that isn’t about modern minimalism, or fussy attempts to luxuriate Africana.

Each of the twelve suites is individually styled to a different theme, from Mogador and Timbuktu to Constantinople and Rajasthan. Although many of the pieces of furniture or works of art are originals from the themed area, comfort is the primary aim, and nothing is rickety or forbidding.

This was a particularly good thing for us, as my husband can be a bit clumsy and spending a weekend worrying about overturning a priceless artifact would hardly have made for a relaxing stay.

Treatment from the moment of arrival

We parked our car in a bay in the outer wall of the fortress, which an The Orient Hotel employee jokingly referred to as “the great wall of China”. Parked in a nearby bay was an old Rolls-Royce, its license plate bearing the legend “Orient 2”. I glanced around for “Orient 1”, but didn’t see it. Whether the Rolls is parked there because it’s an obvious place to keep it, or to give guests the sense that they’re visiting a sheikh’s palace from the moment they arrive, it’s provides an immediate shift into the fantasy setting.

I always prefer the intimacy of boutique hotels to five-star luxury behemoths. Although the service at The Orient Hotel is top-notch, it’s great to bump into the same people over the course of the weekend, to be recognised by the staff and to feel that you are being treated with genuine warmth, rather than with the stuffy, perfectly trained anonymity of a massive workforce.

When we set out for a walk around the Franklin conservancy area in which The Orient Hotel is located, and didn’t manage to find the start of the path to the water hole, we instead came across one of the sous chefs from the kitchen buried deep inside the bowels of a chest freezer. When we asked our way, she was filled with fussy solicitude, not wanting us to go walking without bottled water, a packed lunch and even a couple of bottles of champagne.

The water was a good idea, but given that we were having lunch and a eight-course degustation dinner later in the day, we turned down her offer of food.

A taste of heaven

Food is what a visit to the The Orient Hotel is all about. Mari’s daughter Chantel has established her restaurant, Mosaic, inside the palace. Restaurant Mosaic is not oriental restaurant. Although there are hints of eastern flavours like aniseed and saffron in the dishes that come out of the kitchen, the food is classic French.

The alcoves that the restaurant occupies in the hotel are also removed from the oriental theme. Chantel, a fan of Gustav Klimt, has decorated the restaurant with his mosaics and prints, and the theme is one of Art Noveau, turn-of-last-century France. The aesthetic is carried on into the food, which is beautifully presented and made up of dazzling component parts.

But to discuss the beauty of food is like describing the orchestra at a dance performance – relevant, but hardly the main focus. The food is decadent, rich and such an extraordinary journey for the tastebuds that it justifies a trip out to the Francolin Conservancy even for people not staying at the hotel (although this might curtail your enjoyment of the five kilogram winelist).

The menu changes seasonally and every day, but features such delights as a trio of consommés, wild mushroom custard, tomato tea risotto, a parade of cheese, a study of beef, lemon verbena crème brulee … the list goes on, and each of the eight courses comes matched with a perfectly suited wine pairing.

Eight courses can sound alarming, but portions are a sensible size – enough to give diners a proper taste of what they’re eating, but without overfilling them. Regardless of such restraint, you can still be guaranteed of coming away from your meal feeling satisfied to the point of bursting.

Chef Chantel Dartnall assured me that visitors who stay longer than just the weekend don’t eat the degustation menu every night, and that one on occasion she had even prepared cheese on toast for a visiting family who requested it.

Guests who stay at The Orient Hotel come away feeling satisfied, spoilt and vaguely disappointed with any meal that they eat after Restaurant Mosaic’s extraordinary fare. I certainly was.

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