The Rokeby Manor is a beautiful heritage manor which is nestled amidst the Himalayas in Mussoorie. At a small quaint 2 hour car ride away from Dehradun, Rokeby Manor gets many guests who travel 2 hours just to eat food at their prized restaurant Emily’s. After much wait, I visited Emily’s to try their food finally in the month of September this year.
Their Ratatouille was the best I have ever tried. Much better than even leading restaurants in main cities like Mumbai. Maybe, it wasn’t just the taste of the food, it was the quaint taste of the hills. The freshness of valley food.
The restaurant was set on the first level of the manor. With a beautiful outdoor seated area, from where you can view pine cones, fresh fog, himalayan trees and birds chirping once in a while. Sometimes on clear nights, you can even view Dehradun from the property. It’s almost like the stars are shining down from the restaurant and waiting for you to glance at them.
The beauty of the food at the restaurant is not merely from the wonderful taste of the food. It is a pure result of the seating area, a rare find. No wonder it draws people all the way from Mussoorie, Dehradun, Delhi even. Imagine a 7 hour ride just to eat at Emily’s.
Emily’s has amazing Lopchu, which is a different variety of tea, rarely found anywhere else. The fresh aroma prepares you for the day ahead. Baked Jacket Potatoes have a fantastic cheese filling inside them. They even have a baked potato with corn filled inside it. A pure luscious delight to have on a cold winter morning. The cheese is so fresh that it melts in the mouth right away.
Because Rokeby Manor wants to support local businesses, I learned that all their cheese is sourced from Prakash Stores, a homemade cheese store near the Landour bakehouse.
Speaking of the infamous bakehouse, only some people know that all the bakehouse food is actually sourced from a fiction cookbook. The cookbook comes to life as the bakehouse has followed each recipe in the cookbook religiously, preserving years and ages of tradition in the hills. The Bakehouse is the place where I had an interesting rendezvous. I bumped into Mr. Victor Banerjee, a renowned author in the hills. I also heard that my favourite Childhood author, Ruskin Bond visits the Bakehouse frequently.
Overall, the Landour bakehouse is a space with interesting treats written on the walls. The treats are delights to the eyes because they have much to say about life. Once you leave the hustle of the city and explore Landour Bakehouse, you feel so much more connected to yourself. “Explore connections where the wifi is weak”, “Time is what life is made of so don’t squander it”, I may not remember the exact words, but I will carry the essence with me where I go.
Over time, I have realised that Rokeby is the property where I can go to time and again. It is my home away from home. The place has the ability to make you feel more connected to yourself. It is one of the places where you can really hear your own thoughts and figure life out.
I spent hours at their tea garden, exploring my own thoughts, sitting there by myself. The tea garden has beautiful greenery, boutique plants and leaves and it is designed by a local lady in Landour. It is the best place to enjoy your afternoon tea while watching the sunset. I even found myself on their swing in the evenings pondering over life and watching a view of Dehradun from the tea garden.
As I walked around Mussoorie Mall Road, I came across Clock Tower Cafe, a quaint cafe in Mall Road. They have the best pizzas and Chinese dishes. From the cafe’s windows, I got a birds eye view of Mussoorie and explored Himalayan views. I fell in love with the place more because of their views.
Watching the Himalayas and the mountains, every step of the way is something a city person gets to see rarely. It is what brings out the wild side in you and makes you feel more alive. Rokeby Manor is truly the place where you need to be when you visit the Himalayas. Mussoorie, I miss you.