Review: Harnn Heritage Spa

My colleague Neha Bhatt had visited the Harnn Heritage Spa in New Delhi recently and written about it too. The article was published in Business Standard Newspaper. She's allowed SPAlendor to use the piece. Thanks so much Neha.


Harnn Heritage Spa, a Thai chain, recently opened for business in India. With its quiet, tasteful wooden interiors, this outlet includes a cafe and is in the rather empty MGF Metropolitan Mall at Saket, New Delhi.

Now, what spa pampering can I pick for a hot summer day? That information is not available on their website, which is still under construction. Over the phone, while making a reservation, the receptionist, a Thai gentlemen, suggested I walk in 10 minutes before the appointment to skim through the menu and zero in on my preference.

At the designated time, over a cup of complimentary herbal tea, I filled out a spa consultation form to specify my massage requirements. The 13-odd treatments listed on the menu include body massages, foot therapies and facials. Their signature treatment, the Jasmine Therapy (Rs 4,500 for 150 minutes), offers all three treatments. The other treatments at Harnn require 45 to 90 minutes. If you prefer an oil massage, you can pick from a range of aromas — rosemary, citrus, lavender and so on. I chose a balm therapy, the Thai Heritage Massage (Rs 1,650) — with medium to firm pressure. Among the other treatments, the facials seemed expensive at Rs 2,250, while the flowery body scrubs seemed slightly more moderate at Rs 2,000. (All prices exclusive of taxes.)

After a quick foot soak, my masseur, Manipuri incidentally, led me to a spacious treatment room, which was again done up quite elegantly and stocked with a range of Harnn beauty products. The masseur quizzed me with a series of questions before the massage. Did I like the music? Yes. Was the room temperature all right? Yes. Did I need to visit the restroom before we started? No, but thanks for asking. Sixty minutes later, I silently declared the massage to have passed my test, with flying colours, I might add. The stretching techniques and pressure from fingers, elbow, knees and feet perfectly worked the black pepper herbal balm into the skin. Post-massage, I was offered another cup of herbal tea and a plate of melon along with a feedback form, which got full marks for the polite staff. The cafe next door, in partnership with restaurateur Ritu Dalmia, offers a menu where beverages are priced at Rs 100 upwards, and short eats from Rs 300. So, even if you are not up for an over-indulgent afternoon at the spa, stop at this snug little cafe and take a peek into the Harnn boutique.

Score: 8/10. For an expensive but pleasing experience

Picture courtesy: Harnn India

Happy Feet, Select CityWalk, New Delhi

“Where do I submerge my feet?” I asked reluctantly, shifting uncomfortably on a wooden bench that looked like it had been hammered near the area where a faux mini pool was created. The therapist was adept at his work, cleaning my very, very dirty feet patiently with cotton and spray water (it may have also been an astringent, but I’m not too sure). He looked at me, gave a short grunt and pointed to the pool in which — I kid you not — 800-odd fish were floating. “Eight hundred, are you sure?” I asked, while the therapist smiled nodding in acknowledgment.
I dipped my feet and within a second of doing that, I was attacked. Actually, my dead skin, explained the therapist, was getting attacked.
So, I’d heard of friends who had experienced the fish spa pedicure treatment at Happy Feet, a humble spa outlet located right behind Barista in New Delhi’s Select City Walk, admitting that it was a ticklish sensation to have fish crawl and nibble non-stop at your feet. They’re crazy, I thought of my these friends, just when I dipped my feet and took them out twice from the pool — layered with soft, lovely pebbles, by the way. Why? Because they (my friends) can’t tell the difference between getting assaulted and feeling tickled or “kissed,” as one person suggested. Simply put, the first three-four minutes of the treatment were miserable especially as I kept expecting little fish to come snapping with their tiny teeth at my sickly, unkempt, corn-infested feet.
Did it get better? To be honest, yes it did. After my feet had become fodder for the Garra Rufa ‘doctor’ fish, as my therapist mentioned and after I’d surrendered myself to the feeling of getting gnawed at by these “especially imported from Turkey” fish, I liked the fact that it was a treatment in the open area of an otherwise overcrowded mall. That it was located behind the main mall area (in a small area of one of the mall’s many extended balconies actually) meant that it was further away from the crowds. This meant, feeling the gentle evening breeze on the face, getting tantalized with the whispering aromas of freshly buttered corn-in-a-cup while also listening to some fantastic music, notes of which added a nice rhythm to the spa experience. In fact, it’s a treatment you should indulge in with a friend, a companion with whom you can chat and catch up for 20 minutes while experiencing the fish spa treatment. (Note: It should ideally be done for an hour, according to experts). I went with my husband who kept wondering if the fish were fed anything else other than human dead skin. He also wondered aloud, much to my embarrassment, if the fish suspiciously resembled Indian tadpoles.
The only glitch: it’s not a very personalized experience. Which means, you’ll have little army of kids laughing away, pointing at your feet, while the water creatures hog — and burp, perhaps? — at your soles. It also means getting inadvertently clicked in photographs where a husband wants to lovingly capture his wife’s bushy, hairy legs while she gets her treatment. But what makes up for it is the last part: a pleasant massage with foot cream by the therapist. “You can come back every day and get it done,” he advices, clearly unhappy with my feet, which have been marked with eczema spots.
At Rs 390 for a 20-minute treatment, I think I’ll go back once again.

Spa-thwak
· Uncomfortable seating with no back rest
· Cash only, no credit cards accepted
· Not very personalized in that people tend to gawk at you
· The place should have aroma candles. The fish sometimes tend to give away a very faint stench
Spa-aha!
· Affordable
· Hospitable staff
· A unique experience