THE FACTS ABOUT BELLE MARE PLAGE

Mauritius

Like its sister, the fabulous Prince Maurice, the Belle Mare Plage is a five-star. But that and an owner are all they have in common. Having hefted our luggage up the steps, it took us some time to attract the attention of the two receptionists who were deep in conversation in the splendid lobby, all vases of lilies and silk cushions, and open to a palm-studded pool and the sea. Eventually they attended to us, informing us that although it was late afternoon, our room wasn't ready and we would have to wait. (This was to become a bit of a theme. When we checked out, we asked if someone could fetch our bag as it was 200 metres from reception to our room. It took them 30 minutes. Luckily we had no plane to catch.) Finally we were led to our accommodation (one of 235 rooms and suites), past various building works and rather too many (and far too visible) rat traps in the newly planted gardens. The hotel reopened after a substantial - and successful - refurbishment late last year, but was still plainly unfinished. There was not much to criticise in our junior suite. It was spacious, slightly Japanese in style with its shoji-screen-like giant wall light (I'll forgive the textured ceiling and the peculiar plastic bedhead), with a large faux-Philippe Starck open bathroom, and a covered balcony furnished with the most comfortable sofa I've ever lain on. (A pity it overlooked a kidney-shaped swimming pool in which aquaerobics took place each morning to a thudding techno soundtrack.) Towels, bed and bath were strewn with hibiscus blossoms, which was all very well except that those I didn't throw away myself were left to linger and wither over our three days there, which was oddly depressing. It was the food, however, that really demoralised us. The main restaurant, La Citronelle, is a grimly lit buffet with all the ambience and allure of a motorway service-station cafeteria. Shown to a table at the back, next to a trolley stacked with dirty plates, we went to survey the food: vat after vat of unappealing 'international' dishes. Eventually I opted for some gnocchi, which were at least cooked to order; I managed half of them. Our fellow diners were mostly German and had generally opted to ignore the 'elegantly casual' dress code. The Belle Mare Plage takes its name from a splendid 2km strip of fine white sand. Its big selling points, however, are its two championship golf courses: the Peter Allis-endorsed Links, which is home to the Mauritian Open, and the new Legend course. (Although golfers should bear in mind that Le Touessrok has opened a Bernhard Langer-endorsed championship course this September, and guests there have access to the nine-hole Gary Player course at the deluxe St Géran). The Belle Mare Plage's golf theme is evident in one of the hotel gardens, where there are little ornamental bunkers among the palms, and it is the upscale golf market that presumably inspired the hotel to build 21 very stylish private villas and open three further restaurants. On our second evening we ate in the clubhouse restaurant (for which we paid a supplement of about £45), which serves Mauritian dishes such as smoked marlin, palm hearts and grilled grouper with coconut chutney. It was an altogether happier, if hardly gourmet, experience, not least when a dozen or so Java deer appeared and gambolled across the fairway. CONTACT Belle Mare Plage The Resort, Poste de Flacq (00 230 402 2600; fax: 402 2626; www.bellemareplagehotel.com). Doubles from €285 B&B