CHARLESTON, S.C. - I arrive at the entrance of the posh Charleston Grill, my taste buds salivating in anticipation of sampling the culinary treats awaiting inside the award-winning restaurant, and there to greet me like a long lost friend is Mickey Bakst, the room’s Maître d extraordinaire.

The nattily attired Mickey — fashionable glasses, designer suit, freshly coiffed goatee, shirt opened at the collar — knows my name, my hometown and that I arrived at the landmark Belmond Charleston Place Hotel, where the Grill is located, that afternoon. Now he’s got me wondering if we haven’t met before.

Mickey has been a fixture at the Grill since 2004 and has become an ambassador for the restaurant, hotel and city — making visitors like me feel right at home the moment we arrive.

“I want to make sure the guest starts smiling the minute they walk in,” says the delightful Mickey, who is part of a team that takes southern hospitality to stratospheric levels at this distinguished hotel whose sweeping staircase entrance looks like it stepped out of Gone With The Wind.

It doesn’t take long to realize why Mickey has been honoured as Maître d of The Year and inducted into the Fine Dining Hall of Fame and that he played a large part in the Grill being nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award in the “Best Service” category.

You see that same commitment to service throughout the Charleston Place Hotel, where employees are guided by General Manager Paul Stracey’s simple philosophy of “don’t ask if you can help a guest, just do it.”

“You’re going to like what Mama has on the menu tonight,” says Mickey as he leads me to my table located deep inside the fashionable room that comes wrapped in warm wood and whose walls are decorated with colourful local art — an inspiring Jonathan Green portrait of two blues singers has me asking Mickey where I can see more of Green’s work.

Left: It is people like maitre d Mickey Bakst that makes staying at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel so special. Right: Executive Chef Michelle Weaver and her award winning menu make a dinner at the Charleston Place Hotel Grill dining room an experience of a lifetime.

The “Mama” Mickey is talking about is the Grill’s Executive Chef Michelle Weaver, whose culinary talents have made her a local celebrity and earned the restaurant numerous awards and recognitions from leading industry publications.

Hotels like the Belmond Charleston Place become world renowned properties because they make a guest’s stay an experience and a large part of that starts in the kitchen of its signature dining room where the creative Weaver rules.

Chef, who got an appetite for her craft in her mother’s kitchen and then went on to hone her skills under the guidance of noted chefs like Daniel Bonnot (New Orleans) and Bob Waggoner (Nashville), puts her own twist on southern cooking but adheres to some simple rules — “never throw away your bacon grease and vegetables from your own garden always taste better.”

Weaver’s kitchen has become a culinary laboratory where she experiments with traditional southern ingredients like snapper or striped bass, combines them with lemon grass and chillies and creates a Thai fish dish that wouldn’t look out of place in the finest Bangkok restaurant.

The Grill’s wine cellar, where over 1,300 labels and almost 10,000 bottles of the finest vintages are stored, means you’ll always find the right wine to accompany Mama’s dishes — her Colorado lamb is one of the best this diner has ever enjoyed.

Besides the Grill, the Belmond Charleston Grand boasts another casual fine-dining room known as the Palmetto Café, which is a reflection of the garden rooms featured in many of the antebellum homes that line the streets of this southern beauty.

Left: The hotel has some soothing facilities. Right: Chef Weaver, a.k.a. Mama, dishes up some southern classic but each of her dishes has an interesting twist.

Bathed in natural light, the completely renovated Palmetto Room has become a morning (breakfast) and afternoon (lunch) meeting place for the movers and shakers of Charleston. The Palmetto’s staff equal that of the Grill’s for efficiency and friendliness and the kitchen prepares some of the best southern breakfasts in the Carolinas.

The Belmont Charleston Place is located in the heart of the city’s Old Town, right across from the famed Charleston Market — the city’s No. 1 tourist attraction — and it blends in beautifully with the other historic treasures found in what many people have dubbed America’s “Most Beautiful City.”

Upon entry, guests are instantly awed by the dramatic design of the heart-shaped open-arm staircase and the stunning three-metre-high Venetian chandelier set between it. No great home of the South’s golden era would have been built without a divided Georgian staircase of this grandeur and they actually set the tone for conduct — single men of the day were not permitted to follow a young lady up the stairs for fear they might get a glimpse of her bare ankle, so they were relegated to the opposite side.

Above: The rooms at Charleston Place are unique and stuffed with all the amenities of a 5-star property.

If the Belmond brand is not familiar to you, then think of Orient Express — the owners of the world renowned luxury train service and 45 of the most cherished hotels in the world, including Charleston Place, recently rebranded under the Belmond label and now only their famed Venice Simplon-Orient Express, of Agatha Chrstie fame, remains under the old company logo.

While the name has changed the commitment to quality and service still remains at the highest levels and there’s no better example of that than the Charleston Place Hotel, which has undergone a complete makeover in recent years and now exceeds every standard set down in the 5-star luxury hotel handbook.

Words like sophisticated, classic and timeless are used in the company’s brochures to describe the Charleston Place Hotel and we’d like to add one more — elegant, which is highlighted in all its furnishings and amenities.

Every one of the 435 rooms — that number includes 48 divine suites — is a masterpiece and the 72 Club Floor rooms are fit for the titans of business or for guests who like personal concierge service, wireless internet connections in each room, complimentary continental breakfast, afternoon snacks and hors d’oeuvres without ever leaving the comfort of a private lounge.

Above: The Palmetto Room in the lobby area is a perfect meeting place.

Every room at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel are modern wonders but remain true to their southern roots with subtle colours featured throughout and upscale luxuries like bathrooms decorated in Carrera marble and crystal (delete hardware) knobs on doors and cabinetry.

No great hotel would be complete without a world class spa and The Spa at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel equals or exceeds all the standards set down by the Spa Gods. The 10 state-of-the-art treatment rooms are manned by experienced and expert therapists whose touch and techniques make them among the best in the United States. The 10-metre-long saltwater pool with the retractable roof that’s heated to a comfortable 36C all year long, is an added bonus for guests to experience after or before enjoying the benefits of spa treatments that range from renewal to stress relief.

“I hope you enjoyed what Mama prepared for you?” says Mickey as I leave the Grill after I’ve enjoyed an experience of a lifetime at the Belmond Charleston Place Hotel.