Masala Klub fare at Beyond Indus, Taj Club House

I was thrilled when invited and told that the Taj Club House here in Chennai was having a 10 day Masala Klub food festival - the idea of contemporary Indian food served with a twist made me push aside all my weekday commitments and head over to Beyond Indus with heady anticipation.

The Masala Klub is the Indian restaurant at the Taj West End in Bangalore and is known to specialize in Indian fare cooked with a healthy twist and using ingredients such as olive oil, pine nuts etc and western cooking techniques such as boiling and steaming as opposed to the traditional sauteing and frying of ingredients. As Chef Chandan of the Masala Klub explained to us, Masala Klub looks at serving Indian food with a healthy twist. They aim at making the diner feel at ease and not ''over fed'' with all rich fare that has been tucked in. All this sounded fascinating and I was even a bit skeptical wondering how a sumptuous Indian meal can leave a diner feeling anything but stuffed and this piqued my interest all the more.

We started with a pani puri with a twist - the pani had a strong smoked pineapple flavor and an assorted platter with the goodies: excellently seasoned pan seared sea bass, a delicious palak pappad ka kebab which was florets of broccoli with mustard, and fresh and succulent char grilled prawns. This was served with a portion of veggies picked in the usual suspect of vinegar and the more bizzare ingredient of rose water. But ,et it be noted that this seemingly alarming mix of ingredients did wonders to the palate and cleansed it paving way for the main course.

The main course was a more subdued affair with a few different types of bread, with the chili naan deserving special call out and four gravies. I personally found my favorite in the water chestnut and lotus stem curry and had dollops of it with the roti. I also felt that that it would pair excellent with plain white rice as well. The Anardana Jhinga or fresh prawns tossed on the griddle with roasted coriander seeds and topped with pomegranate seeds was the second favorite - the gravy paired excellently well with chili naan. The Dal Indus also deserves special mention, it is a black lentil curry simmered for over 40 hours and then finished with fresh tomatoes. It was thick, creamy and reminiscent of dal makhani, but different in aspects. I didn't taste the Patiala Mutton curry myself but my friends at the table found it alright, though it was remarked that one of the spices stood out and eclipsed the flavor of the others.

Dessert was a baked anjeer halwa - mashed figs topped with thickened milk and baked and served hot. It came with a side of coconut ice cream, which was very crystallized and sliced figs and kiwi.

An interesting turn of events was, the famous galouti kebab which was not on the menu for our dinner that night, but is available as part of Masala Klub's festival. A couple of my kebab connoisseur friends stayed back to taste it after all of us left, and they can't stop raving about it. I take their word for the fact that it was delicious, and strongly recommend you try the galouti kebab if you are at the restaurant.

The Masala Klub festival is on from the 12th to 22nd of June at Beyond Indus, Taj Club House, Chennai

Southern Spice at Taj Coromandel - Restaurant Review

I had a taste of the high life last week. Glitzy lobby, studded with the IPL Sunrisers Hyderabad team. An elaborate dinner with the works in a private dining room in the Southern Spice, Taj Coromandel. Grandiose ambiance that made me feel like we had time traveled. I am talking about the Mahavirundh at Southern Spice, literally a meal fit for Royalty, and honestly speaking, i lost track of the number of dishes after probably the 30th odd item on the menu-they just kept coming and coming! 

But at Southern Spice, i believe it is much more than just the food. Their hospitality is legendary - let me cite a small example: Towards the fag end of this elaborate saga, i was saving up on space for dessert and really couldn't handle more main course items, so i said 'no, thank you' to the rest of the dishes that were doing the rounds on the table. That's when the kind server politely insisted, and let me stress on that, insisted : "Try ma'am, little thayiru saadam". So i repeat (!!), 'no, thanks'. He suggests very earnestly ''Try ma'am, it will be very nice with pickle"!!! For a second there, i was lost. Are you really telling me to eat, like my mother would??! Then i exchanged looks with a friend sitting next to me, and he said very nonchalantly, ''Yes, they do that here''. and i burst out laughing! Brownie points for the service!

Southern Spice has been creating food centered memories since the mid nineties  but they recently underwent a renovation, and the new Southern Spice is accentuated with the old world charm of temple architecture from the Chola, Pallava and Pandava dynasties. The bronze detailing is noteworthy for an aficionado or amateur alike and care has been taken to represent the four states of South India in the décor. The finery extends to the cutlery and linen as well: with an assortment of gold plated and silver plated dinner ware flashing at us.

The cuisine is pan south Indian, and succeeds in the attempt to showcase the best of South Indian culinary scene. It is rooted in tradition, but branches out with a delightful contemporary twist to it (how else do i describe the Chocolate Puranam Mousse? It is a Belgian Chocolate mousse with a heart of molten coconut, lentil and jaggery mix and topped with a Chocloate disc and a mound of light chocolate mousse-full marks for innovation and execution!). And there are quirks: a sambar on the menu comes from the Chef's grandmother! The Elaneer Payasam is a recipe from the the kitchen of Mammens of MRF fame.

We started the mahavirundhu with a ginger juice concoction that screamed 'refreshing!'. There was a round of papads and deep fried goodies served with an arsenal of chutneys, followed by a tiny steamed apam and banana dosais made of banana and flavored with jaggery and cardamom. Injipuli koshambri, a salad of tempered lentils served atop a lettuce leaf came close on the heels.

We moved on to the hardcore stuff. Well, the hardcore appetizer stuff: Denji Rawa fry, or crispy fried semolina crusted soft shell crab left us wanting for more. But we had other things to try. Kori Kempu or shredded chicken marinated in chilies and spice and fried and tossed in yogurt was an interesting dish, the yogurt was not overpowering at all. But the star of the day for me was the Kair Katti Yerachi Kola Urundai. The name can be daunting, but rest assured, the dish is a pleasure for the senses. It is a perfectly seasoned crispy lamb dumpling flavored with fennel and wrapped in banana fibre.

The Vaigai Kari Sukka originating from Madurai was another favorite of the day: succulent lamb cooked in fragrant spices.

Special mention goes to the mysore rasam that was served between dishes. With a hint of lingering sweetness, the rasam doubled as an appetizer and digestive, and the aromatic rasam wowed all of us at the table.

Then the table was set for the heavy duty stuff, the main course. The gold plated plate in the banana leaf shape was laid out with the little bowls for the various curries and side dishes. Topping the charts was the edamame kurma, scallop pepper stew and the asparagus paruppu usili because of the twists they lent to the palate. Hot appams that were umoulded from the traditional appam chatti in front of us were devoured with the pachakari stew, which was a rendition of seasonal veggies, onions and potatoes simmered in coconut milk. Yum! Parottas paired extremely well too.

Special mention goes to the podi that was served with steamed rice, ghee and sambar. I am not a big fan of rice dishes, but this was admittedly good.

By then, i was stuffed and i had to save space for dessert. Other dishes doing the rounds were the Biryani and the Andhra speciality, the Bhejwada kodi biriyani or spiced chicken pilaf with fresh mint and of course curd rice.

Onto dessert. i couldn't wait to see how they'd improvised on desserts and i was not left disappointed. The Chocolate puranam mousse was decadent and would surprise anybody, chocoholic or otherwise.  Another dish that wowed me was the Godhi bella ice cream, made of broken wheat, jaggery and banana. The fav at the table was the chilled Elaneer payasam which was the epitome of light and refreshing.

The meal was a very elaborate affair and it does justice to a mahavirundhu. Priced at INR 5000+ tax, it is a meal emphasizing on indulgence and hospitality. A fun fact about the Southern Spice, it figured in the 'World's top 100 restaurants'!

The Thalis start at INR 2000+ tax. They also offer thalis where wines are paired with the food and that works out to 8000+ tax and upwards.

Southern Spice is in the lobby level of Taj Coromandel, on Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai.