Beyond Madras Food Festival, The Dining Room, Park Hyatt - Near Raj Bhavan

Beyond Madras; the festival's name makes you wonder. Pondering more deeply about it makes one venture into the philosophical. To go beyond Madras, one needs to know the quintessential Madras. Indeed, the festival seems to want to present the essence of Madras in a more contemporary form that will be appreciated both by those unfamiliar to the tastes and aromas of Madras and those whom the city has nurtured.

Stepping into the understated hotel early on a weeknight gave me some time to explore the interiors. There are lovely artpieces to be found every few steps along the corridors from artists like Seema Kohli. I spent a few minutes trying to discern deeper truths from them in vain before entering the restaurant for more carnal pursuits of the culinary sort. Being early on a weekday, the restaurant wasn't busy.

The deep hued tones throughout and wood trimmings sets a classy feel for having that placid dinner. Beyond the first seating area, there's a wider even more relaxed "dining room" with comfy sofas that could host bigger numbers. Most of the decor in this section has origins in the textile industry because of a link between the owners and that industry apparently. There's a huge "tapestry" made entirely of spools of threads!

For soup there was the inconspicuous Rasam raising its light yet spice-filled head. Nothing too much to handle for a native of Madras but this would pack quite a punch for someone new to South Indian cuisine.
















The starters arrived surprisingly in a bread basket carrying some bread rolls topped with spicy tongue-tingling gun powder! There was a tomato thokku serving as accompaniment but the bread roll was yummy by itself. I could taste powdered cheese amidst bites of the fresh bread as well making it surprise-surprise, a superbly apt, innovative combination.

A cutting chai glass filled with lemon sherbet flavored with Nannari (Sarsaparilla) syrup arrived. A local favorite, this one was refreshing albeit low on sweetness. I'd ask for more added sugar next time as I'm used to.

Other items in the starter menu were panner and fish cubes pan fried and visibly slathered with a brazen Southern masala that I felt could be tempered a bit more.

Then there were addictive potato fritters made homemade style cut length-wise n thicker. Simple but not so easy to get right. Couldn't help but reach for more of them, fork be damned. Would go perfectly with some curd rice!

The main course had favorites seen across Chennai and the veg dishes were more extensive including the popular cabbage kootu (not often seen), spinach laden curry, baby potatoes in light masala and a mild Kadalai Kuzhambu

Among the non-veg curries, there were single curries for fish, chicken and mutton. One could opt for freshly made appams or string hoppers (idiyappam) to mop up this masala fest. Some more non-veg options would have been nice. In the veg section there was Karuvipellai rice. For the non vegetarians there was classic chicken biriyani which was tasty but didn't seem to be made in any Southern style. 

The delicate crunch of the appams were lovely with the tasty mutton curry cooked to much tenderness. Spice levels of all non-veg curries were manageable with the fish curry having a nice local flavor to it, made with locally sourced fish. One can ask for plain rice to eat these curries with. Don't forget to grab some of the crunchy vadams prominently displayed along with rice! 

A surprise addition was the station making fresh Kothu Parottas with the chef going wild with a tumbler mixing up the ripped up Barotta bits with masala, egg n gravy on a huge cast iron tawa.

For desserts there was Wattalapam and Paal Kozhukattai fitting in the festival's theme. Other desserts on offer were Western; the thick yummy Chocolate orange cake which had a layer of custard inbetween. A slice of blueberry pie and a spoonful of walnut filled chocolate cake hit the spot. There were bowls of chocolate kept at melting temperature in a steam bath for us to indulge and indulge I did.