Dakshin-Park Sheraton(Times City Gourmet Week)

 American Express presents TimesCity Gourmet Week is the tastiest time of the year. Running from September 1st to 7th in Chennai,it features Times Food award winning restaurants offering specially crafted menus. You can check the participating restaurants here  Gourmet week .

Dakshin is known for it's south Indian offerings since a long time.A special menu with the options of veg,non veg and seafood thali is specially done by Chef Harish.We went for a non veg and a seafood thali.
The dinner beagn with Iyer's special and chutneys.Iyer's special is basically Banana dosa and adai.The chutneys were finger licking good.

Iyer's special

The soups Kozhi rasam and Kalyera rasam were amazing,chicken soup had nice tender chicken pieces in a chicken broth.Kalyera rasam had tender and well cooked lobster.

The non veg thali had a chicken starter Kozhi mundri varuval was small chicken pieces cooked with cashew nuts,mild ting of the cashews made the dish outstanding.Kadamba Varuval of the seafood thali was squid cooked in south indian style,the squids were soft and not rubbery at all.

The non veg thali had a mutton curry,prawn curry and chicken along with other veg dishes.Everything here was so well cooked,the mutton so tender just melted in the mouth,chicken was cooked in Andhara style and was the only spicy dish.

Prawn completely stood out,I have never had such tender prawns anyhwere till now.The quality was superior and cooked perfectly,they melted in the mouth with a crunch.Hats off to the chef for taking such good care of the quality.Surprisingly,that small bowl had around 8 to 10 prawns.

Just like the prawns,the crab was of superb quality and cooked so well.It was the best I have had in my life till now.So soft,had slight sweetness to it,It was served with so much care,they had mixed a bit with the curry masala.Amazing sea food,I am not much fond of sea food but this completely changed my idea about sea food.

We were so full that we almost thought of skipping the dessert,thanks to our server for pestering us to try these amazing desserts.Dakshin being quite famous for its desserts,he made sure that we try.We asked him to just get one scoop but the smart fellow got 2 scoops knowing we would ask for another :).The desserts were mind blowing,Mukkani Icecream, Elaneer Payasam and Badam Halwa.Each one is made with so much love and care.Mukkani ice-cream has three flavours banana,jackfruit and mango,I could taste all the flavours as the ice cream melted in my mouth,so creamy so soft.It is the next best thing after Natural's icecream.It's made from scratch here.The thali is complete paisa vasool,if you are in Chennai or visit Chennai anytime,this is one place you should visit for some authentic South Indian food.
Had an amazing time,enjoyed every dish- a must visit place.
Address-
Dakshin,Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers, Chennai
T.T.K. Road, Chennai 600018, Tamil Nadu, India
Tel : (91) (44) 24994101

Chronicles of Whitefield at Vivanta by taj,Chennai

Vivanta by Taj is celebrating the Madras Week and  they have got executive chef Arzooman Irani from Viavanta by Taj-Whitefield Bangalore.Chef explained us the history behind whitefield and its residents and thier cuisine.The Ango-Indian cuisine was a lot inspired by Indian cuisine.They use a lot of spices to make the dishes flavourful and not spicy.Chef has got a family recipe book handwritten by Harry Blake, one of the original settlers of Whitefield. The notebook was given to him  by his granddaughter.Chef has created the menu with recipes from this book.

They have launched a unique menu of ‘Colonial Hangover’ cocktails – a blend of European spirits and Indian spices.I had the non alcoholic version of Ginger wine,it was just splendid.The sweet and gingery ting blended well together.

 They have come up with unique names like Earl of Raj(earl grey tea, Gin , cinnamon, cardamom, sugar syrup, lime juice and bay leaf),Herbal MaryVodka with parsley, celery, ginger, tobacco sauce, Worchester sauce, tomato juice, Lime juice),Madragas Lemongrass ( Vodka with lemon, lemongrass and pineapple and Sauvignon Blanc), and Good ol Colonel (Whiskey, sesame seeds, honey, fresh pineapple, lemon juice and pineapple juice as well). Colonel Syllabub- sweet white wine, cream, sugar syrup, egg white,lime juice and cardamom.The non alcoholic versions were as goos the alcoholic version.I had the earl of raj(non alcholic version) and it was pretty amazing,the bay leaf added a unique flavour to the drink.

Earl of Raj

The dinner took off with a mulligatawny soup - a broth made with lentils and pepper.A fruity twist is given  to the soup by adding finely cut apples.It had a nice texture and was full of flavours.

 Fried masala prawns as the name suggests were slightly spicy and were tender and superbly cooked.

Mutton ball

Harry's fish curry

Country captain chicken curry 

 For the main course, there were a lot of rice varieties - coconut, tomato, cabbage - along with vegetable stew, mutton ball curry, country captain chicken curry and Blake’s signature dish - Harry’s fish curry.My favourite were the mutton ball and country chicken curry,full of flavours and not spicy.The fish curry was good too with a mustard base.

For desserts we had sooji pudding with  cardamom, coconut pudding and kulkuls.Coconut pudding was the star of the show and was loved by all.
A meal for two, without alcohol, would cost around Rs. 3,500 including taxes.
The  Chronicles of Whitefield” Anglo-Indian food festival is on from Aug22-31 at The Verandah restaurant(Vivanta by Taj-Connemara Chennai located on the Binny Road )

Chennai sappadu

Simbly South,Courtyard by Marriott-Chennai

Courtyard by Marriott is hosting a Simply South fest at Paprika from 24th till 31st March 2014.They have added a lot of authentic south Indian dishes from different states. Regional flavours have been maintained by not tampering age old recipes.They have in fact got some chefs flown in from the different parts of south india to make sure the authenticity remains unaltered.
The restaurant is all decked up for the fest; you can feel the south Indian touch.The serving staff is dressed up in the traditional  south Indian attire and flowers and pots decorate the cafe.
Soups-There are 2 soups a veg and a non veg- Murugakai soup and Kozhi rasam.While we were enjoying our soups we were served some local bhajjis.

 The live counter has a whole lot of local stuff-Bajji and Sundal,Onion pakoda,Vazhakkai bhajji,kozhi vepudu,meen kal varuval and Parota .

We were then served parota with the traditional dishes.I enjoyed my mutton curry,it had the traditional touch with minimal spices used and lot of black pepper.
They have tried to incorporate dishes from all over the south,you can taste the best of the south here.Vettakoora miriyalu pulusu,malabr fih curry,nilgiri kozhi korma,vegetable chettinad,kovakkai masala,thalicha paruppu are some of the main course dishes.
For the sweet south Indian tooth you got Rava payasam and Elaneer payasam.
The regular buffet dishes are there too,so if you want to take a break and have some salad or biryani,you can do that as well.
All in all it's a melting pot of the south of India.If you love the traditional and authentic food of south,you should definitely not miss this one out.The festival is on till 31st march 2014.

Timing- 7pm to 11pm

Rate- Rs1250+taxes

Address:Courtyard by Marriott,#564, Anna Salai, Teynampet,Chennai.

Ph No: 6676 4000