CHENNAI: A peek into nuggets of history reveals that during one particular Margazhi season, audiences demanded they be served food and that’s when the Music Academy roped in a cafe to serve snacks. It’s still being continued. Sabhas tie up with various caterers to provide scrumptious delicacies to the visitors from the city and elsewhere.
“It’s always a competition as to who gets the contract. But in the end, quality is what matters,” says N Padmanabhan, who has been catering at Music Academy for the past 10 years.
Food has become an integral part of the Margazhi season, so much so that the caterers have loyal patrons outside the sabhas as well.
“We have customers from early in the morning and they include morning walkers at the Marina Beach. For lunch, many office goers from nearby companies visit us. They say they don’t carry food from home for the 20-30 days of the season,” shares K Srinivasan, son of ‘Mountbatten’ Mani Iyer, who now cater at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha.
Ask them what makes the Margazhi food so special and K Bhaskaran of Meenambiga Caterers concurs says: “We experiment during this season. Customers tell us what they like and what they don’t and we prepare the dish accordingly.”
Mani Iyer is famous for his watermelon rasam and vegetable payasam, and like every other year, they found a place in the menu this year too. On the other hand, Padmanabhan will treat the customer to kalyana saapadu every single day of the music season.
This year, in all these canteens, millet-based delicacies rule the menu card. “All are diet conscious. We have tried organic items like thinai arisi pongal and more. And for the diabetic, we are making karupatti paniyaram. We have specially ordered karupatti from Thiruchendur,” says Srinivasan. Adds Padmanabhan, “I am using more of varagu, saamai, thinai, kelvaragu, ragi and kambu.”
While the variety of idlis and dosais are all-time favourites, the key to keep the customers coming is to bring out something new. “I came across something called chocolate dosai few years back and I introduced that here. My father’s specialty is the bon-bon ice cream. The day we have that on the menu, the crowd manifolds,” smiles Srinivasan.
The number of food-lovers changes every day; it’s based on the performer of the day. “When the performer is well known, the crowd is more. We prepare accordingly but come what may, we don’t disappoint the customer,” says Srinivasan.
The caterers have their own set of workers who have been with them for several years (some for decades) and each one has a role to play. “I have a unit of 300 people and I have personally taught them everything. The cooks here have been with us for many years and we don’t let anyone and everyone handle the ladle,” says Padmanabhan.
There are many regular customers to these sabha canteens. One such self-confessed foodie is Mohan Kumar, who makes it a point to go canteen-hopping every Margazhi. “Music is a part of my system but I am choosy about musicians. But I come to the sabhas regularly to try out what’s new. I like the one in Parthasarathy Swami Sabha as they have a variety of dishes every day.”
The caterers have also updated themselves. They keep few of their regular customers updated on what’s on the menu on a particular day. If your favourite singer is not on stage, but your favourite dish is on the menu, you know what to choose!