CHENNAI: The halls of Hotel Ambica Empire echoed chanting of mantras. Every corner was adorned with flowers suspended from the ceiling. On August 30, the board members, management team and guests had gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the three-star hotel. A 20-kg cake was cut and audio-visuals highlighting the hotel’s milestones was played in the background.
The event was presided over by Ambica Krishna, chairman; Ambica Prasad, managing director; Ambica Sudarsan, joint managing director; Ambica Ramachandra Rao, director; Perla Ambica Ramachandra, executive director; PG Thulasiram, vice president, and Ponni Oscar, architect.
“We can proudly say that the hotel is located in the heart of the city — malls on either side, Vadapalani Metro station a stone’s throw away, and access to any corner of the city is possible in a short time from here. We were the only business hotel in the locality when we started in 1999. The hotel houses four restaurants. A lobby cafe was launched today. Our brand loyalty is high and that’s the reason we have had an extended guest list today,” said Thulasiram. Artistic ambience, 2 am biryani, price-conscious suites and customised services for patrons — the hotel has evolved to cater to the needs of their guests.
As part of the celebration, the hotel is conducting a Madurai Karaikudi food festival. “What better way to give back to our guests than a sumptuous spread? We chose Tamil Nadu cuisine since everybody’s going back to the roots these days. It’s also a great way to expose people to traditional recipes,” he said. True to the theme, the interiors of their Royal Palate Multi-cuisine restaurant was decked up with clay pots, age-old kitchen equipment, and the staff members were dressed in traditional attire. Pushcarts filled with local snack items were parked in a corner.
“Our team went to the villages of Madurai and Karaikudi for four days. Right from slicing the meat and marination to grinding masalas — we’ve followed a specific procedure to ensure the native touch is maintained. We’ve combined Madurai’s red chillies and Karaikudi’s pepper to give a new taste,” said P Selladurai, the executive chef.
The menu left us spoilt for choice. Staples like nethili fish fry, karandi omelette, chicken roast, minced mutton balls, and crab masala were served. Each item was distinct in terms of method of preparation and freshly ground ingredients are used. The best from the lot was biryani made of a smaller version of seeraga samba arisi — an indigenous rice. It was mildly spiced, sticky and copiously garnished with mint leaves. The meat was juicy and cooked to perfection in pots using dum cooking. We wrapped up our meal with a carefully curated platter of sweets comprising jigarthanda, milk sweets, halwa and barfi.