CHENNAI: Onam is still a few weeks away, but the team at Dakshin Restaurant, Crowne Plaza have al ready stepped up festivities. The Travancore Food Festival promised the best of cuisine from South Kerala, the region famed for its remarkably syncretic culture that is also reflected in its food habits. Such an event that was loaded with promise was certainly deserving of a visit. No sooner did we step into Dakshin than we realised we were in a space removed from the rest of the hotel in terms of ambience. Tanjore paintings on every wall, highly ornate doors reminiscent of palatial Chettinad homes and a life-size Nataraja idol — true to its name, the restaurant wore its South-Indianness on its sleeve.
Spearheading the project is Chef Tisho Thomas, who was apparently brought over from Crowne Plaza’s Kochi branch. Briefing us on the menu, Tisho said, “Chennai has a sizable population of Malayalees, who would be craving a taste of original Travancore. For this reason, we’ve insisted on making sure each item on the menu is prepared the authentic way, with all the right ingredients.”
Dinner and music
As we prepared to start, the sound of a mridangam filled the room. A trio of musicians, a flautist, a mridangam player and a tabla player took their positions right beneath the Nataraja. Dinners at Dakshin are accompanied by live music, we are informed. Soon, attention shifted to the copper plates in front of us. From the Iyer trolley arrived a variety of chutneys — onion-tomato, gingergarlic, tamarind and coconut, followed by a serving of banana dosa and paniyaram. With its crisp exterior and soft interior, the paniyaram went well with the coconut chutney. Rather miniscule for an item that called itself “dosa”, the banana dosa, with its fleshy banana and cashew filling, nevertheless proved to be a great starter, something we could imagine taking along with tea. While the chef suggested it be taken along with the tamarind chutney, it tasted just as good with the tomato chutney.
The dish that wowed us was the kozhinoolappam soup, with strands of idiyappam and pieces of chicken bathed in coconut milk and ghee. “The soup as a starter is unheard of in traditional Kerala cuisine, so we decided to give it a Travancore twist,” Tisho says, introducing the dish to us. This bit of innovation from the chef certainly worked for our palate, and the soup emerged the winner of the evening. And then there were the nonvegetarian starters. Meen cheriya ulli roast arrived soaked in fiery red masala, and while the pieces were well-cooked, the masala could have been given some more time to seep into the fish. No such trouble existed with kanthari chicken, whose piquant green chilli went deep in. The spiciness kicked in only by the third piece, and by now we were repeatedly reaching out for glasses of water.
The royal feast
Once the fire in our tongues subsided, it was finally time for the main course. Alongside three curries — vellary pacha manga curry, a succulent mango dish; Travancore meen curry, a classic fish delicacy from south Kerala; and mutton malliyila chaps, mutton flavoured with coriander — were kallappam, vellappam and Kerala parotta. The fluffy kallappam, with its generous doses of grated coconut, made for a great combo with the mango dish and Travancore meen curry, while the parotta, with its varying textures of flaky and soft, was meant to be taken with the mutton chaps. And then there was the appam, fresh off the pan, that invited us to start crunching from the crispy edges and work our way towards the pillowy centre. The Travancore meen curry, with its sizable chunks of tender fish, hit all the right notes when it came to spiciness. The mutton malliyila chaps, with coriander and pepper in the right proportions, made for a particularly savoury diwsh. The mutton pieces were cooked to perfection, and taken with the parottas, transported us to some of the many eateries in Kerala.
Just when we thought another morsel would make our stomachs burst, the chef mentioned ‘payasam’ and we gladly nodded. The palada payasam had a thick consistency that made it slightly heavier than usual, but the amount of sugar was just about ideal, and we could not have asked for a better dessert. By then, the musicians, who kept playing in the background, had wound up their show, and it was a clear sign that the time had come for us to call it a day.