THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is that time of the year when we await the delectable ‘Onasadya’ comprising more than 20 items. The pandemic might have disrupted regular Onam celebrations but a Malayali cannot do away with the traditional sadya. Nevertheless, several caterers and hotels in the city have opened bookings for Onasadya kits and introduced digital coupons for deliveries. Akshaya Caterers has been providing Onasadya kits for the past 10 years but was doubtful of the same this time.
“Usually, August to September is our peak season since we get many sadya orders for occasions such as weddings. Besides this, various organisations and offices also give us bulk orders for Onasadya. However, due to the pandemic, we were not planning on the kits but the increased demand made us rethink. We have taken prior permission from the authorities concerned to deliver kits since there are restrictions,” said Anilkumar S K of Akshaya Caterers.
Akshaya has planned to provide 600 kits – a sadya kit can serve up to five persons. The lunch includes chips, pappad, various vegetables, three varieties of pickles, traditional aviyal, sambar, dal, rasam and varieties of payasams with a plantain or boli, a sweet snack. “Each kit is priced at Rs 2,250 and customers are provided with coupons to avail of their kits.
To ensure social distancing, each customer will be given a time slot to arrive for collection,” he said. “This is the first-time that we have introduced digital coupons for contactless delivery of Onasadya kits. The digital coupon system concept has been introduced in the wake of the pandemic to maintain social distancing. Kits will be left at the doorstep by our staff members,” said Nirmal Kumar, managing partner of BIG Kitchen.
BIG Kitchen will provide sadya kits on August 31 at I2,599 serving up to five people and will include different varieties of payasam such as Ambalappuzha pal payasam along with their special unniyappam. “Last year, we sold just 200 kits but this year our target is to sell more than 500 kits,” he said.High-end hotels and restaurants have also introduced sadya packages with home delivery options. “Since we have only a few takers for dine-in, sadya kits will be delivered,” said Akhil A Vijay, corporate assistant general manager of sales and marketing, Rajadhani Group of Hotels.
Takeaways available on August 30 and 31
● Akshaya Caterers,Sasthamangalam 0471-2722501
● Rajadhani Group of Hotels7561077773
● BIG Kitchen 9895145450, 9946697920
● Hilton Garden Inn, Statue 8111886843