"Oh yeah!" exclaims Sowcar Janaki, a star from the golden age of Tamil Cinema as she stirs the wheat into a generous dollop of ghee to make Gol Papdi on a popular Tamil food channel.
"It's a favourite sweet of the Gujaratis" she explains looking straight into the camera. She wears her age as gracefully as her shimmering gold bordered Kancheepuram saree that is pinned with a floral brooch at the left shoulder, her trademark red Tikka with smaller black dot and a few grains of raw rice dotting its surface. Her hair is as crisply cut and swept upwards as one of the fried *vadams*, or fried rice crispies, that are served with the vegetable biriyani that is one of her star dishes.
At 80 plus and counting, (92 if truth be told), she could be Chennai's answer to Julia Child, America's celebrity television chef. Sowcar reveled in her role as a hostess who would cook for her guests at an outdoor Kerala style restaurant named Coconut Grove. Tinsel town with its mega studio locales attracted both stargazers and star couples of that generation who met during their late-night shoots for a pick-me-up (no pun intended). This was the heady era of Udupi style eateries with their “First Trip” coffee served in double steel containers to be frothed outside the windows of the cars parked under the trees of the iconic Woodlands open-air restaurant. People sat in their cars and watched other people sitting in their fancy automobiles as avidly as early morning bird watchers do today.
"Oh yeah!" is what a new generation of Chennai party animals are saying as the city that was asleep by 9 pm is rocking today. Chennai has stretched out its arms into what may be called the awake-at-all hours of the day Techno-burbs.
The Techno-burbans spill out during the weekends into the heart of the city attracted by the Star hotels with their trendy bars, staffed mostly by young people of north eastern origin; mixologists to help them choose their finely calibrated drinks in tall glasses waiting to be recorded on their phones and shared along with artfully arranged finger foods; and with hyperkinetic DJs spinning the void with decibel shattering music videos. After time out, the Chennai equivalent of the wild ones roar their way into safe havens, or bespoke farmhouses, on the parallel stretches of the highway known as ECR and OMR going southwards and soon to be connected by Metro stations.
This is not to downplay the image of the South Indians fondness for the iconic idli, or to suggest that there aren't places where the idlis still rise along with their Udupi gharana hand-maidens at places like the Palimar and Mathsya restaurants at Egmore; and the grand-daddy of them all at Woodlands on RK Salai.
The competition however comes in many forms. Murugan iddlis that are flat and almost like mini pancakes are easier to mass produce, there are the 'podi' or gunpowder dusted mini iddlies served as cocktail snacks, square iddlies, that for whatever aesthetic reasons have not found many takers, and even 7-star iddlies. These are part of the repertoire served at Avartana the fine dining restaurant at the ITC Grand Chola where the regular South Indian thali has been de-constructed into 15 different servings.
Recently, I treated myself to a lunch at Annalakshmi the fine dining restaurant that has re-imagined itself at a corner of Spurtank Road, Chetpet in a grander, more gracious avatar and was amazed at how they served old favourites in a new style. The vadas were small enough to slip on to your ring finger and very light served with tiny glass bowls filled with a delicate chutney. Equally, the steamed rice dumplings came in the form of finger thick pillows and the numerous rice dishes were accompanied by an array of pickles in decorative ‘baranis’. Here I cannot help but mention the amazing compendium of one thousand pickle recipes collected by Usha R Prabhakaran in her Usha's Pickle Digest. I have been told that her next book will reveal the secrets of one thousand rasams.
Finally, however, let it be said that what sets Chennai apart is its Golden Food Mile beneath the Bazullah Flyover across the Panagal Park at T Nagar. Tucked between the towers of jewellery shops are an army of biriyani specialists, striking their ladles against the pots of steaming rice and spiced meats, or just potatoes Bengali-Awadh style. It's an Arabian night of fragrances as each biriyani tells a story of its origins.
GEETA DOCTOR
The writer is a lifestyle critic