Madras Week was a wonderful feast not just for the eyes and ear but, most importantly, for the tongue. The food festival at GRT Radisson was the one that set tongues ‘wagging’ with its Madras delicacies.
When I enquired about the dishes and their origin, chef Vijay Kumar said it was a fact that Madras – that is Chennai now - doesn’t have its own cuisine and most of the dishes that we enjoy today have been adopted from various European countries.
From the big old cuckoo clock and wall hangings and the huge Central Station replica and the mithai corner which had various old snacks of Chennai like Madras mixture, mota kara sev, kai murukku, thattai, seedai and thenkuzhal, everything depicted old Madras.
It was verily a Madrasi dinner which had ilaneer, neermore and panagam as welcome drink followed by crispy thavalai vadais and all-time favourties - ladoos, adhirasams and aval payasam – also. The soups were Karimilagu rasam, Idicha kozhi soup.
There was also some tasty non-vegetarian dishes like Madras fish curry, kodi joint, lamb curry and some very old granny’s recipes like kathirikai paal kootu and mullangi keerai vendhayam thalipu and dishes which have great medicinal value were also there.
There were also some standard veggie south Indian ones like the masal dosai and thayir vadais, the thakkali parupu, sepan roast and steamed rice. Out of the entire lot, mangai more kuzhambu and pusinikkai sambar had a homely taste.
The best part of the dinner was “The Maami’s Corner” where they made hot bhajjis and yummy appams which just grabbed people’s attention that most of the foreigners were found at the counter.
Talking about dessert, Ashoka halwa, payasam, kelviragu kanji, gulab jamun, badham kheer, kuchi ice and paneer Soda were outstanding.
Asking about the response to this 10-day fest symbolising Vintage Madras and its cuisine, the chef says that it was a very successful event and they had got incredible patronage from the people. Truly, the way to a Madrasi’s (read Chennaiite’s) heart is through the stomach!
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