The Hindu Business Line : Aamchi food in Chennai

Bollywood, local trains, Juhu beach and Sachin Tendulkar… these are the popular images associated with Mumbai. But there is something more about this megapolis that enchants — it’s the Mumbaiyya free spirit. And when it comes to food, too, the city’s spirit is intact, as we discovered at the recent ‘Mumbai Chatpatta’ festival organised by the Accord Metropolitan hotel in Chennai.

We arrived at the hotel’s Seasons restaurant for dinner and discovered that Mumbai was in the air, literally! The walls were covered with Hindi film posters and there was Sarfarosh’s Aamir Khan staring down Gangajaal’s Ajay Devgan at the opposite end. Pictures of the Juhu beach as well as other famous localities such as Bandra and Kurla added to the overall effect. The diners mainly consisted of Chennaiites out for a taste of Mumbai, but a French couple and another Korean couple were also seen enjoying the interesting setting. Lending more colour to the proceedings were the waiters dressed as the world-famous dabbawallas of aamchi Mumbai.

The dim lighting and the lilting film songs playing in the background set us in the right mood for the evening. For a moment we felt truly transported to Mumbai and its gallis, where one can grab a bite of Macchi Patia (smoked fish) at one of the many street-food stalls that exist cheek-by-jowl with the madly rushing traffic.

Metro menu

We started with the soup — a simple but tasteful concoction featuring lentils, mild spices and a dollop of butter. The soup worked up our appetite and we eagerly headed for the main course.

Chef Sridhar had laid out a large spread. But to get to it we had to first stop at ‘Raju Chaat Bhandar’ and an unnamed ‘pav’ shop. I personally don’t care for chaat at dinnertime but couldn’t resist the Sev Puri. The crispy sev, made of gram flour, is used liberally as a topping in all Mumbai chaats; the dahi batata puri and dahi behl were a big hit, too.

No foodie can resist dhokla, the signature snack from Gujarat whose taste is heightened by the accompanying chutney.

Coming to the main course, the pulao and other rice preparations were placed in large earthen pots. Konkani Macchi (fish), Jardalu Gosht (mutton) and Marathwada Ke Kababi Gosht (mutton again) were some of the regional delicacies on offer.

I went for some Konkani Chicken, which is a speciality of Maharashtrians residing on the west coast.

The dish takes 45 minutes to cook and is flavoured with bay leaves, coriander, black pepper and cinnamon sticks. Baked pomfret, a Parsi favourite, was decently done with good helpings of grated cheese. Being a Bengali, fishes are what we thrive on and the pomfret seemed heavenly!

To round off the Mumbai culinary tour, we stopped for desserts at ‘Vadilal Sweets’.

The Puran Poli, a delicacy made out of jaggery, channa flour, cardamom powder and ghee, was delicious. Besan ke laadu, jalebi and Bombay h alwa equally fought for attention.

With nearly 50 dishes on offer, the buffet was priced Rs 506 (inclusive of taxes) per head.