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More variety for vegetarians
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Fruit toffee kebab, pizza dosa... restaurants in the city are getting innovative with vegetarian food. SHONALI MUTHALALY visits some new entrants and finds out what makes them tick
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PHOTOS: K.PICHUMANI & S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
IT'S OPTIONS GALORE At Veg On The Edge.
Nobody's blaming the idlis. Or the ghee drenched dosas. Or even the cool bowls of creamy curd rice. It's just that vegetarian dining tended to get repetitive for people who did a lot of eating out. The same old chutneys: white, green and red. The same steaming sambar and peppery rasam. And, always menus flaunting enough paneer and potatoes to feed a small country.
For some inexplicable reason, in a city bursting with vegetarians, nobody even thought of getting innovative with vegetarian food. Till now.
The city's restaurateurs have finally woken up to the fact that vegetarians aren't some kind of exotic species that is happy to nibble lettuce leaves at home all day, and contently gnaw hunks of paneer when they dine out at night. A large number of people already shun meat for religious reasons. Now animal lovers are increasingly turning up their noses at chicken wings and mutton biriyani and embracing kinder food, while health buffs replace their fried sausages with steamed tofu. Now, stir-fried greens sell as well as steaks. If not better.
After all, when Eden, New Yorker and Little Italy began, they had people lined up outside their doors clamouring for vegetarian sizzlers and buttery bruchetta. Being vegetarian, they had the advantage of attracting both curious non-vegetarians as well as pure vegetarians, who till then had nowhere to go — unless they wanted regular South Indian fare — because they wouldn't eat at the hundreds of restaurants with kitchens that handled meat.
Completely vegetarian
Flower Drum.
"Because it's never completely vegetarian food," says Kalim, who runs the vegetarian Flower Drum restaurant at Prince Plaza. "Most restaurants may use egg or a meat stock or shrimp based sauces... We are totally vegetarian. We even import special vegetarian sauces." Kalim is probably this careful because he turned vegetarian himself about three years ago. "At first, I had nothing to eat," he laughs. And a good thing too. Because it forced him to conquer formidable odds to start Flower Drum, Chennai's first fine dining vegetarian Chinese restaurant. "I don't know whether it makes business sense. But I saw the trend and decided to encourage it," he says. A meal at Flower Drum brings together an astonishing variety of colours, textures, tastes, all presented with the kind of drama indispensable to a restaurant of this calibre: whether it's the clear soup, twanging with garlic and splashes of bright spinach and potato, or their skilfully created stir fry, crunchy and bursting with natural colours and flavours. Their secret? It's simple enough. "Don't treat vegetables like meat." So while other restaurants might fry the life out of their broccoli or cook brinjal vigorously in a self-defeating attempt to make it tasty, Flower Drum's Chef Sonam coaxes them to be themselves. "We take care with our food... less oil, less spices... It isn't just about eliminating chicken and lamb. There's much more to it," says Kalim.
If you've recently given up meat thanks to Nemo (`Fish are friends not food'), and still wake up chewing your pillow, craving sizzling fried fish, there's a place for you. The Malaysian vegetarian restaurant, Fusion Foods, in Royapettah does imitation fish and meat using soya and mushrooms. Their `mutton' ball curry is startlingly meaty and they even serve chunks of spicy tofu, cooked like chilly chicken, and soya shaped and fried like a whole fish. Krishnananda Anand, who runs the restaurant with her husband, says they import the tofu from Malaysia, and that all their publicity till now has been purely through word of mouth. "People who taste it, love it," she smiles, "especially those who have given up non-vegetarian food. They say — when they eat here — they don't miss it at all."
"The biggest fallacy is that vegetarian food has no variety," says Jyothi Daswani, from the cosy new Veg On The Edge in Anna Nagar. Restaurant owner, Vishal, agrees. "There are exotic fruits and vegetables flooding the market these days," he says. With all the fresh broccoli, zucchini, coloured bell peppers, Chinese pak choi, different kinds of mushrooms, sprouts available in the market, it's not surprising that chefs say whipping up a creative meal is never difficult.
"After all," says Patricia Vasanthakumari, managing director of the newly opened Sandheepa in T. Nagar, "With non-veg, the base is always the same: chicken, lamb, fish." Adds Jyothi, "Besides, you can do a lot with vegetables. Just a simple potato can be made in 100 ways."
Veg On The Edge can also turn everything, from their authentic pastas to their north Indian fare, into Jain food on request by eliminating garlic, onions, etc.
Everybody seems to be pulling out all the stops in the current competitive environment. Even South Indian restaurants, which traditionally drew crowds by just making basic idlis and dosas. Vasanta Bhavan, in fact, has just opened a new Namma Veedu in Vadapalani, which covers 33,000 sq ft. The stylish sprawl includes a tastefully done up lounge, a bright children's section and a chic courtyard. In keeping with the décor, the food includes the best from around the country, vegetarian Continental and Chinese cuisine, and — here's the surprise — an authentic gelato counter. It's clearly not just about idlis anymore.
"After all," says Patricia, "an idli will be an idli. A dosa will be a dosa." So, besides maintaining `home style' quality, they're attempting to be different by going all out with their kebabs. "We've even installed a charcoal tandoor, as the taste is much better," says Praveen Rajkumar, operations director of Sandheepa. Stating that they appeal to "corporates, residents and shoppers," in the area, he adds, "Now, non vegetarians also want to eat vegetarian food." So besides their range of 120 kebabs — including a fruit toffee kebab, stuffed capsicum and a sweet and spicy fruit chaat — they are introducing a diet menu featuring gems such as banana stem juice. Turning vegetarian might have meant a lifetime of dining out on dal.
Today, Praveen is planning small chocolate fondue units for individual tables at Sandheepa. At wildly successful Hotel Sennthur, on Anna Salai, you can even flirt with fusion food by trying their betel leaf dosais and gourmet ice-cream tinged with green chillies. It makes listening to your conscience so much easier.
Sandheepa.
Flower Drum (30228822): Stir-fried tofu with broccoli sautéed with ginger, garlic and red chilli sauce.
Fusion Foods (9840847010): Rich vegetarian `mutton' curry made with soya and mushrooms.
Sandheepa (42606750): Spicy achari paneer tikka made on an old-fashioned charcoal tandoor.
Namma Veedu.
Veg On The Edge: (45500006) A kebab platter made of cauliflower, mushroom, paneer and baby corn.
Namma Veedu: (23724555) Gelato with chocolate truffle, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, almonds.
Hotel Sennthur: (55468314) Pizza dosas topped with finely sliced vegetables, crisp onions and cheese.
* * *
Flower Drum (30228822): Stir-fried tofu with broccoli saut‚ed with ginger, garlic and red chilli sauce.
Fusion Foods (9840847010): Rich vegetarian `mutton' curry made with soya and mushrooms.
Sandheepa (42606750): Spicy achari paneer tikka made on an old-fashioned charcoal tandoor.
Veg On The Edge: (45500006) A kebab platter made of cauliflower, mushroom, paneer and baby corn.
Namma Veedu: (23724555) Gelato with chocolate truffle, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, almonds.
Hotel Sennthur: (55468314) Pizza dosas topped with finely sliced vegetables, crisp onions and cheese.
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