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Health on a plate

Light! Fare on offer

How often have you left a restaurant table feeling like a sinking ship? Now The Metropolitan Hotel has another option. Enjoy their “low cal” meal at Chutney, the Indian restaurant. At the end of it you can still breezily sail into the day. This one promises and provides both health and taste.

The vegetarian platter clocks in at 454 calories. And the non-vegetarian one is 479 calories. No, you are not going to get butter chicken and dal makhini in these calories. Instead, you get a wholesome and complete meal. The meal is like a thali but you have to choose from a few givens.

Don’t be scared off by the opening lime juice. The promise of a healthy meal seems to be a bitter one. The limejuice is certainly too sour for comfort and one wonders what’s in store.

But the final platter proves that health can be tasty. The fish tikka appetiser is truly wonderful. Lightly marinated and gently cooked, it cuts with a spoon and melts in the mouth. It can be had with a cleverly tangy aamla chutney. If you have more extreme tastes try the banana peal chutney. It’s a tad bitter, and might be appreciated by the karela types. The mushroom and green onion curry is good. They haven’t been stingy with the mushrooms. And the green onion adds sufficient zest. The brown rice pulao initially takes some getting used to. But the unpolished taste and feel goes well with the mushroom curry. The palak dal can be appreciated for its homely taste devoid of ghee flourishes. The green salad is not really worth mention, since it consists only of a few insignificant and bland slivers of cucumbers and carrots. The sweet dish could have been a bit more imaginative. Cut pieces of fruit are beautifully arranged on a plate. But it would certainly benefit from a light dressing without compromising on its calorie count.

Gautam Kumar, the Master Chef, says that the low calorie menu has been the result of research and effort. The calories have been kept to a minimum using olive oil and skimmed milk products and organic rice. The platters can also be ordered without onion and garlic.

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