Evening to remember

LOTS OF things are happening in our city the past two months. The festive mood, Christmas, Pongal, the holiday spirit, and the weather. Another fortnight or so and you'll start feeling the heat. Anyway, it looks as though spending power has increased. Every other person has a credit card. Petrol pumps see long lines of two wheelers and cars. More people are eating out, the restaurants are full. Food has become a passion.

Little wonder, something seems to be happening at Sagari, Chola Sheraton's rooftop restaurant, all the time. We ran into the ever-busy sales manager Punnet Suri. "We hold all our food festivals here nowadays," he said as he looked out for a table for us. It was near a huge French window, from where we had a wonderful view of the gaily lit city. Rainbow, a popular tree- member Filipino band, was playing a lilting number at Sagari's "Windows to the World" festival.

For starters, there were chaat items. The man behind the counter seemed to be a wizard - his guests kept coming for more. It is difficult to resist chaat in any season, that too on such a chilly evening.

This was followed by pastas. O.P. Khantwal, executive chef, is always smiling, and his warmth is spontaneous. "Here's the latest - cooking at the site," he added. This counter is not a showpiece, "it helps customers to choose."

There were two soups, we skipped them. My friend, a strict vegetarian, proceeded to the other tables. I made it to the huge platter of beef that Khantwal recommended. It did taste good, but I thought it was a little too spicy. Another guest next to me said I could be wrong. He had been in the continent for long, lived in Germany for many months. It may be a bit too rich, that's all. "A sure 'no' on the doctor's chart," Khantwal said.

Many liked the curd rice with cauliflower poriyal. "It tastes like home food", they said. Someone in the group suggested we try the dosas. It was a treat - crisp and roasted just right. The chutneys were a perfect accompaniment. So too the sambaar, tangy and steaming hot. We decided to look around.

The menu is divided into sections - North Indian, South Indian, Continental and Chinese. Each featured soups, starters, salads and a main course. By the way, the flavour of the kebabs lingered long after you had eaten them. The pan Asian dishes had a distinctness of their own. "That's because of the ingredients," said Khantwal. Incidentally, he has 25 years of service behind him.

We talked to a few more guests who were on this journey of gastronomic delight. Our taste buds were tired, we had loosened our belt buckles more than two notches. All the guests had the same things to say - "the food is good, no complaints." The price? "We don't think that Rs. 425 is costly," they said. There was a doctor who had come all the way from Tiruvallur, with his family, "just for this buffet." He and his brother-in-law, Rajkumar, a bank official, are members of the Sheraton Club. (Members pay Rs. 5,000 a year and get a discount on their bill). A spokesman of the management said this scheme had attracted a lot people, especially the young crowd - company executives, computer engineers, doctors, campus radicals. "If I order a la carte," said Dr. Dayalan as he passed by, "I have to pay Rs. 125 for a soup, Rs. 275 for the main course, and not less than Rs. 150 for dessert. And there's nothing adventurous about it."

All good thing have to end - but not before the dessert. So, after tasting the delicious tanginess of the fresh lemon tart and a scoop of ice cream, we left. It was a lovely evening at Sagari - any evening is.

NANDAKUMAR

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