From Thai, with spice

ON A Tuesday night, we thought that getting a table would be easy. A nearly 15-minute wait in the lobby of the Benjarong, TTK Road, made us wiser. Apparently, Chennaiites appreciate fine dining on all days of the week.

Benjarong has everything that it takes to make eating an interesting experience. The sensation overload starts at the parking lot itself. It's a night thing. The reflection of the large tree outside on the dark glasses of the facade is as delicate and beautiful as work on a Ming vase. Inside, it is AMBIENCE in capital letters. The cleverly highlighted artefacts, rooms and corners that give enough privacy to the diners, a tastefully done up backyard, elegant furniture... no effort is spared to put you at ease.

Starting from the complimentary nibbles, pineapple with peanut ball, Benjarong is a perfect example of the many facets of Thai food, which are often blown away by those miniature dynamites - bird's eye chillies. Another pleasant factor is that it is authentic only enough to suit our palate. Too much reality, especially when it comes to regional fish preparations, can be jarring at times. There is plenty of galangal, lemon grass, basil, chillies, makrud leaves and coconut milk to send your taste buds and nose into an overdrive.

The chef, Regi Mathew, took upon himself the task of sending us the signature dishes of the restaurant. His enthusiasm had an alarming effect on our waistbands. The deep-fried chicken wrapped in Pandanus leaves (Rs. 138) was succulent as promised on the menu. Juices flowed out as one opened the wrapper.

Tom yam (Rs. 118), the spicy, clear soup with 'goong' prawns - followed. If there is a dish that can typify Thai cuisine, it is this. What we had was a toned down version on request, as I didn't particularly care to have the rest of my dinner with a burned out, insentient tongue. So we did get to savour the prawns and take in the fragrance of the herbs and the rhizome.

The surprise package was the vegetable clear soup with glass noodles (Rs. 88). Even the strongly flavoured Tom yam couldn't eclipse the fragile beauty of it.

The Thai green papaya salad (Rs. 118) was good. The dried shrimps and crushed peanut combo has always been a personal favourite of mine. At this point, the chef decided that we needed more seafood than meat. So out came fried calamaris with peppercorns and garlic (Rs. 178), fish in garlic, chilli and basil sauce (Rs. 188) and soft-shelled crab (Rs. 298). It was not on the menu. Of the three, every mouthful of the pomfret set off by the lovely sauce was an experience. The squid was done well while the crab didn't ring any bell. The chicken tossed with cashew nuts and dry red chillies was nice and had strong Chinese overtones.

Regi Mathew made a mean green curry (Rs. 178), true to tradition. There is a selection of rice and noodle dishes on the menu.

Water chestnut rubies in chilled coconut milk (Rs. 128) was the dessert choice. Light, cooling and extremely satisfying, it was an exquisite end to our evening.

Benjarong has no competition in the city (including the star hotels which serve some Thai dishes). If the same value for money formula is followed, there isn't likely to be any in the near future either.

MARIEN MATHEW

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