Mixed package

Once upon a time, there was a Goan restaurant on the T.T.K Road, called Panjim. But alas! It met with an untimely death. Now like the phoenix, it has risen again with a few changes in the decor as Pandiya Nadu to give us Madurai cuisine. The menu is very similar to any Chettinad restaurant, give or take a few dishes. But the speciality section features some interesting dishes like karuvadu kozhambu and raktha poriyal. For starters, it was again Gobi fry or Chicken 65 though these are not on the menu. After that original, true-to-soil beginning things got better. The Chicken soup (Rs.35) was passable.

The karuvadu kozhambu (Rs.55) and venthiya curry (Rs.38) were good. Dry fish smell is not everyone's idea of appetising aroma, but for its aficionados, a whiff is enough to make your mouth water as mine did as soon as the curry arrived on our table. The mutton chops (Rs.50) didn't stray from the beaten path. Besides it was more like a mutton bone curry as the odds on finding meat was 60-40. By the way, there was a separate bone curry on the menu. After the mutton chops, I wonder how that would be.

Sorra puttu (Rs.55) was the other victim of maximising syndrome. It was more of an egg podimas as there were precisely six or seven fish flakes in the dish. The staples ordered were vegetable kothu parotta (Rs.35) and ragi dosai (Rs.15). The first one was a rather soggy mass and one had to peer hard to distinguish the parotta flakes. Ragi dosa was something innovative and a must try item.

Though the prices seemed reasonable, when the dishes are served, you might want to change your opinion. The portions are remarkably small and scrounging on fish and mutton is in bad taste.

At the dessert stage, the quantity deteriorated from small to tiny. Wheat halwa (Rs.33), the only choice of the day, was very good. Sadly one barely tasted it. We were told that each serving is 50-60 gms. At that rate, even after taking into account the establishment and other sundry expenses, it would be one of the most expensive wheat halwa ever made.

Madurai under the Pandiya rule was a land of plenty, at least according to history books. There is still time for the local Pandiya Nadu too to be one.

MARIEN MATHEW

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Features
Previous : The lucky streak continues
Next     : Young visionaries