When a creative cuisine of crabs and squids to oysters, prawns and mussels are laid out on your table in exciting flavours, eating obviously hits a new high. And it was exactly so at Hotel Fortune Pandiyan, an inspiring affair with sea food. The seafood dim sums don’t take time to arrive and I find the steamed Chinese dumplings stuffed with finely chopped seer fish along with the garlic sauce a perfect starter for the three day seafood festival. Executive Chef Kesava Kumar promises he will alternate the stuffing inside the dim sums and prawns are his first choice.
Talking of prawns, the continental cuisine prawn cocktail was bland on the tongue initially. Later it revealed a tinge of sweetness, something that would perhaps charm guests who are not used to spicy food. The children in particular will like it.
With an array of salads and fish patties, you will be spoilt for choice. The Tuna fish salad is a perfect match for the tangy Chettinad Sankara Meen Kozhambu . “We bring fresh fish from Rameswaram everyday. The Sankara fish tastes good in gravy. We carefully categorise fish that are good for gravies and that taste betterwhen fried,” says the Chef.
This dish is prepared with Chettinad masala and the broth is infused with flavours of nutmeg, anise seeds and a dash of tamarind pulp to make a spicy gravy.
The Malabar Meen Kozhambhu is prepared with coconut milk and kodampuli (kokum, a special tamarind variety from Kerala). The chef has carefully picked tasty recipes from Indian, Chinese and Continental cuisines to suit different palates.
Do not miss the Malabar soft shell crab, crispy fried squids in oyster sauce, Mussels stew and pickled shrimps in particular. Going with the mood of the guests, the chef may add a mutton or chicken dish in the menu.
A food festival is incomplete without the biryani and this time the chef is preparing Prawn Dum Biryani. But it was the Patrani Machli that stole my taste buds. The seer fish wrapped in a banana leaf is cooked in Parsi style with the dominating flavour of coriander.
The creamy Phirni winds up the culinary journey very well. The sea food festival titled “Culinary Pearls from Bay of Bengal” is on at Orchid, the multi-cuisine restaurant till November 29. It costs Rs. 700 plus tax per adult and Rs.400 plus taxes for children below 10 years. For more information, contact 82201 36666.
