Memories of cheese souffle

The Taj Coromandel pulls out all the stops and returns to old favourites at its current restaurants

November 21, 2014 01:53 pm | Updated 01:53 pm IST - chennai:

The cheese souffle

The cheese souffle

There’s something about the remembrance of past meals, of menus, chefs and restaurants long forgotten, that brings out a sense of longing so strong that it can only be called sensual.

“It’s the place where I went to first after my marriage,” confesses Vidya Singh, the city’s celebrated marriage planner, as she watches us dig into our tiny pots of individual cheese souffles. Her business partner, Rekha, all but reaches out to taste a scoop of the Currimbhoy’s salad that lies on my plate.  

We are sitting at Anise, Taj Coromandel’s round-the-clock restaurant, under the benign gaze of executive chef Alok Anand. He has re-created some of the old favourites as they were first served at the restaurants that came before Anise — the Pavilion and Matchpoint. Real men and some women ate at Matchpoint; the platters of sizzling kebabs piled on metal plates. Today’s organic vegetable brigade would, without doubt, be appalled at the mounds of animal proteins. Alok, too, can’t resist taking a bite of the classic Fish Meuniere floating in its butter sauce. “It takes me back to my days as a student at catering college,” he says, “these were classic dishes that were introduced as the best of French cuisine.”

When the Patio first opened in Chennai in the early '90s, the city was still a wet gastronomic rice land. Curd rice ruled the taste buds. A macaroni bake with white sauce thick enough to paste envelopes was considered the height of culinary accomplishment. The very idea that you had to sit down to a meal and try and get a grip on the shining cutlery, wine glasses and starched serviettes, not to mention the archaic conventions of whether to sip or gulp down the small quantity of wine that the sommelier offered to you was so outlandish that people predicted that the Patio would close down in just a couple of weeks.

The first (and forever) chef at the Patio was a tall, dark and handsome young man named Fabian. There was nothing that he could not turn his hand to in the continental department that was not just superb, but if there are two of his signature dishes, these must be the Camembert soufflé and the chocolate fondant that he could whip up with supreme confidence. We shall not rhapsodise over the fondant, after all chocolate in any form is bound to be a success, you need not bake it into a small turret of hot chocolate and place it in a puddle of crème Anglaise, with tiny chocolate curls and pennants to make it memorable, though this is what he used to do.

It’s the soufflé that was outstanding. An entire disc of Camembert cheese would be steamed into a firm, yet yielding mound of warm goat’s cheese and as if this were not enough, napped very gently in a light mousseline of asparagus sauce and glazed with a scattering of grated Cheddar, that would be toasted under a Salamander for just a few seconds.

With their small loaves of nutty breads and shaped dinner rolls, served with round herbed butterballs no larger than a fairy’s bottom and just as creamy, sparkling wines and salads, this was a dish to remember.

Then, of course, there was Chef Hardy Cheung at the Golden Dragon. He was the consummate chef and entertainer. Chef Hardy would come to the table and whirl his noodle dough around like a magician to make a curtain of fine noodles that he would drape around his arm before flinging them into a pot of boiling broth. His tradition of Schezwan-Cantonese cuisine is still being stir-fried in every wok at the Golden Dragon, with the addition of more trendy bites.

As for Southern Spice, that started as Mysore under Chef Nataraj, the grand traditions of Thanjavur style cuisine, or Madurai and Mangalore, as well as Chettinad were showcased in an opulent style. We taste some of these, with tears in our eyes, not entirely out of nostalgia, let it be said. The Mangalore fish curry is served with sannas, the Paya curry, or lamb trotters Chettinad style comes with string hoppers, and no doubt the chicken stew would be served with Kerala style appams, but we resist doing the full South India tour.

For desserts it’s back to the Patio. Or in its current form, Prego. What can we say as a Grand Marnier souffle is placed in front of us? Tender is the past.

The Nostalgia Menu, on till the end of this month, typical to each of the old restaurants is served a la carte. A meal for two costs Rs. 3000.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.