Sushi in Kanchipuram? Curious, I Google ‘Tokyo’ restaurant, but there’s little available online, besides a rather drab picture of a table carefully set with Japanese-themed tatami mats and chopsticks. A little more research throws up a surprising number of new Japanese restaurants in and around Chennai: almost 20 in total, much more if you count the proliferation of hotels that now boast menus featuring sushi, sashimi and Teppanyaki, in addition to bread pudding and butter chicken staples.
With a sizeable expatriate population, because of the many Korean and Japanese companies based in Chennai, the city has always offered a fairly comprehensive range of Asian food. However, these have usually been in the form of small, dark and discreet restaurants, with basic menus, abrupt service and no frills. Dahlia, for instance, set in an unabashedly grubby building, is virtually a cramped living room, with a blaring TV, plastic menu and excellent sushi. Yet, it has been one of Chennai’s most popular Japanese restaurants for more than a decade.
The new wave of restaurants, many backed by local chefs and restaurateurs, is all set to change the way people view Japanese food, making it more accessible, less intimidating and undisputedly trendy.
Knock back a whisky, or four, at A2, The Park’s sushi bar. Sit cross-legged at stylish Fuji, and work your way through plates of impeccably-sliced sashimi. Drop by Sushi In A Box, enveloped by cheery Manga-plastered walls, to grab bento boxes to eat at work. Or sample traditional chilled buckwheat noodles at Hyatt Regency’s sleek pop-up Yakiniku, which has proved to be so popular, it’s been running since last December, and is eventually likely to be turned into a permanent restaurant.
A dragon roll at A2. Photos: R.Ravindran and R.Ragu But first, still intrigued by the far-flung restaurants, set up to serve expatriate staff at the factories in Sriperumbudur, I decide to trek across and sample the food. There’s Miyabi, which calls itself ‘Japanese – Korean.’ The menu posted online, however, lists Carpaccio, chicken kebabs and chilli paneer. Aji-To on the OMR seems more promising, as it is reportedly famous for bento boxes. The interiors are spacious and charming, with friendly goldfish painted across the wall, a profusion of fluffy cushions and velvety-pink slippers for guests.
Then the food arrives. There’s no fish at all, so I settle for prawn sushi. The maki roll has been put together with the finesse of a five-year-old playing with clay. It unravels as I pick it up with chopsticks to reveal a prawn that is greying like a reluctant movie star. Pushing it away, I turn my attention to the chicken yakitori, unyielding chunks of meat half-heartedly slapped with soya sauce. Wasabi? The chatty waitress opens the kitchen door and yells, “Green colour chutney?” They have none. The bill’s about Rs.1,200. Not a promising start to this ‘chic Japanese restaurant explosion’ story.
Fortunately, my next stop is The Park’s newly-opened sushi bar at A2. Chef Rahul Shrivastava has just flown in from Delhi to take over. As he puts together a dramatic dragon roll, he talks about how customers across India are embracing Japanese food and ingredients. In an attempt to appeal to the Indian palate, he’s experimenting with various tweaks and twists. “I sear the fish on maki rolls. I have deep-fried sushi encrusted with panko crumbs and topped with tobiko {flying fish eggs}.”
Chef Rahul Shrivastava at The Park hotel. Photos: R.Ravindran and R.Ragu Realising that local customers enjoy elaborate rolls, he’s constructing a range of fairly complex concoctions using truffle miso, sake-spiked eel sauce and soy-pickled onions. There’s also a range of vegetarian rolls, topped with skinned bell peppers and filled with gooey cream cheese.
If you prefer something more traditional, try Fuji, which boasts a talented Japanese master chef, Migita Masao from Kyushu (the south-westernmost of Japan’s main islands). He’s shy, so it takes an hour-and-a-half for the team to convince him to emerge from the kitchen to say hello. It’s worth the wait. He slices tuna and salmon sashimi for me, and his knife work is like poetry.
About 75 per cent of the customers here are expatriates, so while the menu is extensive, the food is traditional, with clean, simple flavours. Sushi and sashimi comprise just about 20 per cent of the menu: the rest is devoted to Japanese comfort food. The rice bowls (Donburi) topped with anything from raw fish to grilled eel, are popular, as is the Agemono section, offering deep-fried eggplant, crumbed chicken and pork cutlets. As 40 per cent of the fish used is local — Red snapper, Squid and Barracuda — prices are competitive.
Japanese master chef Migita Masao slicing sashimi. Photos: R.Ravindran and R.Ragu Which brings us to Sushi In A Box, with its cheeky interiors, reassuringly uncomplicated menu and an efficient team led by a woman chef. The restaurant, which opened just a couple of weeks ago, takes Japanese food, till now seen as rather stuffy, into an appealingly fun space. Between running from table to table taking orders, Ehjaz Manath, one of the three owners, says they began in 2013, offering bento boxes. “We operated from a small two-bedroom apartment in Alwarpet, making the food, packing it and delivering to customers.” When they started getting about 40 orders a day, they realised the market was growing steadily. “A large number of Indians were ordering from us. We figured the time was right for a restaurant.”
A bento box at Sushi in a Box. Photos: R.Ravindran and R.Ragu This kitchen uses a wide range of local fish, ranging from popular seer to lesser-known leatherfish. “Freshness is key. About 70 per cent of what we serve is local, because we get a delivery straight from the market every day.” This also enables them to keep pricing relatively low. In an attempt to encourage people to think beyond sushi, they offer a slew of Japanese stir fries, rice bowls, salads and soups. About 50 per cent of the menu is vegetarian, and fortunately, they don't cop out by just serving up various versions of paneer and potato. Choose from pickled plum maki, seaweed salad and cold green tea noodles. Ehjaz says they will be restarting bento boxes, and plan to tie up with services like Swiggy so they can easily reach offices and homes across the city.
Madhav Sehgal, general manager of Hyatt Regency, is delighted with the response to Yakiniku, an impromptu pop-up restaurant set up at the hotel lobby in November last year when they flew down a chef from Tokyo. “It was supposed to run for four weeks — and it’s still on!” He says the pop-up offered flexibility to experiment with various prototypes and test the waters.
Spread at Sushi in a Box. Photos: R.Ravindran and R.Ragu Open only for dinner, Yakiniku proved to be so popular, Edition Two opened in February this year. Although the market is competitive, he says his team has an advantage. “Authenticity. This food is simple, beautiful and comforting. But it has to be done just right. And that’s the challenge.”
