Little Chettinad in East Delhi

August 01, 2014 08:26 pm | Updated 08:26 pm IST - New Delhi

Rohini and Gautaman, owners of Smoky Chettinad in Mayur Vihar Phase I. Photo S. Subramanium

Rohini and Gautaman, owners of Smoky Chettinad in Mayur Vihar Phase I. Photo S. Subramanium

The phone rang on Sunday morning, just as I was going through the newspapers. The caller was a die-hard foodie called Avijit, who once in a while informs me about some little place where you get good food (mostly in East Delhi, where he also lives). I had just heard about the place that he mentioned — a small takeaway called Smoky Chettinad in Mayur Vihar Phase 1.

I was interested. You don’t get Chettinad food very easily in Delhi, though some of the five-star hotels do have restaurants which serve good South Indian non-vegetarian food. But while Kerala food can be found in several small eateries, Tamil non-vegetarian food is hard to get. The new Tamil Nadu House in Chanakyapuri does serve non-vegetarian fare, but its menu is limited.

So a couple of days after Avijit’s call, I took a detour on my way back home to check out the place. Smoky Chettinad is in the DDA Market in Acharya Niketan (Shop 2, Local Shopping Complex, DDA Market, Acharya Niketan, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, mobile numbers: 9958267921 and 9560920440). If you enter the market from the main gate, you will find Smoky Chettinad on your right. It’s small and easy to miss — so be sharp.

As luck would have it, I was there on a Tuesday, so the place was shut. I went back there the next day and found it open. I thought I would get some biryani packed and take it with me. But the cooks were still busy putting their ingredients together, and I was in a hurry. So I called up and placed an order for the evening.

The eatery only serves chicken, apart from two vegetarian dishes — Chettinad vegetable biryani (Rs.280) and Chennai parottas (Rs.40). They have on the menu Chettinad chicken biryani (Rs.310), Chettinad pepper chicken (Rs.190), Chettinad chicken curry (Rs.220), chicken 65 (Rs.190) and mini chicken samosas (Rs.35 for four). I asked for a plate of the biryani and the pepper chicken, and the food was delivered at my doorstep at dinnertime.

I must say the food was rather good. The rice in biryani had been nicely spiced (and it wasn’t red and yellow, as Delhi biryani is, but a nice shade of roasted brown). The chicken pieces in the biryani were huge and juicy, and the biryani came with a small helping of raita. The pepper chicken again was tasty — peppery, but not red hot, and the gravy was flavourful but not thick with masalas.

I had a chat with the owners (a couple called Gautaman and Rohini) and found that the eatery has been functioning since May. The focus is on fresh, spicy food, but thankfully not so spicy that you need a fire extinguisher.

I hope that with time, they’ll add some mutton dishes to the menu. Right now, they cook mutton biryani only when there is a bulk order. But I’d also like to try out the chicken 65 and samosas, which the menu card mentions.

Incidentally, I like the menu card (a one-page bill) too. There’s a sweet looking, moustachioed man on it wearing a mundu. He is smiling broadly — which is a good omen.

Rahul Verma is a seasoned street food connoisseur

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