In many ways, Chennai does not do well with change. Most diners prefer to go to their usual haunt, sit at “their” table, order pretty much the same dishes.
So, what happens when a restaurant that hasn’t changed its character for a decade, decides to not only revamp its menu with a new chef, but also change everything from the decor to the plates?
You get the recently re-launched Above Sea Level, the rooftop restaurant at The Raintree, St. Mary’s Road. With new executive chef Deepak Dandge, the menu now features what he calls progressive cuisine: where the flavours remain authentic but the methods and presentation are different.
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He has previously worked with Sofitel, Marriott International, Taj hotels, Starwood and Orchid, and specialises in innovating with any cuisine he works with.
Molecular gastronomy is not new — especially if you have watched Heston Blumenthal whip up his beautiful dishes while standing in a haze of liquid nitrogen. But, it’s only now making its presence felt in the city, with several restaurants trying their hand at it.
Chef Deepak, too, has used several methods of foaming and spherification, to add elegance to the mainly-Indian menu. So, your dahi papdi will not hit the table drowning in yoghurt and slathered with mint chutney.
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Instead, the yoghurt sits on the papdi in the form of a sphere, and is topped with mint foam, pomegranate seeds and sev.
Both the curd rice (as a starter) and podi idli feature “air” mango pickle, where you can’t see any pickle, but once you pop it into your mouth, the tangy taste is certainly discernible. The podi idli also comes with a coconut foam, reminiscent of coconut chutney. The beetroot galouti kebab comes with a tiny ulta paratha and the palak and cream cheese kebab laced with garam masala is melt-in-the-mouth. The surprise of the lot is the rasa vadai: the sphere-shaped vadais, topped with coconut foam, are filled with rasam.
We battle some mosquitoes as we sip on a colourful mocktail and look out at the city skyline as dusk falls. The sweet and sticky Thanjavur duck empanada that is served next has a kick of chilli in it. An ordinary chicken and a lamb kebab later, the sous vide Chettinad lambchop is a revelation.
The spiced chops are cooked for seven hours and served with a beetroot puree in the form of a rangoli on the plate. It’s so tender, one hardly needs a knife to cut through it.
After this, the lamb rack that is served for the main course seems tough (although it is cooked well). The accompanying mushroom puree and red wine jus make up for it with their depth of flavour.
Call me traditionalist, but some things should never be messed with.
Like the swirly orange goodness that is jalebi. The warm, sticky, tangy delight ismeant to be dipped in rabdi and savoured.
Take that away and replace it with caviar-like spheres of deep-fried jalebi batter, and it loses a certain flavour and the nostalgia attached to it.
Another tweak that didn’t work for me was adding vermicelli as garnish for the biscuit cheesecake, which was delicious by itself. The mud pot Tiramisu — chocolate soil, Kahlua, mascarpone cheese with a chocolate disk — is complex in flavour and a comforting end to the meal.
After all, you can never go wrong with chocolate.