Legend has it that nutcrackers serve as trusty watchdogs, guarding your family from evil spirits and danger. But at NutCracker, the multi-cuisine restaurant at Days Hotel, Padur, the tall and stately statues of the German dolls at the door are an object of endless amusement and excitement. Nearly every visitor stops to take a selfie with them. The theme continues inside, with nutcrackers of various sizes and designs lining the walls.
The restaurant features a wide spread on the buffet, with three vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters, five salads, soup, 10 vegetarian and six non-vegetarian main course options, Indian breads and eight desserts, apart from the usual accompaniments of salad dressings, papads and vadams, in-house made gunpowders, breads, pickles and curd rice, and a kids menu. There’s also a live pasta and chaat counter, a Mongolian stir-fry counter and pizza. At Rs. 777 plus taxes per head, for lunch and dinner, it’s quite a steal.
We opt to go a la carte, to try out executive chef Satyaseelan’s specialities. Prawns crisply grilled with a coating of curry leaves are a great way to start off the meal. The pacha patani (green peas) vadai is clunky and lacks a certain refinement that one would expect in a restaurant of this kind. Tender saffron chicken from the tandoor has a delicate flavour.
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From the Indian section, we switch to Oriental: crisp and spice-packed Thai lamb, salt-and-pepper baby corn and the staple Phuket fish are tasty, but not memorable. As for the continental selection, the lamb chops are a tad overcooked, but the corn-fed chicken makes up for it with both flavour and the accompanying potato mash and fresh vegetables.
Prakash Chandran, the general manager, says, “We have a number of Japanese long-stay guests, and so have a special menu with Japanese cuisine. They like their food fresh and simple, and we try to give them what they would get at home.”
They also serve Bento boxes, which the hotel guests can pick up and go, for breakfast. We’re served tempura batter-fried vegetables — one really can’t go wrong with this. The assorted sushi platter with nigiri (a slice of raw fish on top of sushi rice) and sashimi (raw fish served with shoyu, wasabi and pickled ginger) is not the most delicate or finely cut, but scores high on taste and freshness. The kastu don is a kind of Japanese fried rice bowl, with a chicken cutlet instead of the traditional pork, topped with eggs. This has us going back for seconds.
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We take a walk up to the soon-to-be-launched rooftop restaurant space and enjoy the breeze from the faintly-visible backwaters of OMR. Here, we’re served a sampler portion of dessert, simply because we can’t manage any more. While the walnut brownie and banana cake are quite good, the chef’s signature dessert, Tulsi Rasagulla, is what we’re excited about. The rasagulla itself is green, and the sugar syrup too has been infused with tulsi, which tones down the sweetness, while adding a refreshing dimension. It’s certainly a wonderful way to round off the meal.