A mound of steaming rice and, beside it, thakkali pachadi , vazhakkai poriyal , avial — the spread on a clean green banana leaf looked delicious.
We are at the newly opened Grand Café for a quick lunch. Grand Café is a unit of the famous C.S. Hotels that has been serving food from the 1930s.
C.V. Kishore, partner, Grand Café, says, “We don’t use any garlic or onion. Our USP is simple food that is healthy and low on spices. That is one of the reasons we have repeat customers from the neighbouring court complex, Collectorate and private establishments. Our food tradition was started by my grandfather during the pre-independence times. It was my grandfather’s residence, which has been converted into Grand Café.”
The ambience is pleasing, feels at home and you also have a bevy of happy staff at your service. I begin my meal on a sweet note with the milk cake.
I scoop out some rice and mix it first with the delicious sambhar , then with vatha kuzhambu , and the flavourful Mysore rasam , prepared with freshly ground coconut and rasa podi.
The avial bursts with the goodness of mixed vegetables, just the way it is prepared at home and the raw banana poriyal also has a distinct home flavour.
The menu keeps changing and you might find morkuzhambu , pineapple rasam and a variety in sweets too.
It’s the Palakkad Iyer cooks at the central kitchen who ensure that the vegetarian fare is delicious. There are three varieties of vegetables on the every day menu in the form of kootu , poriyal and pachadi .
The masala that goes into the preparations are made in-house and is mild on spices. They don’t use artificial colours. Every item on the menu is unlimited.
I finish my meal with bowl of thick curd mixed with rice and home-made tomato pickle. And, many cups of butter milk.
Quick facts
Grand Café is located at Huzur Road, opposite to Police Commissioner’s Office
It’s a 100-cover hotel with an AC hall
Open from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. only for meals
After Deepavali, the hotel will add tiffin items to the menu
A thaali here costs Rs. 70
