Norwegian Salmon. Chilean Sea Bass. Vietnamese Basa. For a city by the sea, we eat a surprisingly large amount of imported fish. Ironically, we also have relatively few seafood-speciality restaurants, considering the wide range of local bounty our fishermen gather every day.
Which is what makes this question intriguing: if you want a memorable seafood lunch today, where would you go? Not necessarily the fish-speciality restaurants, of which we have a measly handful, most boasting haphazard multi-cuisine menus — though they seem the obvious choice. To make it interesting, let’s eliminate the hotels. (Though they have been mentioned separately, if you prefer taking the plush route).
Incidentally, a hotelier I consulted for this story was flummoxed when I asked for recommendations from their menu, on local, exotic seafood. Apparently, in luxury hotel parlance, exotic still means imported. This is unfortunate, given the fact that both local and international chefs have proved that the best food comes from fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
After two days of dedicated restaurant hopping, menu sampling and keen surveys, here’s my pick of Chennai’s five best seafood dishes (in no particular order).
The Marina
Ideal for people who love fish and daunting for those who don’t, this restaurant takes its fish seriously. As you enter the aquarium-like interiors, brace yourself for the scent of the ocean (a polite way of saying it can smell a little fishy). Their dramatic display features the day’s catch, wrapped in snowy ice chips, making this the ideal place to widen your repertoire: There’s a chef on hand for advice and the menu is comfortingly flexible.
Marina supports sustainable fishing, buying from fishermen who use traditional methods. My pick, and the restaurant’s most popular dish, is mango curry, creamy with coconut milk and studded with prawns. I’ve also recently discovered the healthy, but indulgent, snapper steamed with diced ginger and shredded red chillies, then spiked with salty soya sauce and sesame oil.
The Marinais at 39, College Road,Nungambakkam.
Call 3085 3780 for reservations. A meal for two costs pproximately Rs. 1000.
Dahlia
I ate my first sushi roll here, and in retrospect, I could not have picked a better setting, or kitchen. Because Dahlia is proudly unfashionable. Set in a grungy building, the diminutive restaurant, like its staff, is more businesslike than welcoming. The television is blaring when we enter, featuring a fight between two chubby Sumo wrestlers. The clock shows Japanese time. And we’re unsmilingly shown to the only empty table left, and promptly handed menus. I’ve eaten here for long enough to be unfazed by the service, and to be honest, I now actually appreciate their deadpan, but consistently efficient service. No time wasted on small talk: just point to the menu, and ten minutes later you’ll be dipping your sushi into a dainty bowl of soy sauce, and gingerly topping it with their signature wasabi, powerful enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Also try the perfectly flaky butter fish, served in a golden pool of caramelised butter sauce.
Dahlia is at 37, Kaveri Complex, Nungambakkam. Call 2826 5240 for reservations. A meal for two costs approximately Rs. 1500.
Jonah’s Bistro
Besant Nagar beach is famous for its fried fish stalls, offering everything from prawns to sardines, slathered in bright red masala, deep-fried and served with a generous squeeze of fresh lime. If you prefer a place with air conditioning and comfortable sofas, head to Jonah’s Bistro, a ten minute walk from the beach.
The menu unapologetically offers pop food, but instead of taking the obvious multi-cuisine route, they feature a curated, refreshingly unpretentious range of dishes. The seafood includes crisp calamari served with butter sauce, as well as Italian fritto misto. There’s seafood marinara and pesto pasta, but I’m inherently suspicious of seafood pasta, given the fact that there are too many variables that can go wrong. I settle for straightforward fish and chips; it turns out to be a great choice. Cooked beautifully, the crust is a deep I-spent-summer-on-a-Sicilian-beach brown, crisp outside, and steamy inside, it’s served with a rather average tartar sauce, so I eat it with powerful yellow mustard, generous dollops of tomato sauce and a strong cup of English breakfast tea.
Jonah’s Bistro is at 147/9, 2nd Avenue, Besant Nagar. Call 3085 3946 for reservations. A meal for two costs approximately Rs. 800.
Nair’s Mess
Get here by 12 p.m. for lunch, or be prepared to wait outside. Nair’s Mess gets packed quickly, and for a good reason. Prices are low, service is quick and the food is consistently good. Instead of handing you a menu, the faintly impatient waiter will reel off a list of available items once you finally find a table. This includes “chicken fry-brain fry-prawn fry-fish fry-omelette…”
The omelettes are good, and the ‘meals’ are tasty, but the highlight here will surface unexpectedly. Just as you start to eat, the waiter will bring a tray of freshly fried vanjaram (seer) to your table – just to look at, of course. Its brilliant marketing; because the fish smells so fabulous, customers rarely turn it down. Fresh, thinly-sliced and marinated in minimal masala, it’s crisp, flaky and tastes of the sea. Once you’ve had a slice, or three, ask for the prawn masala, which is hot, spicy and unexpectedly addictive.
Nair’s Mess is at 22, Mohammed Abdullah, 2nd Street, Chepauk (Opposite the cricket stadium on Bells Road). Call 2842 0850 for details. A meal for two costs approximately Rs. 300.
Amma’s Chettinadu Restaurant
The walls are grimy, the furniture is ramshackle and the music system, playing MGR songs on loop, has clearly seen better days. Nevertheless, if you want an epic crab masala, Amma’s Chettinadu is the place to go. Anticipating large, rowdy, drunk crowds, thanks to a clutch of scandalised online reviews, I head there early for dinner. At 7.30p.m., I’m the first customer, and the waiter rubs his eyes sleepily as he saunters over to take my order. Another arrives, and waits on me solicitously, shoving reams of napkins in my direction every time I look in his direction, while a third fondly helps me rinse and wipe the banana leaf placed at my seat in lieu of a plate. Just as I’m beginning to feel like Old King Cole in the children’s rhyme, thanks to my newly acquired entourage, they disperse.
Ten minutes later, however, they reappear, ceremoniously carrying a slew of bowls. There’s the famous Amma’s crab, tenderly lavished with masala, and perfectly spiced. A bowl of crusty little anchovies is served with hot rice and a range of curries. The cook is clearly an old hand, because every dish is executed with practised flair. While some of the curries do taste the same and the food is generously salted, it’s not thoughtlessly spicy and oozing with oil. The crab in particular is unexpectedly nuanced, even sophisticated. Those legendary drunk hoards clearly have excellent taste!
Amma’s Chettinadu Restaurant is at 1, Giri Road, T. Nagar. Call 4212 2176 for details. A meal for two costs approximately Rs 800.
