“Don’t feel bad about skipping the concert and heading directly to eat” says K Srinivasan, of Mountbatten Mani Catering Services, comfortingly. He adds, “Understanding our customers’ dilemma, we have created a separate entrance for the canteen.”
Sabha canteens, originally set up to cater to concert-goers, have been getting increasingly popular every year. In keeping with tradition, MetroPlus canteen hops between the most popular caterers, to bring you details.
Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
K Srinivasan is catering at Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha for the tenth consecutive year.
Over the past few years, his canteen has been getting particularly popular for its elaborate lunches, served on banana leaves. He says lunch (₹442 per head) is particularly popular with corporates.
His father, Mountbatten Mani, who is a wedding caterer with more than six decades of experience, is now 88-years-old, and known to be one of the city’s best cooks.
Though Mountbatten Mani is less actively involved now, Srinivasan says his father still works on creating new dishes for their menus. “He pioneered cauliflower roast three decades ago,” says Srinivasan, adding that his other popular recipes include a tender coconut rasam , rose rasam and okra-cashew roast.
This year the canteen will feature different types of rasam every day, including pineapple, drumstick and coriander leaf, in addition to rose, tender coconut and punarpuli (kokum).
About 100 staff are deployed and the team begins preparing for the music season six months in advance. “Fifteen days, 15 types of sambar , rasam , thayir pachadi , moru kuzhambu and puli kulambu are planned. As our lunch is no onion, no garlic, no masala , we take special care to make sure it is tasty,” Srinivasan says.
In the evenings, try their Chettinad, Chinese and North Indian fare. This year, there are Singapore cutlets, noodles pakora and chocolate dosa . But what really stands out are the traditional dishes. “No one serves vazhaithandu thayir pachadi as it is too much work and preparation,” says Srinivasan, “but I want to. I think customers must get to taste unusual items.”
Srinivasan says his job does not end with just putting together the menu. “In South Indian meals, combination and order of eating is important. I guide guests with this, as often they are NRIs or youngsters who do not know this.” He adds, with a smile, “For example, while eating vatha kulambu with rice, eat it with kootu. Also smash one appalam over it and mix. And the best way to eat payasam is to pour it on the leaf, scoop it with your fingers and lick it with a flourish.”
- Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam, Mylapore. Mountbatten Mani Catering Services. Breakfast: 8 am to 10.30 am, lunch: 11 am to 3 pm, tiffin: 5 pm to 10 pm. Phone: 7010518122
- The Music Academy, Royapettah. Sri Balaji Catering Services. Breakfast: 7.30 am to 10.30 am, lunch: 11 am to 3 pm, dinner: 6 pm to 10 pm. Phone: 9840184546
- Chennai Cultural Academy, Rama Rao Kala Mantap, T Nagar. Sri Jayaraghavendra Caterers. 4 pm to 8 pm (Monday to Friday); 11 am to 2 pm and 4 pm to 9 pm on weekends, variety meals served for lunch. Phone: 9841016323
- Narada Gana Sabha, Alwarpet. Sri Sasthalaya Catering Service. Breakfast: 7 am to 10 am, lunch: 12 pm to 3 pm and dinner: 6 pm to 10 pm. Phone: 9500028384
- The canteens were all opened for business by December 15. They close on January 1, after dinner.
The Music Academy
“Our coffee powder combination is a secret recipe handed down from one generation to another and we sell 1,000 cups per day,” says P Balaji, of Sri Balaji Catering Services that has taken over from LV Pattappa, a celebrated cook with a well established catering service. Balaji is testing waters this year, and therefore attempting to offer unusual items along with the traditional dishes.
“We have a variety of millet-based tiffin items such as thinai pongal , red rice idli , samai upma and kuthiraivali arisi upma . What surprises us is that there are no takers for idli . It is mint dosa and fried Kanchipuram idli that are moving fast,” he says. Lunch served on a banana leaf (₹425) again is a big draw here, and almost 300 people line up for it everyday. Try the freshly fried vadas in the morning, with their ghee-drenched pongal. Mini meals (₹185) are also served here.
Narada Gana Sabha
In a canteen run with military precision, the cooks at Sri Sathyalaya Catering work with boisterous efficiency. On one side, rava dosas crackle on the tava , before being filled with fluffy potato masala. Beside the dosa counter, there is a stall set up for sweets featuring plump gulab jamun stuffed with chopped almonds and cashew nuts. The different sections ensure that turnover is quick, so concert goers who just want one item, or coffee, can fuel up and hurry back into the hall.
As each concert ends, a hungry crowd surges in, draped in kanjeevarams and flashing diamonds. Waiters hurry over bearing plates filled with freshly fried vadas , made on the side by a cook who steadily keeps refilling a table stacked with trays of crunchy snacks. On the side, there is a Chettinad counter, which is popular in the evenings for their lacy appams . And of course, the crowning glory is given centre stage: the essential filter coffee station, armed with a tray of precisely queued steel tumblers.
Chennai Cultural Academy
This is the last year you can taste veteran caterer, TK Chakrapani’s Karnataka influenced food. Sri Jayaraghavendra Caterers, which serves a deliberately limited menu, at Chennai Cultural Academy, (Rama Rao Kala Mantap, T Nagar) is exiting the sabha canteen scene, after 20 years of service.
Explaining that rising costs and labour charges make it a challenge to keep running, Chakrapani adds, “It is only for concerts by well-known artistes that we see some crowd, otherwise the patronage is not so great.”
Though his menu is minimal, the taste of the food lingers. The podi , plain and masala dosas are the best among the sabha canteens. Also, do try the poha bisibelebath , huggi (similar to pongal , but made with equal portion of rice and dal , and grated copra roasted in ghee is added too) and hayagreeva (a sweet made with channa dal , jaggery, khuskhus and copra).
