If your gastronomic tastes tend to dive below the ocean, then the sea food festival underway in the city, featuring an assortment of fish, prawns and crabs dressed in Chettinad style, may be your calling.
With sea food growing dearer over the months, reasonably priced fare at Mankudi Restaurant makes for a good bargain. Minimalist but warm interiors with brass topped wooden tables and earthy red cushions make for the right setting to sample stir-fried tiger prawns or dig into the fest's signature specialty- ‘kanava pirattal' translating to succulent squid.
For those whose territory is strictly fish, there is both piping hot gravy and deep fried options from iyera meen kuzhambu to nethili fingers. While there is nothing much to write home about the latter, the former may have die-hard foodies hooked. Fortune favours the brave and if you are prepared to go down with tongs and hammer, then crab cooked in copious gravy and tossed with pepper make for delectable choices. Fish and prawn biryani make for a pleasant diversion.
But the best bet comes in the form of the ‘special sea food meal' priced at Rs. 149, with a little bit of everything thrown in.
The additional crab soup with a strong pepper overtone might be just what the doctor ordered. The food festival wraps up on December 7. All dishes are available for lunch and dinner.
