South of Vindhyas, the south Indian specialty restaurant at The Orchid Hotel is running a very fascinating and one of its kind sea food festival till Feb 1, 2016. I say fascinating since I have not come across a sea food display like the one South of Vindhyas is sporting in any restaurant in the city. As soon as you enter the restaurant you are welcomed by about 29 treasures of the sea on offer - from white snappers to sardines, mackerels to salmons, lobsters to king prawns, crabs to squids are on display. Diners can “go fishing” for the sea food they prefer from this eclectic display and ask the chef to prepare it in the way they enjoy. The mascot of this sea food festival is a beautiful fisherwoman welcoming you to sample chows at this food festival. In keeping with the theme of the festival, the menu design as well is in the shape of a fish. Master Chef Bala is the brain behind the menu for this festival, which has preparations from coastal states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The entire restaurant is done up in a manner to recreate the look and feel of a fishing village. The restaurant ceiling has been adorned with fish net and there is a boat full of spices, traditional paintings on display. Here is a glimpse of some of the fares we ended up chomping on: SOUP: Chemeen Rasam: This was a very subtle flavored prawn soup and a perfect way to begin our meal on a chilly winter evening. The flavors were derived from use of very simple ingredients like onions, tomatoes, garlic and dry spices like coriander powder, cumin seed powder and pepper powder. APPETIZERS: Raal Vattal: This was a lip-smacking preparation of prawns that were wok-tossed with curry leaves. The flavors of the dish were arrived at by marinating the prawns in garam masala powder, ginger-garlic paste, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin seed powder and pepper powder, which also imparted a delicate amount of heat to the dish. Talela Tarla: Tarla or Sardines were deep fried to arrive at a very crunchy starter flavored again with aforementioned traditional ingredients. The fish had a distinct flavor of its own and the spices just worked enhancing this flavor further. Talela Surmai: Also known as King Fish, the surmai was tawa fried in the traditional ingredients like lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder and turmeric powder. The fish was perfectly cooked, however it had not been able to absorb the spices and left us underwhelmed. SEA FOOD SIT DOWN BUFFET: This had a variety of offerings of seafood and a few vegetarian preparations and dessert too. Here is a look at some of the dishes this sit down buffet for the day included:
The restaurant also has a mobile pickle unit that consists of delicious vegetarian and non-vegetarian pickles to go along with your food. My favorites from this wide variety of in-house pickles offered were the gongura pickle and the chicken pickle. DESSERTS: We tasted four different desserts on offer. They were as under:
![]() The restaurant is offering sit down sea food, non-vegetarian and vegetarian buffets. Pricing: Rs 1800 plus taxes (sea food sit down buffet), Non veg- Rs 1500 & Veg Rs 1300++ For further information on the festival below are the details of the restaurant. Venue: South of Vindhyas, The Orchid, 70/C Nehru Road, Near Domestic Airport, Vile parle (East). Contact No.: 022-26164000 |
AUTHOR- Regional Indian Food & Travel enthusiast Archives
January 2018
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