I had been to Chennai quiet recently & my dad suggested we go to Rasam, as a family after years.
RASAM.this is not a recipe, but a new restaurant launched by the chennai based famous sweet shop - Sri Krishna Sweets.
Its located at Purasaiwalkam, opposite Dharmaprakash Kalyana Mandapam, which calls itself an authentic Kongunad Restaurant. For non-tamilians, let me tell you that Kongunad cuisine is a collection of delicacies from Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Salem.
It’s set in a beautiful 100 year old house. The walls are white washed, windows adorned by pointed gables. I don’t think we can find houses like this anymore. And as we entered the main hall, we were greeted with the aroma of pure ghee from Sri Krishna Sweets.
To reach the restaurant, we have to take the stairs. This restaurant can be compared to Mela @Hyderabad(Patny Circle), similar in looks.
The menu is really heavy having the basics like starters, soups, main course & ofcourse the desserts. We started with Murungai Keera Soup(drumstick leaves), which is nothing other than the rasam prepared at home with some additional flavouring.
For starters we opted for Makkai Solam Vadais(Corn) - which rather tastes like the Ullundhu Vadai, except we find few corn added to it & Kongu Kalan Varuval which is basically Mushroom Bajjis. This tasted different & was good.
For the main course, we ordered Kaalan Kotthu Parotha(Kaalan - Mushroom), Kotthu Parotha(Minced Parotha), Kaikari Kothu Idiyapam(Minced Vegetables), Cauliflower Masala Dosa, Vetrillai Poondu Saatham & Plain Dosa for my niece and nephew.
We were just searching for the Kaalan in the Kotthu Parotha. They don’t provide any side dish for anything except three varieties of chutnies. It wasn’t as tasty as mentioned in the menu and not worth trying again.
Kaikari Kotthu Idiyapam, is the same as prepared by mom, the Kaaram(Hot/Spicy) variety. Vetrillai Poondu Saatham - fried garlic, spicy with betel leaf. This was something really tasty.
Except for the names we didn’t find anything different compared to other hotels.
Coming to the service, it was amazingly poor. Water wasn’t served at all, till we complained to the supervisor. It took more than 1/2 hour to get the Plain Dosas on our table. The servers were too busy writing/scribbling the orders. God knows, how many copies they must have made.
Chef Jacob Sahaya Aruni, was seen moving around - trying to help out few ESTEEMED customers. The service at those tables were too fast.
Lastly for dessert we ordered Elluneer Halwa(Halwa made of tender coconuts), which never turned up even after waiting for over 20 minutes. We got the same cancelled.
My experience at this so called Kongunad restaurant was too bad. Service was POOR - so no tips for the server.
The bill, of course, is where Rasam scores big.