The dakshin in park sheraton, chennai is one of the coolest eating places in town. the ambience is ok (5 star, after all). you’ll find live instrumental music (classical)in one corner of the restaurant which definitely adds to the charm. one one occasion my friends and me had fun requesting the musicians to do some filmy numbers which they were very sporting to render! the decor is so-so and they have some tanjore paintings on the wall and some traditional-looking lampshades and stuff.
as far as what goes into your mouth is concerned, well they always begin with a request ’would you like to try the iyer’s trolley’... and lemme tell you it’s a whole load of fun. they have a good variety of mini-dosas, vadas, chutneys and what not that you can keep on trying. all kinds! the dosas are real fun, there are sweet ones like the banana dosa, and there are normal ones, there are the ’kal - dosas’ well, just try them, I can’t even remember all of them! and the chutneys? coconut, ginger, tomato, peanut (!), onion, tamarind! you can wash your starters down (suggestion) with some ’elanir’ (coconut water) with a dash of mint.
the choice of food is very south indian as the name suggests. from kerala, chettinad, all over the south actually. and non-vegetarians, do not fret, there’s a lot of fish, crab and meat you can choose from. there’s stew, marinated chicken, fish cooked on charcoal (their names are a li’l complicated for me, sorry).
and yes, the desserts. payasam. yummy. there are other choices too (which I rarely try ’coz of my payasam predilection!)
overall, think with your stomach and you’re at the right place! the service is courteous, though I must agree with another reviewer here that it isn’t always the promptest (listed as one of the cons). but then the food makes up for all that. the portions are just ok (who wouldn’t like more of food?). I would definitely suggest you check this place out if you’d like to try a good variety of south indian cuisine. and don’t forget to get a reservation, especially if there’s a food festival or something going on in the weekend.
:-)
burp!