LINK: http://know.burrp.com/food-dining/b-review-parambriym-nungambakkam/43682
If you crave for home-cooked food bang in the middle of your office hours,Sandhya Ramachandran encourages you to stealthily make your way to Parambriym for some delicious saapaad (or lunch as the rest of India calls it).
When a shot glass of paneer soda (a refreshing sweet drink made from rose essence and soda with absolutely no sign of cottage cheese aka paneer) is served as a welcome drink, you sure go a little weak-kneed. At once you see your grandparents’ house, hot afternoons, a game of hopscotch or thirudan-police(thief-police) and then a kuchi ice (popsicle) and paneer soda in the end.
Pinch yourself back into reality. You are still at Ispahani centre, at Parambriym, a fairly new restaurant on the block. Its interiors boast of brass utensils laid out on stone tables, with gold-colour upholstered chairs to go with – regality with restraint.
You could either go the a la carte way or order their thaali, the latter being very reasonably priced for the amazing combination in store. However, since we are so into experimenting *wink*, we went crazy with the menu. We went the traditional way, Chicken soup and Madrassoup beginning our gourmet fest. The Chicken soup was spicy and good – excellent value for money as a large bowlful comes for 85 bucks. TheMadras soup was a combination of ground coconut disseminated into our traditional tomato soup giving it an interesting, creamy, authentically homemade flavour.
The Paneer Podimaswhich is paneer minced and mixed with tomatoes and onions, was succulent but had way too much oil. Some restraint would have made this dish a must-have. But now, we have our doubts, and probably would egg you to try the Kozhi Veppedu (a Chicken fry from Andhra Pradesh) instead. Worthy of every penny(costs 170 Rs for a serving that can be shared by two) with enough spices to bring out the taste of the chicken and flavoured with garlic (towards which we have a weakness, mind you!), the Kozhi Veppedu will pretty much order itself, the next time round.
The Koththu Barotta (minced Barotta) sounded so ‘Chettinad’ that we had to try it! And yes, it lived up to the hopes it raised- chunks of barotta tossed in oil with onions, tiny chunks of beans and slivers of chillies. The Vaazhai Ilai Meen Varuva was a delight to look at – a whole fish, smeared in red chutney, carefully wrapped within folds of a plantain leaf, fried and served with a slice of tomato on top. It tasted as beautiful as it looked – fresh and teasing the tongue with its flavours.
The Mutton Pepper Chukka or dry mutton pepper, however, was just about average. The meat was very chewy and the taste was nothing to write home about. We say give the red meat a miss when in this joint.
When it comes to rice, we South Indians have a peculiar practice. And since we were at what is declared an “authentic South Indian” restaurant, we followed the traditions. Firstly, we heaped rice on our plate like a mountain… okay, hillock (yes sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomach *sigh*). Next we made a gaping hole in the centre, almost a crater on the said hillock. Then we poured in the lava…erm…Poondu Kozhambu (tamarind-garlic broth) right into the centre.
One bite and we knew for sure that the Poondu Kozhambu would be our number one excuse and reason to visit Parambriym again! And then we had thePooshnikka Halwa – a sweetmeat made from pumpkins - which was a little too sweet and had enough ghee to make the guilt stick on to your love handles for a week!
But…hold your breath…for here arriveth reason two – the Gulab Jamun. Royalty would fall on the chef’s feet to taste this Gulab Jamun. Mind-numbingly good, we couldn’t resist but gobble two more. The GULAB JAMUN – for it deserves its respect with capital letters – was especially prepared at home by Anita, the owner and brains behind Parambriym. No wonder it had ammavin anbu (aka maa ki mamta or mother’s love) oozing from its soft insides.
Anita went on to explain how it all began in a quest to “revive home food”. She started with chicken combos and mutton combo dabbas from home, expanding it to open this restaurant. Her enthusiasm is palpable, as she explains about how she has personally trained the cooks to brew her specials. She also tells us that the paneer soda they served us as welcome drinks comes all the way fromMadurai, breathing life to an almost-dying small scale industry. She confided that there are some innovative plans cooking alongside the food in the kadais. All we can say to that is “simbly sooper ma!!!”
Average Meal for two: Rs. 500 (buffet), Rs.1000 (a la carte)
Must try: Poondu Kozhambu, Vazhai Ilai Meen Varuval and Gulab Jamun
If you crave for home-cooked food bang in the middle of your office hours,Sandhya Ramachandran encourages you to stealthily make your way to Parambriym for some delicious saapaad (or lunch as the rest of India calls it).
You could either go the a la carte way or order their thaali, the latter being very reasonably priced for the amazing combination in store. However, since we are so into experimenting *wink*, we went crazy with the menu. We went the traditional way, Chicken soup and Madrassoup beginning our gourmet fest. The Chicken soup was spicy and good – excellent value for money as a large bowlful comes for 85 bucks. TheMadras soup was a combination of ground coconut disseminated into our traditional tomato soup giving it an interesting, creamy, authentically homemade flavour.
The Koththu Barotta (minced Barotta) sounded so ‘Chettinad’ that we had to try it! And yes, it lived up to the hopes it raised- chunks of barotta tossed in oil with onions, tiny chunks of beans and slivers of chillies. The Vaazhai Ilai Meen Varuva was a delight to look at – a whole fish, smeared in red chutney, carefully wrapped within folds of a plantain leaf, fried and served with a slice of tomato on top. It tasted as beautiful as it looked – fresh and teasing the tongue with its flavours.
The Mutton Pepper Chukka or dry mutton pepper, however, was just about average. The meat was very chewy and the taste was nothing to write home about. We say give the red meat a miss when in this joint.
When it comes to rice, we South Indians have a peculiar practice. And since we were at what is declared an “authentic South Indian” restaurant, we followed the traditions. Firstly, we heaped rice on our plate like a mountain… okay, hillock (yes sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomach *sigh*). Next we made a gaping hole in the centre, almost a crater on the said hillock. Then we poured in the lava…erm…Poondu Kozhambu (tamarind-garlic broth) right into the centre.
One bite and we knew for sure that the Poondu Kozhambu would be our number one excuse and reason to visit Parambriym again! And then we had thePooshnikka Halwa – a sweetmeat made from pumpkins - which was a little too sweet and had enough ghee to make the guilt stick on to your love handles for a week!
But…hold your breath…for here arriveth reason two – the Gulab Jamun. Royalty would fall on the chef’s feet to taste this Gulab Jamun. Mind-numbingly good, we couldn’t resist but gobble two more. The GULAB JAMUN – for it deserves its respect with capital letters – was especially prepared at home by Anita, the owner and brains behind Parambriym. No wonder it had ammavin anbu (aka maa ki mamta or mother’s love) oozing from its soft insides.
Anita went on to explain how it all began in a quest to “revive home food”. She started with chicken combos and mutton combo dabbas from home, expanding it to open this restaurant. Her enthusiasm is palpable, as she explains about how she has personally trained the cooks to brew her specials. She also tells us that the paneer soda they served us as welcome drinks comes all the way fromMadurai, breathing life to an almost-dying small scale industry. She confided that there are some innovative plans cooking alongside the food in the kadais. All we can say to that is “simbly sooper ma!!!”
Average Meal for two: Rs. 500 (buffet), Rs.1000 (a la carte)
Must try: Poondu Kozhambu, Vazhai Ilai Meen Varuval and Gulab Jamun
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