b! Review: Azulia @ T.Nagar

LINK: http://know.burrp.com/food-dining/b-review-azulia-t-nagar/45788

When you get food from ten countries in one buffet spread, that is the place to head for lunch, says Sandhya Ramachandran about the weekend lunch buffet at Azulia.

When a beautiful lady in traditional Turkish wear welcomes you into a romantically lit Mediterranean café, you know you are in store for the exotic. Turkish plates line up the walls. There is a cosy recess painted blue, with strings of wooden beads veiling it from the archway. And one wanted to believe that, that was where they store their secret ingredients in Azulia- the Meditteranean restaurant at GRT Grand, T.Nagar!

Settle down on those roughly polished azure wooden chairs with hints of rouge, and sip on your red wine. And slowly begin your cold mezze plate. We suggest you start your gourmet meal by nibbling on your dolmades de vines. It is chewy and very home made in its taste. Chef Ethem Aydemir, Executive Spciality chef, is always around for a quick chat, so be sure to ask him for some stories from his life in the Mediterranean as you spread some hummus (chickpeas mashed in tahina, with seasoning and a dash of lime) or mutabal (smoke roasted egg plant with garlic, tahina, lemon juice and olive oil) on your kuboos (Arab flat bread).

He’ll tell you how he made the unforgettable aromatic mohamara by mixing five nuts with cumin, tomato and variety of Mediterranean spices with the flavour of onion chilli and virgin olive oil. When Chef Ethem is around, you don’t have to worry about not knowing your P’s and Q’s on the table. He’ll help you order, tell you everything you want to know about the cuisine and the culture or keep you entertained with a casual chat.

We are sure you’ll ask for a second helping of the mohamara as the combination is startlingly good. Post the mohamara, as you bite into your falafel and hear Turkish music from within (never mind that they are also playing it on the speakers), take some time out from that delightfully tasty and crunchy patty, to flip through their regular menu, or rather book. With information about the culture and food of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Malta, Morocco, Spain, France, and Italy, it is more a coffee table book than a menu!

If you were one of those who loved their Phantom Cigarettes as a kid, theBourak Bel Jibneh (or the cigar-like roll filled with halloumi, feta, emmental cheese, onion and herbs) would delight you. The outer filo layers are crispy and evened out so thin; you wonder how it was humanly possible.

Move over then to the Fatayer – Lebanon’s answer to our samosa, only that this one has a filling of spinach, pomegranate, sumac, onion in olive oil and lemon juice. Definitely interesting but not something we’d come back for.

The Israeli dish of Jawaneh – chicken wings deep fried and sauteed with garlic, lemon, oil and coriander – was what we tried next. The chicken was hard on the inside although the gravy was delicious. The garlic prawn that followed was cooked really well. It was a simple elegant dish, very nicely prepared.

We had a passion fruit sorbet for a palate cleanser. It is a shame to reduce this spectacularly made sorbet to that of an in-the-passing role. We vote for it to have its own throne in the dessert section.

For the main course we had the Antolian Moussaka. If one were to write a song in cheese, this dish would be it. The béchamel cheesy, creamy sauce melted into the fried aubergines (which had a to-die-for crisp outer ring) and blended with potato, chick peas and carrots in the plum tomato sauce to produce a truly orgasmic dish! Fact: we still lust after this moussaka days after consuming it.

The Hutta Bitir Zalza was the non-vegetarian equivalent of what the Moussaka was for the veggie tongue. This dish comprising of a fish fillet grilled with flat parsley, garlic and lemon bandage was excellently cooked. The gravy was a tad high on salt for us. Nevertheless we believe that this fish is our best bet as a contender for world peace through food.

The baklava (layered puffs stuffed with nuts and topped with wild honey and perfumed rosewater) bossed over the dessert section with its proudly layered nutty presence. Absolutely delicious, definitely, but what beat the baklava and nested itself into our mouths and hearts was the chocolate soufflé! The foodie manifestation of a heart-warming long hug, this soufflé erupts to ooze out a hot chocolate lava. With sugar dusted over its crusty top, it is a pleasure to look at, taste and die for!

The blueberry cheesecake that was next on our dessert plate was very well made with the sweet berry merrily complimenting the delicate dissolving cheesecake. We also had the vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce transporting us to our childhood days when ice cream parlours used to squirt squash on the dollop of ice-cream.

The lunch menu has a lot of elements from their Greek festival last year, with of course the other countries adding their dishes to the list. And what’s more, you could even peep into the kitchen and ask Chef Ethem and his men “what’s cooking”. Head to Azulia over the weekend with your family, sit back and be transported to a land of azure skies, sun and sea through some great food!

Must Try: Mohamara, Hutta Bitir Zalza, Antolian Moussaka, baklavaand chocolate soufflé

Meal for two: Rs. 2800+taxes

Pictures Courtesy: Azulia

Additional photographs: Sandhya Ramachandran

Chef Appeal: Talking about vegetarianism, Viagra and more

LINK: http://know.burrp.com/chefs-corner/chef-ethem-aydemir-interview/45725

Chef Ethem Aydemir chats with Sandhya Ramachandran about food, more food and life.

Chatting with Chef Ethem Aydemir, now Executive Chef-Speciality Cuisines at GRT Grand Azulia is always a pleasure. He’s always brimming with stories and anecdotes, making conversations with him unforgettable. To top it, he serves us a strong cup of the rich and heady authentic Turkish coffee. Although a tad too sweet for our taste, he tells us, “It is said in my culture that one cup of coffee is memorable for the next 40 years. That means you will remember me for 40 years starting from today”.

As if anyone would ever forget him anyway! Not only is he one fantastic chef but he also resembles Kollywood’s hoot-worthy hero Ajith Kumar (the only difference being, Chef has a charming accented voice). People have told him so, and we wholeheartedly agree. “When I travel around the city, people keep asking me if I am Ajith Kumar. Ajith is going to be jealous (if he hears about) Ajith No.2 running around Chennai,” Chef adds heartily. A Chennai photographer, Arun, even did an entire photo-shoot with Chef Ethem posing like Ajith! Talk about being a good sport.

Chef Ethem tells us about life in Bolu, the province from where he hails. The fifth generation Chef from his family, Ethem grew up in an environment that revolved around food. “When people met, they spoke of nothing but food. ‘Where do you source your meat from? How do you get those fresh vegetables? How is the crop this season?’ and so on” – used to be the nature of most conversations between friends. “My first job was in a kitchen of chefs who were big on discipline. They were not flexible. There were long hours – almost 15 to 16 hours every day. As a 14 year old, I had no time for anything else. Work and sleep – like an army – was the routine,” he elaborates.

Those tough times are probably what helped him climb to his stature today of becoming the Executive Chef-Speciality Cuisines at GRT Grand Azulia. “I cannot be flexible with hygiene. I joke with my team, I kid with them, but they know their limits. I have had a very good team for almost a year now. But at the end of the day, my kitchen is a school and we all learn together with discipline,” he says.

Chef Ethem also is very particular about the quality of food. He makes sure that he gets fresh vegetables and meat. He even tried growing his own ingredients. Unfortunately, the weather gods had other plans. “When I was in Uzbekistan, however, I gave some seeds I had from Turkey to a farmer and taught him how to cultivate it. Today he has become a rich man and has not forgotten me. All the Chefs now source their supplies from him,” he narrates with a child-like happiness.

He doesn’t believe in travelling light; he takes all that he has learnt from his many travels across Uzbekistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Europe and continues to add to the many flavours he conjures up in the kitchen. “Everywhere people are the same. The culture is a little different, but the basic nature of humans is the same,” Chef Ethem tells us. “In Asia you find more hospitality, in Turkey you find great respect for the guests. Recently, in India, when I was driving, a man was following me for almost five to six kilometres. He finally pulled over in front and gave me my tyre’s hub cap. Apparently it had fallen off and this stranger had travelled all the way, following me, just to give it to me. I was touched by the concern! ”

What else does he like about India? Especially, in the food section, we prod. “I love Indian breads, especially roti. Dosas and idlis are good too. I love kebabs and biryani and the Indian tea,” he reveals. However Chef Ethem sure has some issues with Indian cooking. “Indian gravies have too many spices. It is full of flavour. I like it when the natural flavours are brought out. When meat is meat and fish is fish.” He also finds the huge number of vegetarians in India, a very curious fact. “In Turkey 30 million tourists come every year. Not even 1 per cent of that lot is vegetarian!” he laughs.

“I love Italian cuisine with all the fresh vegetables and fresh meats. I love their pastas. Mediterranean food has become trendy now,” he says. His daughter is now following his footsteps and is studying to be a Chef. “We are all good cooks. My wife is an excellent cook. But she doesn’t even send me to the markets when I am home. ‘You will buy too many ingredients,’ she complains. So the kitchen is her territory,” he tells us.

So far away from family, we wonder how Chef Ethem spends his time in Chennai. “I go to Express Avenue. Meet fellow chefs at Amethyst Café. I drive down to Pondicherry or Mahabalipuram. I like photography,” he says and narrates an incident of clicking the picture of a monkey drinking out of a coke bottle. He asks us to check it out on his Facebook album. Friendly and fun, we are assured Chef Ethem can easily strike a conversation anywhere.

Having just finished our coffee, Chef Ethem suddenly makes a grab at the cup and upturns it saying, “Gypsies back home read the patterns left in your cup and predict the future.” We ask him if he can brew up some such magic for us, and he says simply, “I don’t lie.” Chef minces no words in getting to the point.

We ask him about what his favourite preparation is, amongst his own cooking. “The Chef never reveals that!” he jokes. He serves us baklava and somewhere between the layers of filo bread and the nuts, we lose all sense and clarity and fall a victim to its taste. “It is the Turkish Viagra” he tells us, when we gush as to how amazing it tastes. “So never feed it when you come here with your boss!” he adds with a laugh. He encourages us to go for a Mousakka or a lamb shank if we need to choose just one dish to impress the boss or a better half (with baklava, of course).

Ask him what the most memorable meal he has ever had, and he goes into flash back mode – “When I was in Germany, I had a roast pigeon in a restaurant in a castle. It was the best I have had! I also like fresh seafood,” he adds.

So what new plans, we ask, now that Azulia has its wonderful weekend lunch menu in place. “I am off to Bolu and Istanbul for a holiday” he says, excited at the prospect of going home to his wife, two daughters and the rest of the family. We ask him to bring us back some Turkish coffee, more exotic recipes to try and send him off with the warm Indian goodbye he has come to associate with this country.

Photographs: Sandhya Ramachandran