Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items At Chidambara Vilas - Heritage Resort - Karaikudi

#itaste #chidambaravilas #chettinadfood Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items At Chidambara Vilas - Heritage Resort - Karaikudi Google Maps Location; https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chidambara+Vilas+-+A+Luxury+Heritage+Resort/@10.2369742,78.7818179,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!3m7!1s0x3b0064d70000001f:0x46d9c48d0337b5c1!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d10.2369551!4d78.784006
An authentic Chettinad Lunch with 25 veg and non-veg items, that’s the lunch that’s being served in Chidambara Vila’s - Heritage Resort in Karaikudi. Lunch is served to people staying in the resort and also there are people coming specifically for the lunch here. The cost of per lunch is 700 to 800 rs INR. Breakfast and dinner are served in a separate hall as a buffet. You can watch the breakfast and dinner videos with the link below -: Breakfast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYqsbYhaTIk

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Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items
It was lunchtime and lunch was served in a banana leaf. The seating was in a different hall, not like the dining area which they use for breakfast and dinner. The first item to be served was the chicken soup. A spicy and excellent chicken rasam loaded with pepper that clears your throat when sipped. A lovely soup to begin a meal.

                                    Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items
As the chef said, the lunch in Chidambara Vilas begins with a sweet and ends with a sweet, the reason he said was that the customer should begin the meal happily and end it happily so today the sweet was kowni rice halwa. Kowni rice is traditional rice. The halwa tasted like sweet Pongal and was excellent.

                                  Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items
Then few vegetable items like the Keerti kootu, banana stem kootu. Beetroot poriyal, pappad, dal vada, yam fry were served which tasted as usual. The okra Mandi was excellent which should be mentioned specifically. The chef in the video has explained how they make the okra Mandi. He said Mandi can be made with any kind of vegetable and today it was okra and channa. The base is the tamarind water and for thinking they have used the water with which rice was soaked. The taste of the okra Mandi was excellent. I could taste the tamarind and I can say the okra Mandi was the best in the vegetable subji’s . The fish fry was kattla fish and they served it with onion and a piece of lemon. The masala was so rich and flavourful. The fish itself was soft and fresh. The combination of these qualities was just wow. Lovely fish fry.

                                  Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items
The chicken chukka was excellent too. A different taste than the chukka that I usually have. The masala was excellent and it was so delicious to mix it with rice and eat.

                                 Chettinad Lunch With 25 Veg & Non-Veg Items

The mutton kulambu, with mutton pieces in them, tasted homemade. My mom used to cook the same mutton kulambu. A good one. Then there was dhal with ghee which I like and it tasted the same way I eat at home. The kaara kulambu is one of the best I could say. Usually, the Kara kulambu would be loaded with tamarind. But here they have used small onions and the taste of tamarind was perfectly balanced, giving a rich taste when mixed with rice. The best I could say. Finally ending the meal with a sweet which was milk payasam. They have used flattened rice in the payasam. The taste was excellent. Altogether a lovely meal that gave an immense satisfaction!!


                      

Friday, August 20, 2021

Complimentary Buffet Breakfast At Chidambara Vilas Heritage Resort - Kar...

#itaste #chidambaravilasresort #chettinadfood A Luxury complimentary breakfast that you wouldn’t want to miss starting with some fresh juices, cold coffee we have items on the buffet table like fruits, bread with butter and jam, cereals, idli, vada, green gram paniyaaram, kuli paniyaaram sweet, semiya, ven Pongal, sambar, pancakes, quail curry, tomato chutney, brinjal chutney, coconut chutney, curd, tea, coffee, orid dhal porridge...


So to begin my breakfast, I started off with watermelon juice, Pongal, idly & vada.

                                   

                                   
                                    

The idly and the vada were normal that you eat everywhere but the Pongal is the dish that is to be mentioned. The ven Pongal according to me was the best dish in the buffet lineup and also one of the best Pongal that I’ve had. Nevertheless, it is only secondary to the Pongal my wife makes. She does Pongal, vada, moong dhal sambar & chutney that is heaven. So after the Pongal, I went on to appam and sweet coconut milk. The appam is served hot to your table. The coconut milk had a lovely cardamom flavor and mixed with appam, a good taste. The Chettinad veg semiya had a lot of veggies to it and its taste was good too...

                                   
                                   

                                   

                                   

The bread can be made to our choice, so we had bread omelet.., and finally to finish off the meal orid dhal porridge.
Yet again a lovely food from Chidambara Vila’s Heritage Resort.


                      

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

A Chettinad Buffet Dinner At Chidambara Vilas - Heritage Resort

#itaste #chettinadfood #chidambaravilaheritageresort A Chettinad Buffet Dinner At Chidambara Vilas - Heritage Resort Resorts Google Maps Location; google.com/maps/place/Chidambara+Vilas+-+A+Luxury+Heritage+Resort/@10.2369742,78.7818179,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!3m7!1s0x3b0064d70000001f:0x46d9c48d0337b5c1!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d10.2369551!4d78.784006 Keep your dinner light, is what they say... but with a buffet dinner like this at Chidambara Vila’s heritage resort near Karaikudi, who could resist the temptation.

                                   

The room tour of this resort is in another video which you can check out on the channel. The breakfast and lunch videos will also be separately uploaded soon, so don’t miss out on them.
                                   

The buffet dinner at Chidambara villas heritage resort is included in the package which cost me 8000 INR for a couple and a kid below 12 years of age. You could also go for the half board with bed & breakfast and choose extra dinner, then the dinner alone will cost you around 600 to 700 per head.

                                  The buffet dinner had numerous items lined up, starting with Sundakka ( Turkey berry) soup, some salads, potato with Mayonnaise, beetroot salad, Gobi 65, Kulli paniyaaram, fulka, idiyappam mixed with coconut and sugar, coriander rice, white rice, dhal, veg noodles, veg kurma, rasam, sambar, coconut chutney, tomato chutney, curd, fried chilies, pappad, mutton curry, chicken chukka, crab masala, and for desserts cut papaya & musk melon, vanilla ice cream, Gulab jamun, and sweet cuvium. That’s exactly how the buffet lineup was...
                               
So I started dinner with the Chettinad sundaka soup.., this is the first time I am having this sundaka soup, which I felt was like rasam. Maybe I am more of a nonveg soup fan. Next, I tried the salads, the potato with Mayonnaise was good, but need a little more salt which would have given it a lovely taste, yes they were served as salads and no salt in them justifies.... the kuli paniyaram with chutneys were ok, no complaints to them.

                               
I then tried the veg noodles with veg kurma and mutton curry.., the mutton curry tasted fantastic The fulka was hot and so soft and it went along so good with the mutton curry. Though the chicken chukka was just ok, nothing special to tell about it the mutton curry was the star, it also went along so good with white rice. For desserts, I had the gulab jamun with vanilla ice cream. Would the gulab jamun had been served hot with the ice cream it would have been a perfect dessert but they weren’t. All the items were hot and my vote for the best dish would definitely be the mutton curry. A lovely dining experience that you wouldn’t miss. Resort Room Tour; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBzh3Pha-ZM




                           

Saturday, August 14, 2021

A Stay At Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort Near Kar...

#iTaste #ChidambaraVilas #chettinadresorts A Stay At Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort Near Karaikudi - Part 1 Built-in the early 1900s this TSK villa now stands as Chidambara heritage resort run by the Trichy Sangam hotels. Chidambaram Villas Resort is situated in a village called kadayapatti that’s 25 km between Pudukotai and Karaikudi town. Google maps location; Chidambara Vlas Heritage Resort


Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort

We booked a full board package for a couple, that costs 8000/- INR including a kid below 12 years old. The Bed & Breakfast package will cost around 6000/- INR
Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort
The usual check-in is at 12 pm but since the rooms were occupied we were told to come a little later, so we drove past kadayapatti to Karaikudi to have our lunch at Sri Priya mess, an excellent Chettinad cuisine. Check out my YouTube & Blog link for Sri Priya mess below ; Youtube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JjuObXfOV8 Blog; http://i--taste.blogspot.com/2021/08/authentic-chettinadu-cusine-at.html After lunch, we traveled to Chidambara villas at kadayapatti 25 km from Karaikudi town. We arrived around 2 and were welcomed by resort staff. The welcome was kind of traditional by putting an angavastram (a shoulder cloth worn with veshti around our necks) and with a ginger health drink.
We were then taken to our rooms.
The first thing that caught my eyes as I entered the room was the large manual fan hanging above the bed. Attached to a string that runs above our heads when we sleep, the fan operates when we pull the string. These types of fans were available in those days when there was no power nor a mechanical working fan. The hotel has maintained the same style so that the customers can feel how it was during those days.

Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort

The air condition is available but stays hidden behind the TV cupboards, this is mainly to avoid the AC in plain sight. The study table and dressing table all in the wood had excellent craftsmanship to them. Small draws in the study table to keep jewels and a lid that draws from inside to close these small drawers... they were amazing.
Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort The curtain that they had used in the room was an old Chettinad pattu saree which was stitched to a curtain that can be rolled up or down.
Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort
The room also had a kettle, tea, coffee & milk powder packets. The wardrobe had a safe, two bathrobes which in no way could have fitted for me, and two pairs of use & throw slippers. I haven’t seen slippers like that before which was kind of different. The washroom also had a lot of woodwork. Clean towels, toiletries, bathtub, shower cabin... At 4 in the evening, we got our coffee in a flask along with a brass Dabara set. The brass dabara is a cup and saucer made of brass metal and is the right way of drinking authentic filter coffee... you can see this in a lot of places in Kumbakonam. They also gave some complimentary snacks like murukku and adhirasam sweet.
Chidambara Vilas - A Luxury Chettinad Heritage Resort There was a small cookery class conducted in the evening where they showed us how to cook Chettinad chicken gravy and a sweet with kowni rice which had a sweet Pongal taste. The cookery video will be posted on my itaste- food talks youtube channel. We also had a house tour where the manager talks about the history of Chettiars and how they built this villa and also about the details of the mansion which will be in another video and blog A good resort stay with excellent food, which I will post in detail soon.


                          

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Authentic Chettinadu Cusine At KARAIKUDI SRI PRIYA MESS - Best Savuroti Fry & Mutton Brain Fry

               #itaste #sripriyamess #karaikudi


Karaikudi is the Chettinad land famous for its Chettinad cuisine. So when I planned a trip to Chettinad, I enquired where I could have my authentic Chettinad lunch and many suggested Sri Priya mess in Karaikudi. Google maps location link; Sri Priya Mess - Karaikudi Started in the year 1968, Sri Priya mess was started by Shivakumars parents and now is taken care of by him and his wife. To my surprise, there was no biryani and they cater to only lunch. There is no lunch that can be fulfilled without a Biryani.., that’s what I thought till I had lunch at Priya mess.

sri priya mess karaikudi
Their meal plan is a little different... in other hotels and Eateries you can either Order for a veg lunch or a non-veg lunch... with non-veg lunch you get few non-veg gravies but here at Sri Priya mess, there is no veg lunch. The customer has to order a non-veg dish be it chicken, mutton, fish ( either curry fish or deep-fried fish) mutton liver, mutton head curry, mutton brain fry, mutton spleen fry, fish head curry, prawn, crab .. there are about 14 to 15 non-veg dishes to choose from.

sri priya mess karaikudi So after the customer orders, he gets the non-veg dish with rice served on a banana leaf with two veg dishes. The gravies that come with this rice are a specialty here.., all the gravies are thick and went so well along with rice ... you get all the gravies like the country chicken gravy, Chettinad chicken gravy, mutton gravy, fish gravy, crab gravy, prawn gravy, mutton bone kulambu which was like rasam... My preference was the country chicken gravy and the Chettinad chicken gravy. It was thick, loaded with flavors, and tasted extremely good...
sri priya mess karaikudi
In the non-veg dishes, I tasted mutton, fish, mutton brain fry, mutton spleen fry. Mutton spleen or suvaroti was the best. The suvaroti was so soft, and the masala was extremely good. I could definitely say that this is the best suvaroti that I have tasted. The best and I truly mean it. The mutton brain fry was also good, the brain melted in my mouth and it’s masalas tingling my tastebuds... Wow-what a meal is all that I could say...
A true Chettinad food in Karaikudi that I have craved for a very long time was fulfilled with this lunch at Sri Priya mess. Yes, Sri Priya mess not only successfully filled my stomach but my heart too !!!!

Watch Full Video here..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JjuObXfOV8