Food festivals in Chennai are getting more and more exotic and Taj is leading the charge, I guess. After a fantastic food pairing with perfumes with the Master Perfumer, Nicholas at Prego, the Taj Clubhouse with a fantastic rooftop Mediterranean restaurant, Kefi, is dabbling with Tunisian food. I've never had Tunisian cuisine before and apparently they discovered Couscous, so I was quite intrigued when invited by Taj for dinner. On a Wednesday evening, the place had more than ten tables tables, mostly on the deck side, filled, so that is a great sign that Chennai is warming up to good food!
Kefi, being a fancy place, always gives you an amuse-bouche. Everytime I go there, I am quite excited to see what that is. Given, its not a great deal of food, but sometimes, the tiny things make a huge impression. A little beetroot wrapped around a nice goat cheese, I believe it was! The starters came along and for once, I loved the veg starters more than the sea food one. Called the Solanum Brik, this was a nice creamy spiced potato stuffed in pastry. Maybe I liked it because I believe the potato is the eighth wonder of the world. Not chicken, not beef, but potato. The chef here had it bang on!
This was followed by a fantastic soup, a very different one. Called the Lablabi, made almost entirely with chick peas, this had a tinge of garlic and a nice piece of chicken, this was a very different flavour. Bland and intense at the same time, so it was lovely. The vegetarians had a nice looking main course that I didn't try, but the chicken was fantastic. Again, it was different. A nicely cooked chicken leg stuffed with couscous and served with some eighth wonder of the world! Loved it. Dessert was a 'Tunisian' variant of Baklava, which had flavours of Rose and Dates. Tunisian inspired would be the best way to describe it.
I love Kefi and it holds a very special place in my heart, but its at times like this that my love for Kefi, goes up a notch. When they decide to go different and experiment with lesser known cuisines and flavours. It also proves that much as food might seem different, the similarities are much more. Food is a great way to understand cultures!
The food fest is on till the 27th of June at Kefi, Taj Club house and a typical meal here should cost about Rs. 3000 for two.
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