Culinary journey into the world of Peranakan in Chennai
Pandan Club in the city is running a food festival focusing on scrumptious meat with a twist. Chef Thiagu in this conversation with DT Next gives a sneak peek into the Peranakan cuisine and how Chennaiites accepted the flavours
Foods in Pandan Club (Photo: Manivasagan)
CHENNAI: Chennai has provided ample space for many international cuisines, especially in the last three years. Cashing in on the opportunity and enticing the people with unique flavours, Pandan Club was started in 2022. The restaurant is based on Peranakan cuisine.
For the unversed, Peranakans are Chinese ethnic groups, who are married to and settled across south east Asia-- Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. This cuisine is also called Nyonya cuisine, a blend of Chinese ingredients with unique spices used in Malay/Indonesian cooking. “The major ingredients distinctive to Peranakans are lemon grass, galangal, chillies, sweet soy sauce, yellow bean sauce and oyster sauce. We use imported ingredients to not compromise in the originality,” says chef Thiagu from Pandan Club, who has 18 years of experience in the field.
Initially, the diner faced a few struggles as the cuisine was just making its inroads in Chennai. “It was difficult to adapt the flavours. So, we tweaked it a bit to suit the local palate. The menu is curated by our founder Manoj Padmanaban,” states the chef.
The restaurant is organising a food festival, titled Let’s Meat. “People have tried steaks with continental flavours. To offer something different, we try to give it an Asian twist,” he shares. Apart from meat, they have veg options as well to cater to different sets of customers.
We tried their lamb chops from the food festival. The Asian-style pepper sauce and the scrumptious lamb were a great pair. The meat was cooked to perfection. Parmesan cheese topped french fries with garlic sauce was also accompanied, which added to the overall flavours.
The Nyonya pastry cup was novel with radish, cucumber, spring onion and fermented soy paste stuffing inside an edible crispy cup. The tanginess of soy paste was good. The crispy lotus stem had authentic flavours of oriental cuisine. An innovative dish we have never tried before was the Singapore cereal tofu, which had soft and fried tofu, topped with cereal. The rempah prawn had pandan leaves taste to it and succulent meat.
The vegetable nasi goreng fried rice is a must-try. The chicken rendang curry was delectable and paired well with the fried rice. The flaky roti prata was also a great accompaniment. The roti jala had a chewy texture to it. The coconut vegetable curry was creamy and had apt seasonings.
Savour the delicacies at the Let’s Meat food festival, which is on till June 30 at Pandan Club, T Nagar.
