When in Chennai, pamper your palette with mango and dimsum magic

The unusual combo of tangy mango dishes and sloppiness of dimsums promises a riot of flavours in this food festival.

One would never have thought that a range of dimsums followed by grilled items and a main course with mango as a key ingredient would result in a satisfied burp!

The-unusual-combo-of-dimsums-and-mangoes-will-create-a-riot-of-flavours-in-the-mouth-shutterstock

However, that is what one can experience at Taj group's The Gateway Hotel IT Expressway in the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR).

While the dimsum, soups and grills festival is held at the hotel's Chinese restaurant Sian, the mango dishes are offered at the Buzz all-day diner.

"In both the festivals we have made several changes in the menu," executive chef Meril Antony Aricatt told IANS. "We found that grilled items were moving fast. We thought these would go well with dim sums and soups and added them to the menu this year," Aricatt said, while placing a bowl of seafood coriander thick soup.

The talk turned into the changing role of a star hotel chef. "An executive chef combines the functions of a mini-CEO (responsible for the restaurants and other spheres of activities relating to food and beverages), a human resources manager, a motivational speaker, a guest relation manager - but he should also be a team player," Aricatt said. "The ability to cook good food is now taken for granted," he added.

By this time, the dimsums started arriving at the table. Dimsums are steamed small-sized dumplings and generally come in four avatars - open faced, half moon shaped, bow shaped and pan fried. The stuffing could be vegetarian or non-vegetarian, Aricatt said.

"We make our dimsums with a mix of potato and corn starch. In some restaurants, dimsums (if part of buffet) come with a maida covering, but if they are ordered a la carte then different flours are used," he said.

For vegetarians, broccoli and corn chingkao, golden garlic spinach dumpling, corn and water chestnut dumpling and szechwan vegetable bao are on offer. These can be taken with different dips, but mustard sauce and a spring onion dip are recommended.

According to Aricatt, getting and retaining good talent has become difficult, though aspirants always want to be associated with a good brand like the Taj. Youngsters look at TV shows and think that cooking is a glamorous job. They do not realise that celebrity chefs who come on television have done hard work in their earlier years. "I have a team of 50 people and the attrition is around 15 percent lower than many other properties in the city," he claimed.

Queried about the growth prospects for a chef, Aricatt said that there is no growth without mobility.