1 Kasturi Estate, Kasturi Ranga Road, 1st Street, Poes Garden, Chennai 600 018
For ‘Hot Breads’ Mahadevan, the Dubai-based entrepreneur, Chennai is home. After having set up 64 restaurants and 20 bakeries across the globe, M. Mahadevan has created a product closer to his heart, and ‘Ente Keralam’ is the outcome. "Chennai has always been my base—this is where I started way back in 1982," says the former professor of marketing, who used to teach at the Madras University.
There is a strong ethnic touch to the decor, all gleaming brass and polished wood. Buxom women in starched white and gold Kerala-style costumes twirl their round-bottomed pans behind glass walls to make appams and chicken stew (Rs 60, Rs 210).
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The menu is a stylish mix, with starters that dip into the backwaters of Kerala—Karimeen fries (Rs 345) and spicy prawns (Rs 515)—and homely recipes that recreate some favourite dishes of the Malabar spice coast. Kerala food is a rich mix of influences from the Syrian Christian, Moplah (or Muslim) and Hindu communities. It’s difficult to get a consensus on what is truly authentic. This is where ‘Ente Keralam’ scores. It satisfies the purist and yet has enough to tempt the first-time visitor.
