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  Life   Food  04 Dec 2018  Pondy calls

Pondy calls

THE ASIAN AGE. | KAVYA M
Published : Dec 4, 2018, 1:36 am IST
Updated : Dec 4, 2018, 1:36 am IST

Les Alize, the rooftop restaurant at Palais de Mahe, requires no special mention if you are a regular visitor to Puducherry.

Food lovers have even more options at the cafes and restaurants as they traipse through the lanes of the ever so gorgeous French Colony where the fare can be in a very wide range from local to European and Asian flavours.
 Food lovers have even more options at the cafes and restaurants as they traipse through the lanes of the ever so gorgeous French Colony where the fare can be in a very wide range from local to European and Asian flavours.

Puducherry (fondly called by its old name of Pondicherry) is the place where you can see India through a French lens. Apart from being a perfect weekend destination to roam around with friends looking at the heritage buildings, or walking on the promenade with the sea breeze blowing fresh on the face and the blue vista of the moon rising on the Bay of Bengal, Pondicherry has much to offer. Food lovers have even more options at the cafes and restaurants as they traipse through the lanes of the ever so gorgeous French Colony where the fare can be in a very wide range from local to European and Asian flavours.

The Mahe effect on progressive cuisine
Situated at the heart of the White Town (French quarter) Palaise de Mahe is a colonial retreat with a courtyard pool, sea-showcasing roof terrace and luxurious, lofty rooms to remind you of a scene straight out of a vintage French film.

Les Alize, the rooftop restaurant at Palais de Mahe, requires no special mention if you are a regular visitor to Puducherry. The restaurant with its colonial architecture and finest ambience is the best place to enjoy a perfect dinner. Here you taste can innovative Indian dishes with European influence, everything done in a modern way, says executive chef N Kathiresan who is famous as just Kathir among visitors.

The place would be the best ever choice if you love sea foods — One should not forget to try the Prawn Mango curry (prawn cooked with mango sauce, Indian masala and finished with coconut paste) or  'Nadan Kozhi curry ' (chicken cooked in Indian spices and ‘varutharacha masala’) with silky appams,  or Curry leaves grilled prawns where tiger prawns marinated with curry leaves  and Indian spices are grilled alongside  lemon rice.

The restaurant which carries a bit of Kerala in its name has dishes from the Mahe coast in Kerala (which is part of Union Territory of Puducherry) as well as wonderful fusion dishes. “We have a roof top seafood area which would be opened seasonally where you will be offered a wide variety of seafood items. Customers can select the food items and we would cook it for them fresh”, says Kathir.

“Everything we serve here is exclusive and our signature dishes. We have one customer from Auroville who has been visiting our restaurant for the past 8 years only to taste our signature Mahe coast foods”, says Kathir who has presented his dishes before politicians and film stars in an exclusively developed menu .

“Priyanka Gandhi, when she visited Puducherry for a personal event, stayed in our hotel and had food from here. Tamil actor Vikram aka Chiyaan Vikaram stays only in our property whenever he visits Puducherry and now his son also. They have all tasted the food here and personally appreciated it”, he said

Palaisede Mahe also offers a small, contemporary bar which is open all day for creative cocktails – and a selection of refreshing mocktails. That’s not quite the end — you can also relax with a cup of coffee at the Earth Cafe in the ground floor in the evening while enjoying the poolside view and the beautiful architecture.

Death by Yogurt - Dahi ke kabab.Death by Yogurt - Dahi ke kabab.

For all those Pizza lovers out there
There is no denying that Pudcherry has a multitude of fantastic restaurants that offer all kind of cuisine — be it continental, Chinese, South or North Indian varieties.

As delicious as all these options are, you can’t often go wrong with the king of all comfort foods — pizza.

For all those Pizza lovers out there you can't miss one restaurant in Puducherry, it’s called Cafe Xtasy. The restaurant, with three branches in Puducherry including in Bussy street, Mission street and ECR, serves a range of classic dishes but, of course, their huge pizza menu is what makes them famous around the region. Cafe Xtasy gastro pub at the Bussy street is a great place to visit during daytime or night  where you can sit and have a cold beer while you wait for your pizza, either to eat in or take away.

From among the pizzas on their menu comes ‘Mr Veg’ with Spinach, paneer capsicum, beans, feta, onion, corn, mushroom, garlic, green peas, chilli and olives directly from their wood fired oven. Or else you can go for the Vegitariana — a perfect combination of spinach, capsicum, mushroom, and garlic. If you love cheese you can go for Say Cheese or 4 Cheese which would never disappoint you.

For the meat lovers, you have plenty of options here. Go for Chickenet with chicken sausage, chicken ham, chicken chunks, capsicum onion and garlic or the signature Xtasi pizza with ham, salami, chicken, feta, garlic, olives and loads of vegetables.

But the ultimate choice for meat lovers will undoubtedly be Bon Viande, says Tuheen Roy who heads the organisation team of the restaurant. The Bon Viande is a blend of Pork meat balls, beef meat balls, chicken chunks, mix of sausages, more cheese, onion and garlic.

“The restaurant uses only fresh vegetables from our own farm which would definitely give added perfection. We keep changing our menu once in six months”, says Mr Roy.

‘Chettinadu Pizza’ will be next on their menu in Xtasy.

Tags: sea foods, prawn mango curry