Salades santé from Park Hyatt

Its the "Healthy Week" at The Dining Area in Park Hyatt, Velachery. They bring on to the plate, five healthy salads, made from seasonal produce, minimal dressing and in a deconstructed format.

In the sense that they are served in the regular salad bowls, instead in plates in which you can actually see what are the ingredients in each salad.

Each salad has a different method in which they are made. Each salad is cooked in a particular way. Tossed, Blanched, Grilled, Mashed and Roasted.

These salads are the brainchild of Chef Megha, who comes up with very unique and beautiful plating for the salads as well as yummy purees ( fruit and vegetable )

First to be served was nice bread, crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. Tasted good along with butter.

Roasted Salad : Baby Beetroot, with fennel, stripes of apple, wedges of juicy orange, celery, roasted walnuts and goat cheese melt. Walnuts were mounted on a tasty beetroot puree. What I liked about this salad was the blend of flavors along with the puree and the walnut of course.

For the meat lovers, meat is served on the side, you have choice of Smoked Salmon, Seered Japanese Tuna, Poached Egg and Chicken Breast to choose

Tossed Salad : Quinoa along with cherry tomatoes, avocado, parsley , mint and sunflower crese.

This salad has a generous portion of toasted Pumpkin seeds.

Smashed Salad : A salad which had Edamame, Broccoli, Pumpernickel toast, along with cucumber and a garlic lemon ricotta. The presentation was very tempting with long strips of cucumber on a bed of lemon ricotta. The Rye bread garnish was very crispy and added color to the whole salad.

Blanched Salad: Springs of Carrot, along with big slices of seasonal mangoes, asparagus, snow peas and toasted hazelnuts were layered over passion fruit dressing, which is sweet and sour. It was a vibrant salad, with lovely colors and tasted yummy. The dressing especially was too good.

Grilled Salad: A spicy combination of Grilled eggplant, chickpeas, glazed dates, with pearls of pomegranate, cubes of feta cheese along with roasted pine nuts and fresh herbs. This is a very different combination that reminded me of baba ganoush.

One distinct factor across their salads was the addition of nuts in all of them. Nuts is a very important part of nutrition, which many of us tend to ignore. And yes, there is a myth that they are fattening. Taken in the right quantities and in the right way, they give you great energy levels and feeds your body with the essential proteins. If you notice, all the nuts are toasted or roasted not deep fried.

Watermelon Smoothie: Made from fresh deseeded watermelon, honey and yogurt.

Energiser: A refreshing combo of Kiwi, Apple, Spinach, Lime , Celery and honey.

Skin Tonic: Refreshing one again . Good for the skin, made from Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro, Lime and Pineapple.

Bello: A whole meal in itself made from banana, coconut cream, cashew and spinach

Spark : Banana, Vanilla, Spinach smoothie in Almond Milk.

The Healthy Week is on from April 24th 2015 to April 28th 2015 at Park Hyatt

A meal for two would cost approximately Rs 1600/-

All the way from Kongunadu on your platter

Yet another visit to Hablis, this was to Skillet, where the " Kongunadu Festival " was happening. Kongunadu cuisine was made popular by Late Chef Jacob, who has actually done a lot of research on this cuisine. The names of the dishes, reminded me of his recipes and preparation. Incidentally during a conversation with the Chef of the festival. Chef Saravanan, was a student of Chef Jacob and says he dedicates the whole range of dishes to his mentor.

A lot of pre work and planning has gone into making this festival. The masalas and podis used for every dish is prepared inhouse and not sourced from the market. The chef himself from GobichettiPalayam, one can actually see a distinct taste and variant in the dishes served.

One thing that struck me initially was that the dishes were served in earthen pots. It kind off gives you a feeling of dining in a village

Now on to the dishes served and my take on them

We started off with a soup, for Vegetarians it was Vallarai Rasam whilst for the Non Vegetarians it was Crab Soup. Vallarai soup was very appetizing and the taste was good.

Starters, Ooty KaiKari Varuval was crispy and went well with the soup. Kuzhi Paniyaram was little bland for my palates as I usual take in a high spice level.

Mutton Sukka was the star of the day, with a second helping being asked. The mutton was cooked to perfection so was the spice level and seasonings.

For Vegetarians the dishes that were served are

Vendakka Podi Varuval

Urlai Vazhapoo Perattal

Poondu Pavakai Masala

Pallipayalam Kalan Kozhambu

Pacha Payaru Kadaisal

Kootanchoru

Kootanchoru was closest to what my mother makes at home. It tasted well with pickle and papad.

Vendakai Podi varuval, got me curious as I asked the chef as to what "Podi" refers to here, so the masala for the dish, is made from channa dal, urad dal, jeera and red chillies. Sautéed and powdered.

For a person who does not like bittergoud I liked the way garlic and veggie blended.

Kalan kulambu was a coconut based gravy with mushroom and mild spicing. It was good to have with Phulkas.

Urlai Vazhapoo Perattal. I had this reserved to be had with curd rice, and it did not disappoint me with the taste.

Last on the vegetarian menu, the Pachai Payaru kadasal. It was loaded with protein and is very healthy. Though quite heavy on the tummy, was tasting good with steamed rice and papad.

The Non Vegetarian list was

Natha Kadaiyur Eral Masala

Palla Patti Kozhi Piratal

Dindugal Kozhi Curry

Nilagri Meen Kulambu

Karur Mutton Briyani

Vallarai Rasam

Mutton Sukka

Kuzhi Paniyaram

Ooty KaiKari Varuval

Kootanchoru

Poondu Pavakai Masala

Urlai Vazhapoo Perattal

Vendakka Podi Varuval

Karur Mutton Briyani

Nilagri Meen Kulambu

Dindugal Kozhi Curry

Natha Kadaiyur Eral Masala

Palla Patti Kozhi Piratal

Desserts are all specialities from the region

Mambala Paneer Kheer

Rajma Halwa

Ragi Millet Mittai

Banana Dosai

The Kongunadu Food Festival is on till this Sunday, 26th April 2015. They are open for Lunch and Dinner . Buffet costs around 1000/head.

Hablis is located on GST Road, close to Kathipara Junction and near Guindy Railway Station.

Phone: 044 2233 4000

Tranquility in the middle of Chennai : Hab Life

How would you want to unwind after a long tiring week or day. Mine would be to relax in a breezy place, with the food that I like, mild music and good company of course.

The moment I stepped on to the rooftop in Hablis, I was awestruck. The pool and the breeze and the view of the city from the 9th floor was too too good. What is very much appealing is having a quite place to sit and eat in the most busy junctions of Chennai. With a non stop trains on one side, to the ever bustling activities in the bus stand to the entry of one of the main National Highways in Chennai.

This roof top is named as " Hab Life" It has a open gym area. Pool gym, Spa Center, a juice bar that offers a variety of juices and combination that will actually help you improve your health. One of its kind in Chennai am sure its gonna be a super hit.

Our evening started with a welcome drink, It was called Blue Sky. It was a combination of Lemon juice, Blue crosoau  and topped with pineapple. Was very refreshing indeed.

The soups arrived in time, hot and nice.

Asparagus, corn soup. It had small pieces of asparagus and corn with perfect flavoring of herbs.

Minced chicken soup was again with the correct consistency and flavoring

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Red Chili Sauce was perfectly plated. Must mention about plating. Which was very artistically done. And of course being a huge fan of crockery I could not stop admiring at those small wine glasses which was used to carry the sauces

Tofu Satay with sautéed peppers was a treat to my palates

I am a huge fan of sushi, but being a vegetarian, I do not get much of Vegetarian sushi in Chennai. Had a chance to taste the vegetarian sushi made specially for us. It was a cucumber sushi

Vegetarian momo, with spicy sauce to go with it. It was a perfectly folded momo.

My favorite part of the whole dinner was , Thai Green Curry with loads of vegetables and hot steaming rice. The best part was that, in the morning I was craving for thai green curry and vola, I get it served to me for dinner.. Was totally surprised and shocked. Enjoyed every morsel of the rice and curry

To end this wonderful dinner, we had wasabi cheesecake. It was a different flavor, something that I have not tried before. Nevertheless, I liked it  and it was polished off  clean.

I would strongly recommend this place, for a nice and quite dinner. The ambience is awesome. Service is good and Food tastes perfect. You are sure to be relaxed and refreshed by this place and the by the side of the pool.