Filter Coffee at Dakshin

Filter Coffee or Mammi's Coffee at Dakshin, Park Sheraton

Entire South India barring Kerala favours Coffee than tea drinking. South Indian Filter coffee generally made out of powdering combination of roasted coffee beans and little bit of Chicory.

At Dakshin, Maami prepares the coffee and it is of blissful taste ! No second opinion for  South Indian coffee lovers… I must say !

Filter coffee gets served generally in a Dabarah  (cup holder) and Tumbler (glass)

An anecdote related to the distance between the pouring and receiving cup leads to another name for the drink, "Meter Coffee".

Diners can order Filter Coffee either at Lounge or at Cappucino restaurant of of Sheraton Park & Towers, while entertaining your business partners or friends. 

Coffee can be ordered while you are having  lunch or dinner at Dakshin restaurant too.

Dakshin Restaurant at Sheraton Park Hotels & Towers

Introduction

Dakshin is the iconic south Indian restaurant at Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers, that showcases the rich diversity of South Indian cuisines.  Flavors and aromas of the peninsular cuisine find fine expression in the style and presentation of the 5 states of the South India - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. 

Dakshin first opened its door at Sheraton Park on 14th April , 89 and would be completing 25 years of providing culinary delight to Chennaivaasis and visitors from all over the world. 

Ambience

Ambience of Dakshin refers to the South Indian artefacts like Grand Wooden Door, Ganesha or Nataraja Idol or Tanjore paintings or the traditional silverware and brass cutleries which reflects the rich cultural heritage of South India. 

Who is behind the heavenly food ?

Mr Harish carries out the proud job of Sous Chef at Dakshin. Harish and his team perform an enviable job of keeping your taste buds craving for more.

Mr Harish tours all the states regularly to actively research and source old recipes and ingredients from respective regions before re-introducing in Dakshin. He also tours other ITC Hotels through out India to spread the Dakshin flavor. 

Fabulous, Authentic Southern Spread

Dakshin food is elaborate. Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian, one gets to taste superb variety. What makes you to think, South Indian food is all about Idry or Dosa ? Would you like to explore Crab meat or Lamb curry or Fish simmered in Coconut Milk or the chicken fry !!!

Generally, food is rice based or one can order authentic gravy to suite the crispy Appams or Idiappams (stringhoppers).  Diners can try out Gongura Mamsam or Chicken Chettinad along with. 

I am a vegetarian and I tasted fabulous starter named Banana Dosa which was absolutely fabulous. The chutney cart offered four varieties such as Coconut, onion & tomato, puliogere, ginger. Pickle and Gonguras were kept in different cart.

Paruppu vada, Vaazhai Shunti and Banana Bonda was also served as starters alongwith Pappadams. Vaazhai Shunti was served with raw mango and green chilli chutney and they turned out to be one addictive combo.

I also tasted Parotta, Kuruma, vegetable tomato pappu and Gundu Mullangi Koottu out of which I fell in love with Koottu.

Rice platter of the day turned out to be really surprising and captivating item called Thengai Pal Saadham (coconut milk rice) which was adequately sweet but did not hide the lovely taste of south indian spices.

How can a diner finish eating without tasting Indian sweet ? Dakshin offers Badam Halwa, Elaneer Payasam (tender coconut extract) out of which I took special liking to Payasam. 

Service

How do you define good service ?

I would say, it is about …

• Knowledgeable, experience staff
• Friendly, Prompt and attentive service
• Little anticipation of your need
• Warmth and Recognition in service

I can assure you… You will feel all of those at Dakshin ! Such is the hospitality of the valuable Dakshin staff !!!

Conclusion

Dakshin offers culinary delight of South India. Ideal place for quality dining and

Price for two to dine at Dakshin might come around INR 2,500. Dakshin is open between 12 Noon to 15:30pm and 19:30pm to 23:30pm. 

Bon Appetit !!!

Review of Sheraton Towers, On The Rocks Restaurant

Introduction

Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers, offers another exciting dining option named as On The Rocks – a stylish grill with internationally-inspired cuisine.

The driving philosophy of ‘On the Rocks’ Grill is to create a gastronomic experience, by way of an eclectic grill ethos, hot volcanic rock cooking and flambéed desserts. This multi-dimensional venue would be exemplified by handcrafted wine pairing menus, showcasing an enterprising range of dishes under the able craftsmanship of Chef Rohit and his grill brigade. 

What it offers

‘On The Rocks’ will offer two kinds of dining option to choose from, an A-la-carte menu from the grill called the ‘Grill Platter’ which will change every week and a table-de-hote menu for the new sensational cooking on the Hot volcanic rocks at your table !

The entrance to the ‘On The Rocks’ is through the spacious ‘ Lounge Bar’ Wine vertical houses exhaustive collection to service the diners and has a well ‘nosed’ sommelier Kathir at hand to guide the diner through the labels. 

Hot Rock

Hot Rock is an extremely unique and exciting new dining concept. Diners will hear the sizzle and smell, the incredible aroma of their meal cooking right in front of them on a searing hot volcanic stone! For service, the granite rocks are heated in a special oven and placed onto a metal plate, which is then carefully placed on a specially designed white platter. The Chef then grazes the Hot Rock with Rock Sea salt to prevent the meat from sticking to the hot stone. This then is presented on the table. The choice of meat cut is brought and placed on the sizzling lava rock to cook, and sealed on one side by the heat and then turned to seal the other, locking in the juices and natural flavors.

As the diner slices off pieces as thick or thin as they like and cook them to suit their individual palate. Diners eat straight from the rock. The food on the rock continues to cook as the diner enjoys the dinner. This is surrounded on the side by choice garnishes, seasonal vegetables and a choice of marinades / sauces. The meat continues to sizzle at the table, making the last bite as hot as the first. 

The ‘Table-de-hote’ menu on the Hot Volcanic Rock cranks out a three course menu - a soup, a main course and the dessert of the Day. The main course will include Jumbo Prawns, Duck Breast from France, Prime Tenderloin from Brazil and Australia, Mahi Mahi, Chicken Breast, to name a few. Thus this style of cooking absolutely customizes the main course to suit the palate of the diner making it an exciting experience.

A-la-Carte

Amusse bouche (Tomato Cups with lemon grass and coconut milk sorbet topped with Ginger crisp)

This small appetizer kindled the taste buds with the finely cooked ginger crisp on coconut milk sorbet and set the expectation of things to come after !

Focaccia of the Day

This finely baked bread tasted totally delicious when it was topped with elaborately prepared Garlic extract

Creamy asparagus and pumpkin soup accented with fontal

Soup was thick, topped with Broccoli and bread stick and turned out to be a perfect, adequate quantity of appetizer.

Baked camembert with honey garlic reduction   

I loved this out of all the dishes I had on the dinner. The garlic, honey extract was tasting heavenly on the cheese cake and left me craving for more. The black spots which you on the top of the plate was not plate design … it was bit of Pepper Powder !!

Harissa, sesame crusted pommes gnocchi with oriental greens

yellow cheddar and baby tomato cream sauce

That was one cool stuffed potato !

Tortilla wrapped red kidney bean, pico de gallo, tortilla crush, sour cream,                     tangy tomato sauce and picked   greens     

Mexican burrito was fabulously stuffed with well cooked red kidney beans and onions sautéed in Olive oil with right amount of spicy taste. Flour tortillas were decorated with sour cream on the top dressing unlike what one normally gets in abroad.

Chocolate torte, cherry compote with creme fraiche                                   

This chocolate dessert gave a memorable ending due to apt white cream topping along with Cherry extract.

Hot brioche doughnuts, raspberry coulis with vanilla sauce

I tasted Doughnuts separately, with Rasberry once and with cream once…. It was yummy ! But I mixed cream and raspberry together… it turned out to be… heavenly !!

Conclusion

Interactive menus are slowly edging out pre-set menus and the waiters hovering by your table. In the rare sphere of upscale dining, Chefs are taking centre stage while diners are participating in equal measure. 

At the induction table, diners are encouraged to plan the menu, customise ingredients and the Chef even lets you to interact with him and suggest suitable sauces to mix on his signature dishes ! 

it is fabulous to know and feel that the Indian dining scene is nicely evolving with sophisticated culinary traditions and ingredients replacing the old in the menu card.

The diners would need to shell out INR 4,500 towards dinner for two at 'On the Rocks' but they would feel privileged when they complete the dining experience.

This International Grill and Hot Rocks restaurant opens daily between 6pm to 11pm on all days and you get to order the suitable wine on Glass too !!!

Strictly recommended for foodies, forever, Bon Appetit !!!