Time for coastal flavours

All the way from Andhra Pradesh. Served in Dakshin

Time for coastal flavours

All the way from Andhra Pradesh. Served in Dakshin

When you live in a city like Delhi where the coast is nowhere near decent driving distance and there is an apology of a river, you crave for 'water bodies'. Especially the live kinds that swim in them and magically transform themselves into tender meat on our plates. So it was with quite some enthusiasm that we hopped over to Saket for some coastal cuisine all the way from Andhra Pradesh.

The look of Dakshin is international, with a touch of south Indian in the
decor

Dakshin, the restaurant in Welcomhotel Sheraton that is celebrating the Andhra food festival, has flied in a chef from their Vishakhapattanam property. The food is spicy and marked by the use of various chillies in every preparation. Seafood is among the main items, so the menu here too has a lot of seafood items like Vanjaram vepudu (fresh king fish marinated with masala) that we tried and liked.

Among starters (or Prarambham as it is called), we also tried Alasanda garelu (deep fried black eyed pea mini dumplings with coconut chutney, nothing great) and Mokkajona vadalu (grounded American corn blended with light masala and fried,quite decent).

What we liked was Bangaladumpa ullikharam (baby potatoes with onion masala, spicy and delicious of which we took second helpings) and Gongura royyallu (prawns simmered in creamy sorrel leaf puree with chillies). The prawns were fresh and tangy. Team them with a rice dish and it makes for more than a decent meal. For desserts, full marks to the Bobbatlu (boiled Bengal gram and pounded jaggery stuffed in roti), with the sweet jaggery oozing out of it. Fantastic!

At: Welcomhotel Sheraton, Saket
Timings: 12.30 pm to 2.45 pm & 7.30 pm to 11.45 pm
Call: 42661122
Meal for two: Rs 2,500 + taxes