Peninsular Kitchen, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi

We north Indians surely need to know more about the peninsular cuisine. Coastal cuisine is much more than Idli Dosa or lemon rice. There is more to it and I discovered the hidden treasures of our South Indian dishes at a recent bloggers table organised at the Peninsular Kitchen.

Talking about the ambience, the décor reminds you of the coasts – anchors, ships, canoe, ropes and water. The place could have been a bit bigger.

Here are the dishes I tried:

Gonghura chicken fry : Tangy, juicy and spicy chicken fried in gonghura leaves. This dish is a must try and so amazing that we helped ourselves to multiple servings.

Madur vada : This dish comes from Madur, a place in Mysore. These vadas were a bit hard. There was a prominent flavour of peanuts in these.

Kerala stir fried prawns : These were spicy, crispy and drenched in choped onions and garlic. The hotness of this dish was pretty overwhelming.

Khatti Macchli : The fish pieces were soft,tangy and had a subtle flavour of mustard. Another good dish.

Butter pepper garlic Mushrooms : Adorned with chopped spring onions and garlic, the mushrooms were juicy and ohh so divine. The amount if garlic was too much but it made the dish better. I loved this dish though it could have had more flavours.

Tossed mini idli : Tossed in desi ghee and coconut oil, these were taste less – the way they should be and served with gun powder.

Ambittini: Tangy, sweet and sour cocktail..

Punar Puli Saaru: This dish had kokum and was lentil based. Kokum made it quite tangy and delicious. It was also adorned with curry leaves and was a bit sweet as well.

Mutton stew : A drool worthy dish – medley of curry leaves, bay leaf, coconut milk, ginger and mutton pieces, this was thick and creamy. A must try.

Payasam : It was way too sweet and thick because of jaggery and was topped with almonds. I did not like it.

Pineapple halwa : Mediumly sweetened and with a gooey texture, this dessert was a very innovative take on our usual halwa. The flavour of green cardomam was quite prominent here.

Malabar Parantha : It had gone all soggy and chewy but was still good to eat.

Beans Porial : A very bland dish with chopped French beans as the main ingredient. Could have had more flavours.

Vegetable Stew : Same texture as the mutton stew with the jullienes of vegetables.

Seafood Rasam : Not recommended. The boiled prawns, calamari and fish were served in a tangy soup but the smell and taste of the seafood was pretty prominent here.

Chicken Chettinad : I loved it! It was heavy with spices and went well with the Parantha.