Royal meridien makes an effort to join the crew celebrating food! How? Ofcourse with bloggers meets.
The ambiance is late '90s themed, with dull toned lightings, filmsy decor, calm dead dropped silent table room. The wooden finishes literally sing the all India radio promo song to prove, in a positive way.
We were six in number mostly veggies so it's a vegetarians take on vintage fine dine multi-cuisine.
Back in the days when Chennai was pretty much oblivious to food outside of south Indian, these people would have been the first ones to bring in a mix of North cuisine along with a mixed Tamil cuisine to the city. It's sad that the menu has stayed the same since then. Jokes apart, they serve a very simple gimmick free food with simple recipes that's just as good as home made.
It started with a banana stem clear soup. I almost expected a corn starch rich cream but it was just clear. With ample spices and crunchy bits of the thandu in the middle, it made a real good soup. A spinach shorba was also served which I found no complaints with, yet nothing to rave about at the same. Starters had a plate of malai broccoli, the soggy broccolis are just out of season. Lotus stem kebabs were a winner of the lot. The texture was so fine with the only complaint being too crumbly for a kebab. I wonder how they put the plate up together with so much crumbling. Jalan pepper fry was not my thing for it was way too spicy. Sabudhana vada went so well with the jaggery and mint chutney. Paniyaram on the other hand was literally like how I cook it. I am a self proclaimed master home chef, be wary my mom is the only one who eats what I cook so you never can estimate.
For main course was a biriyani representing the south. I've had better biriyani from Bangalore streets. There was a basket of naan, kulcha, and similar Indian breads. To side were a couple of typical Indian subji. I found them to be underwhelming, not bad though. Like I mentioned earlier, they just tasted like how we'd make it at home.
For desserts was a goan cake drenched in coconut and fluffy with mild spices. Fig halwa was yet another sweet, which was bit too sweet. I loved the consistency though.
To summarise, Royal Meridien though have grown and sustained for so long call themselves the big players. Yet they do lack the most required gimmicks when it comes to food to keep them active in the local circle.