Simplicity Coimbatore ,Grand Cafe
The following quote by American chef, Paul Prudhomme goes, “you don’t need a silver fork to eat good food” .Isn’t this a statement that most of us Indians can completely identify with ? Some of the most delicious meals of my life have been those served on a banana leaf and eaten by hand ! It’s not until much later into adulthood that one realises that it is indeed a skill that is perfected purely by practice. To scoop a tangy rasam from the glistening surface of the banana leaf without making a mess not to mention enjoying the last mouthful of payasam on that very leaf while tasting the residual flavours of spice,salt and tempering from the previous courses,is an art. It’s not just mindless eating to quell hunger pangs,it’s a meal which is meant to be relished and savoured or as people often say it is, ‘food for the soul’.
These are the sentiments which play in my head after a recent ella saapadu (banana leaf meal) at Grand Café on Huzur road.The vegetarian Café was started 3 years ago by brothers C V Govindarajan and C V Kishore. The family are no strangers to the hospitality industry. Their grandfather Shri.C S Govinda Iyer got into the hotel and restaurant business in the 1930s. Over the years after several changes and property shuffles within the family, the C S meals hotel was later headed by Govind and Kishore’s father Shri. C G Venkatasubramanian. About 20 years ago when the famous Geetha Café (run by the family) closed down, Govind decided to start a restaurant at CS meals hotel. They serve a variety of tiffins like dosai, adai ,poori , parota etc from 6.30 am ,meals for lunch and tiffin again until 9:00p.m. The family,back then, lived just around the corner in their ancestral home.
A few years ago having decided to move out of the two story house, Govind and Kishore came up with the idea of running a restaurant for meals only. That’s how the Grand Café came into existence.Another reason behind this thought process was that the kitchen at CS Meals hotel needed renovating and this seemed like a feasible option without putting a hindrance on the day to day operations.
The kitchens have now been split into two.The meals for both the Grand Café as well as the CS Meals hotel are cooked in one central kitchen housed at the Grand Café. The meals are served from 10,30 am to 4 p.m and comprises of dishes that one would get to taste at a typical brahmin home. The food is cooked without onion or garlic,with minimal spice and is without exaggeration, “finger licking good”. The exterior is done in an aesthetic manner .The exposed pipes are painted to look like artwork resembling a wall creeper.The old windows and doors are preserved and right at the top is the name krishnaji nilayam ! Upon walking in,Kishore is present to greet the diners and make sure everyone is comfortable. There are both a/c and non a/c eating areas. The interiors comprise of neat tables with adequate spacing. Large clean banana leaves arrive quickly to the table soon after one is seated. The servers are attentive ,polite and efficient without being intrusive (very important) and know exactly what the items on the menu are and the order in which it is to be served.
The pickle, the salt, the poriyals (also called kari) and hot rice come in quick succession. The paruppu podi comes next along with an offering of ghee to pour over the steaming rice grains. The podi is strong and is delicious when mixed with the rice and ghee.On one occasion I ate it with a helping of cabbage poriyal and on another day it was (everyone’s favourite) the potato poriyal. The flavours are mild so that the taste of the vegetable really comes through. There is a kootu made with a different gourd, there is also a choice of a lentil dish to go with your main meal.Once the podi and rice is down, next come a string of accompaniments course by course…paruppu ,sambhar, puli kozhambhu/morru kozhambhu/ vetha kozhambhu and rasam. A spoonful of the tongue tantalising inji puli placed on the top left hand corner of the leaf deserves special mention. The curd and payasam are placed in the top right corner of the leaf, in individual cups. There’s no dearth for texture in our traditional meals and the crunch element comes in the form of crisp paruppu vadai, appalam and on occasion,banana chips and morru molagai (buttermilk cured and fried chillies).
If I hadn’t been so full from eating my leaf clean,I would have loved to ask for seconds of each one of the sides. It is tasty cooking but far from simple.To cook up a balanced rasam every day for 350-400 people requires a certain skill set along with a well planned kitchen.
When I spoke to Govind,he said that the recipes which are used are from their grandmother. The kitchen duties are allocated based on the prep involved.One person is in charge of making the dosai batter,one is in charge of grinding all the masala ,one person takes care of the chutneys and so on.They have a coffee master and assistants for every job in case the main person is off duty.The vegetables are sourced from one vendor and get delivered at mid day for cooking to begin at 4 am the following day.
It’s no secret that the best way to ascertain the quality of food at any establishment is by seeing the number of people who throng there for a meal on a daily basis. At Grand Café ,the tables get filled up as fast as they become vacant.So while I would like to linger after my meal, the attention is already on the next diner seeking a space.
There is however one bit of trivia that I did get to share with my dining companion before we left…The helping of salt on the leaf is not only for seasoning your food (if necessary) ,it’s also for cleansing one’s fingers after the meal, to remove all traces of oil. Why use soap when we have uppu ?!
Grand Cafe– Phone number : 2300050 (meal for 2 – Rs.250/-)
52, Huzur Rd,
Opp. City Police Commissioner Office,
Gopalapuram, Coimbatore, 641018
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