Simplicity Coimbatore ,Weekend specials at RHR
To delve into the history of the RHR hotel would require a whole other write up altogether. That’s what I told Ms.Hema Lakshmi ,daughter-in-law of Mr.G. Ratnavel (the head of the Royal Hindu Restaurant) who helps manage the operations at the restaurant at Peelamedu alongside her husband Mr.R.Gurumoorthy and brother-in-law Mr.M.Sivakumar. The family takes pride in the business which was started in 1931 ,near the Railway Station on State Bank road and popularly referred to as the “RHR idli kadai’.
When I mentioned the idli kadai reference to Hema when speaking over the telephone,I could almost hear her smile when she said that even today her husband uses the same term when leaving for work; not that he’s going to the office but to the ‘kadai’.
Considering the vastness of their hospitality business,it’s not possible to cover their entire gamut of operations.So the focus here would be on the weekend specials served at the restaurant at Peelamedu.
It all started off with a Whatsapp image of a plate of crisp edged parota and gravy on a charcoal coloured background with the words “virudhunagar parota and kaalaan palipalayam”.I remember thinking that this was good news for my vegetarian friends because I had only heard of a non-vegetarian pallipalayam dish until now. RHR restaurants serve only vegetarian food and we were curious to find out what the difference was between a Virudhunagar parota and a Malabar parota.
We arrived on a Saturday evening at the restaurant on Kamarajar road.There’s a decent amount of space for parking .The restaurant has an air conditioned section which is to the left of the main hall.The central space was bustling with crowd and a long juice counter at one end was busily churning out fresh juices.We were told that this particular outlet also served other desserts like brownies,ice-cream etc.
We managed to find a comfortable table inside the air conditioned room .Each table had a small placard displaying the weekend specials and straight away we spotted the name,’virudhunagar parota’. When we placed our order,we decided to have just one portion of the parota,on realizing that it was deep fried.Plus we spotted other sumptuous sounding items on the specials list; like the ooty garlic dosai and the ghee podi roast. You may wonder what is special about a podi roast,trust me,this one is unlike the other podi roasts we had eaten.
Anyway first things first…the virudhanagar parota came with the side of pallipalayam mushroom. It is crisp and delicious but also quite filling. So unless it’s for a hungry teenager ,it’s best if the adults shared one plate between 2 people.The pallipalayam kaalaan is really tasty.There is a hint of spice towards the end but the flavour is delicious. Very often the parota accompaniments end up being too spicy or too bland, this was just right.
The ooty poondu dosai was also a delightful surprise. Sometimes establishments serve garlic in food where the taste of the garlic is overpowering because it would be under cooked. Here,the whole cloves of garlic were cooked until they were squishy,like a buttery consistency before being coated with a tangy almost urugai like masala.This was then smeared in an uniform manner throughout the dosai. It was so good and could be enjoyed on it’s own without any need for sambhar or chutney.
The podi dosai was the last to arrive, the roast was done to perfection.A true dosai aficionado will swear that the sound of a crisp dosai will make even the strongest go weak in the knees. The speciality about the podi roast at RHR is the addition of whole black sesame seeds to the yummy podi.The toasty flavour of the karuppu ellu elevates this podi roast to a whole other taste experience. We as a family enjoy the taste of this native ingredient, so it left us completely satiated.The rasamalai we ordered for dessert was served in the right proportion. It made sure that diners did not over eat and yet indulged. The small rounds of soft rasamali in the saffron and nut milk was light and contained the right level of sweet.
The food is served on square steel plates lined with a clean banana leaf cut to size.The washing area is kept mess free and the orders arrive very quickly.The only slight hitch would perhaps be the miscommunication between the staff when a customer has a specific request. It’s nothing that a bit of extra training can’t rectify but what I did tell Hema was that in today’s world of social media a small error can be a deterrent to drawing in new customers.
She too was in complete agreement because she says that a lot of time and energy is put into educating the staff.Online feedback ,both positive and critical,is read out to them and constant motivation is given to improve performance.
From a restaurateur’s point of view, it’s also important that as customers we take a moment before judging harshly on any public forum.After all ,this city is ours together.In order to improve anything there needs to be a healthy rapport between consumer and a restaurant owner. After all we do want eateries to thrive,especially when they are a family run business. I was taught that one must always “praise in public and critique in private”.I must admit that it’s always worked well for me !
Meal for two- Rs.250- 300 approximately
RHR restaurant Peelamedu – 9487314000 ,9442514000
Kamarajar road
Near Mani’s cinema hall
Upplipalayam PO
Coimbatore
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