Whenever you meander through the lanes of Triplicane, Thousand lights it feels like the wheels have stuck in a rut. But the moment you enter Rutland you know immediately the area is a convenient escape from the madding crowd. Maybe the relief after crossing Anna Salai or thousand lights make u feel like Harry Potter also faced the same problem in this chapter going to Hogwarts for the first time through a bustling railway station. I was curious to know the history behind the name like the other roads in Madras named after the Lords during the British Rule. I was surprised to learn that the name has a German origin. The name Rutland arrives from the name Ruthland, which means 'from the root land'. But wait the name sounds familiar. Doesn't Samantha Prabhu have a surname Ruth? Yes, the same Churchpark convent turned Stella Girl.
But all the myth about seafood is broken when you cut the crap with the shrimp mock tail. It was so neatly done in a shot glass dripping with the sauce that you break the jinx and get ready for the adventure. Am a person who likes to experiment and chose the dish with the most freaky name first. But I was completely bowled over by this menu card that any random I put my finger on looks like Greek and Latin. At this point, I feel deeply indebted to Sindhu who volunteered to order on behalf of everyone. Since all the dishes were new she started instructing the waiters soup number one to him, two to me and so on.
Pic Courtesy : Zomato, Google maps, Asmita and Jenny
In such a Peter Posh area nothing less than the Boat Club, the least thing you would expect is a restaurant because it's mostly private villas and you feel so out of place that you 'll jump to a conclusion that I probably got the address wrong. But all the hiatus is gone once you start trusting your google map.
The first thing that caught my attention is the spacious parking lot. So far, going to a non- vegetarian restaurant means you have to be prepared to play the waiting game right from the parking lot. The musical chair orchestrated by the chaos around ll make you skip the appetiser and straight away jump into a street fight with your main course. But I entered the restaurant in a zen-like state after conveniently parking my bike least bothered about someone pushing it around or scratching it. The security people just ask you to keep the side lock open and even valet parking for cars shouldn't be a problem. You know for sure these people do really care about the ambience and they set the context right when they allocate such big space for parking in a prime area and their idea of revenue per square feet is entirely different. When we entered we could see that though the place was not that very crowded, the seating and lighting arrangements were such that even on a busy weekend you won't feel like your privacy is intruded. And I was particularly impressed with the idea of having board games, paintings, a small boutique in-house and a decent collection of books upstairs because you can keep yourself occupied with something or the other till your ordered dish arrives instead of reading the menu card infinite loops or play the drink a glass of water and go to the loo game. The water fountain running over the window pane was artistic. I know how you wish you could do that to your living room to escape the Chennai heat. I went to the washroom and the moment I entered the loo it invariably brought a smile on my face. I thought even theme based restaurants like Rainforest missed the trick. The rest room was jungle theme and most importantly well maintained.
CBCians started coming one by one and as usual, our admins took the honours telling who is who and we started doing the small talks as the welcome drink arrived. All is well till the menu card arrived. That moment when a non- vegetarian gets more agitated than a pure vegetarian after seeing a seafood menu card. I wish someone clicked that moment. It began to dawn upon us that it's going to be a seafood special and when you run through the menu looking for your familiar Vanjaram fry, prawn biryani etc, Etc menu read like this.
Understanding our predicament the waiters turned rescue team came around and pacified the non- vegetarians first by explaining what is what with a smile and then came with the lifeboat
(vegetarian menu card) for the strict veggies. We took separate tables to avoid any confusion while serving. Usually, we tend to avoid seafood at such gatherings because it's very expensive, we tend to feel embarrassed since we are not pros at eating crab,fish or lobsters with fork, spoon and knife. Also, we get conscious that you don't end up making your vegetarian friends feel claustrophobic with all the clutter and strong smell.
All of us would have gone to grills and barbecues and for those of you whose core competence in a buffet is the starter then you are definitely in for a pleasant surprise at ETC because you get the KFC version of Seafood here with crisply baked outers which I felt is very thoughtful. Am not getting into the details of every dish since it is already there in the Kambeni blog and others have spoken enough about it and also by the time you visit ETC they will have some other carnival or concept being showcased. But you can expect that the menu will be unique and you ll feel intrigued to think beyond your routine stuff- the staple naans and biryanis you repeatedly order whenever you walk into a restaurant. I can vouch for the feel good factor when the chef comes around and asks for your feedback.
A dinner is never complete without a dessert. I found the delicacies served on a platter in such a way it puts out the idea of gluttony in you. There is no way you will end up having too much on your plate or tempted to take too big a bite than you can chew. To become a connoisseur of world cuisine you don't have to essentially go to the dishes root land. It is enough that every once in a while you pull yourselves out of the rut to visit ETC at Rutland for a complete dine out makeover. In case you are not based in Chennai but you would like to try this place out the good news is that they offer accommodation and camping facilities at ETC. For further details write to etcrestaurantandcafe@gmail.com or call 044 2833 3353
Pic Courtesy : Zomato, Google maps, Asmita and Jenny
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