On my last visit to Sanadige, I loved the coconut payasam apart from some other dishes so much that when Sanadige announced their new menu, I knew that this is the place I am visiting next. Unfortunately the first two salads didn’t really excite me much.
Ananas Bija Salad is a well presented salad of Spiced pineapple, cashew nuts tossed with honey and chilli flakes served on a bed of ragi vermicelli. The sweetness came from the pineapple and heat from chilly flakes, but to balance the salad, it required a bit of tanginess. Not only that with long vermicelli it was very difficult to eat as well. If the chef can break the vermicelli, then it will not look as pretty but will make it much more practical to eat. Prawn Salad was served with prawn cracker along with bell peppers. The quantity of bell peppers completely masked the flavours of small prawns which were just half of it in every cracker.
The Malvani Mutton Masala was excellent where the best part was the quality of mutton itself. I would have loved it if it had more heat. This was the time Chef Sukesh came to meet us and asked for our feedback. We were candid and Chef took the feedback very sportingly and said that they typically lower the heat in North India given the flavour profile of majority of guests. And I must congratulate him for the rest of the meal which was like a dream.
At any seafood restaurant, I will hardly ever go with the vegetarian fare, however on Chef’s recommendation I tried Babycorn Butter Pepper Garlic. If you are a vegetarian or have allergy for shell fish, try this dish and you wont be disappointed. Stuffed Kurle (Deshelled crab meat) was made with hill crab which has a sweet taste. These were cooked in fiery Goan spice to balance the flavour. The mozzarella cheese grated on top was unnecessary in my opinion and since it was a salted cheese also interfered with the flavours.
We finally had 2 kinds of fishes in our starters – Bhareli Macchi and Meen Pollichatthu. The preparation and freshness of these fishes reinforces my belief that Sanadige is the best coastal cuisine restaurant in Delhi. Both the fishes were spicy where Bhareli Macchi was the pomfret stuffed with traditional green spices and Meen Polichattu is the pan fried surmai that is smothered with tangy spices mixed with chopped shallots. It is wrapped in a banana leaf and shallow fried. Frying gives the skin of the fish crispness and bite while inside is all flaky and juicy. I can go again and again to eat both these fishes alone.
Since the fishes were so good, we decided to wrap our meal by ordering Alleppey Meen Manga Curry along with neer dosa. This is the fresh seer (also called surmai) fish cooked with raw mango and spicy coconut gravy. It is another well made dish at Sanadige that goes so well with appam or neer dosa.
While I was all full post the main course, but if you have been to Sanadige, then you know that no one can come back without saying yes to their coconut payasam. Chef said that minimum 4-5 fresh coconuts go in making 1 of these desserts which has fresh tender coconut pulp and coconut cream garnished with few nuts. And it tasted like heaven!
The new menu apart from salads is as good as Sanadige’s old menu and worth visiting again!
Ratings (Out of 5)
Food: 4.5 | Ambience: 4.0 | Service: 4.5 | Overall: 4.5
Meal for Two: Rs3000 ++ | Wheel Chair Friendly: Yes | Credit Card: Yes | Alcohol: Yes
Address: Sanadige, Malcha Marg, Chanakyapuri, Delh | Phone: 011-40507777
Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgement and care has been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review, but readers need to consider this review keeping this fact in mind.
