Bengal’s culinary heritage takes a southern detour at this premium restaurant in Chennai

Experience a tale of two states at the Hyatt Regency, Chennai as the Bengali flavours come to the city. Featuring Sienna’s head chefs, Avinandan and Koyel, alongside chefs Sourav and Tina, this collaboration promises a dining experience that seamlessly blends the richness of Bengal’s culinary heritage with contemporary techniques.

Known for their award-winning restaurant and design studio in Kolkata, Sienna has now come to Chennai to showcase their celebrated ingredient-focused, artful creations at Hyatt Regency's Focaccia restaurant .

We started off bitter (quite literally), with Bhaat’r goila and Shukto. Bhaat’r gol, a rice ball with neem and eggplant in it reminded us of the rice portions that we get from our mothers and grandmothers during our childhood. Shukto on the other hand is a creamy bitter-sweet stew with a slight flavour of mustard in it.

We then moved to an interesting dish made of moong dal, with caramelised tamarind and hilsa head. This was paired with crunchy lotus stems. Next came the Panchmishali tokari, which is essentially a combination of five vegetables and 5 spices.

We were then served a classic yet unique combination of Bread, makhon (butter) and jam. There were two types of makhon here. One was an interesting combination of mango and ginger. And the other one was prepared from the dried fish. Meanwhile, the jam was made from roselle (gangura). We should admit that all the three spreads were new and amazing.

The next dish in the 10-course menu was a signature the Bhetki paturi with aam kasundi and jhuri aloo- prepared using bhetki fish with mustard sauce elevating the taste without overpowering the taste of the fish.

Macheet deem, which came next to our table was Sienna’s ode to the Chinatown in Kolkata. The dish had XO rice, cooked with rohu fish eggs, served along with a poached egg. While this was spicier than what we had so far, the egg helped to balance the taste.

Following this came Golda chingri, malay jhol with some tobiko on the top. This tiger prawns dish was served with a coconut curry, signifying the flavour essence from the south.

For the eighth dish on the course, we got Confit mangsho and naan puri. While the naan puri was a tad bit salty to our liking, the confit mangsho (mutton curry) was flavourful.

We then moved to desserts as our final dishes. First off was Aam jujube, made of raw mango and with amchur powder sprinkled on it. Next, was one of everyone’s favourite Bengali sweets- sandesh with jaggery in it.

We ended our culinary journey with Doodh puli, which is essentially a rice dumpling with coconut and jaggery, cooked in milk and pandan oil. And it didn’t disappoint us with its taste.