Chettinad cuisine gets a fast-food makeover at this new Chennai eatery

We have eaten Chettinad food in many forms across the city. However, Kalpaasi, the new diner in the city, made us have it in a form we have not encountered before. Ramesh Palaniappan, a Chettinad native, wanted to do something different with the cuisine he grew up eating. He takes the QSR format-burgers, taco tarts, customisable meal boxes, and runs Chettinad spice and technique all the way through it.

But before we talk about the food, we must discuss about the interiors. Entering the diner felt like stepping in to a home in Chettinad. There are thinnais inside, the traditional raised verandah seating of Chettinad homes, where you can eat if you choose. The interiors, completed with wooden finishings, open hallway, and traditional flooring seemed warm, unpretentious, and homely.

The Watermelon nannari sarbath was our opener. On a Chennai afternoon, it was a small mercy and a good way to begin.

The Prawn ghee roast taco tarts came next, and the ghee roast character, bold, and buttery with a heat characteristic of the preparation, came through clearly inside the tart shell.

The Raw banana croquettes with mint chilli dip were comforting and well-made, the banana giving them a satisfying density and the crisp exterior a texture that reminded us of good fish fingers.

The Chicken mutta poriyal was the quietest dish on the table and one of the most enjoyable. A varuval that was well-spiced, sitting against a gongura dip that pulled the tartness of the leaf into every bite. Subtle and very good.

Next was the Chicken 65 burger, the newly launched signature dish. It arrived on a coriander chilli bun with a crispy patty and a garlic coriander mayo that gave it a richness. It was well-assembled and worth the attention it was already getting.

From the build-your-own burger section, the Beetroot fennel bun with mixed veg filling and the Kalpaasi special sauce had an interplay of earthy sweetness and gentle heat that we found more interesting than expected. The Tomato curry leaf bun with mutton Chettinad filling and Chettinad sauce was the most developed of the three, the sauce carrying the full weight of the cuisine behind it.

For the desserts, the Kavuni cheesecake arrived with some scepticism from us and left with none. Black glutinous rice and cheesecake produced something genuinely compelling—the earthiness of the kavuni against the creamy base a combination that worked quietly and well. The Athirasam cake was the more traditional finish, the jaggery and rice flour sweetness of the original carried forward into a cake form that felt honest and appropriate.

Meal for two: INR 1,000++. 11 am to 11 pm. At Kalpaasi, Nungambakkam.

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