The new takeaway seafood joint at Khader Nawaz Khan road is selling prawn fries like hot cakes!

As prawn poppers are selling like hot cakes at Vairah Nachiyar down Khader Nawaz Khan Road, we headed there this week to find out what all the fuss was about. With barely four seats to spare, the outlet is a takeaway joint where we nevertheless find folks standing around and eating chonky grilled prawns from small plates. In fact, we saw a platter of seafood salad being served at the car park to patrons sitting in their vehicles.

PS Parasu Prabhakaran, who has opened this eatery along with his wife Shanmathi Parasu Prabhakaran tells us that it is a franchise model and he has named it after their toddler daughter. The entrepreneur who was born and brought up in Tiruvotriyur, North Chennai, adds that seafood and fresh catch have always been part of his life. “My father was the ex-fisheries minister and we own four 72 ft long launch boats till date.”

However, we can barely have continuous conversation as customers throng the counter and we retreat to a high chair and wait for our order to arrive. The pomfret fry impresses on two counts — fresh and perfectly spiced marinade. As we gently strip the flaky meat off the bones, we literally watch the world go by — laden with Vairah Nachiyar boxes of food.

The grilled prawns are humongous and delicate in flavour and Parasu tells us that the recipes were from their own kitchen. The prawn poppers and the calamari are the bestsellers and one bite will tell you why. Crumb fried and scrumptious, the latter has great texture. For mains the burgers and sandwiches are ample. The mud crab burger, Mr Krabby, is messy and delicious with shredded sweet meat. We are however big fans of fried food and love the fried fish burger and the prawn tempura version. Juicy, crunchy, fresh — they tick all the right boxes for us. For dessert, they have jars of coconut panna cotta, chocolate mousse and such — though, we suggest if you have some space in your belly, just eat some more prawn poppers! Also expect fresh and marinated ready-to-cook seafood for sale.

Meal for two at INR 700.

- Sabrina Rajan