RADHEY’S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS,
23-1, 3rd Mile Square,
151 Old Klang Road,
Batu 3 1/2, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-373 3225/017-373 3225
Business hours: 11.30am-3.30pm (lunch)
and 5.30pm-10.30pm (dinner).
FESTIVE moods bring fond memories of family get-togethers and abundant food to devour to the hearts’ content.
The Onam festival celebrated by the Malayalees today will surely remind one of the elaborate feast Onum Sadya,
However, the tradition of cooking elaborate dishes for the festival is slowly fading away with many families not celebrating it as lavishly as before.
Husband and wife team Mahesh and Anitha Anand who run Radhey’s Heavenly Delights are doing their part in continuing the tradition by serving the grand meal of no less than 24 authentic Onam dishes at the restaurant.
Radhey director Anitha Anand said the dishes are prepared using only coconut oil and the food is purely vegetarian with no onion or garlic used.
“My husband and I are both vegetarians and we take great efforts to ensure that the food prepared are healthy and everything is based on milk and vegetables with no mock meat. Some of the spices are imported and we mix our own masala to get the distinctive taste,” she said.
Anitha said they have embarked on a quest to educate and build awareness among the people about Indian culture through food as a medium to bring people together by observing Indian festivals starting with Onam.
“During the sadya, we will play audio tracks explaining the significance of the celebration as well as Malayalam music. The patrons will not only leave with a full stomach but also with a knowledge of the festival itself,” she said.
Leading the kitchen is Chef Bivin VU, specially flown in for this festival from Trivandrum, Kerala, who has more than 10 years of experience in serving Keralite food.
In anticipation: Mahesh Anand and Anitha Anand are thrilled by the very first festive celebration, at their restaurant since opening last year.Served over the banana leaf, the starters will consists of two types of banana chips, one fried with salt and the other with jaggery, other fruits such as yam or jackfruit.
A variety of pickles is a must have, namely ginger pickle, bitter gourd pickle, chilly pickle and mix pickle.
One important side dish is the injipuli made of ginger, green chillies and jaggery. Best taken with rice as the sourness hits hard if taken on its own.
Side dishes served next will be like kalan made from yam or banana, olan made with white pumpkin, aviyal a mix vegetable dish flavoured with curry leaves and coconut oil, thoran made from cabbage, eruserry made of red pumpkin and pachady made from beetroot, coconut, yogurt, crushed mustard seeds and green chilly.
The rice will then be served with enough ghee to taste complemented by parippu curry made with dhal, ghee, green chilly and coconut milk.
Other curries like sambar dal curry with variety of vegetables, pulisherry made from pineapple, coconut and yogurt and resam made from tamarind juice and spices that aids digestion will also be served.
Those with a sweet tooth will love the desserts.
Pradaman is a sweet dish made from jaggery with cashew nuts and pal payasam a sweet dish with milk, and both taste great with papadom.
The Onam feast will be available at the restaurant until Sunday.
It will be served in batches of one hour each. Lunch is from 12pm to 3pm and dinner is from 7pm to 10pm.
The price is RM25 for those above 12 years old and for children aged between five and 12 it is RM12.50. It is free for the younger ones.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
