We may never get to squish a tub full of tomatoes with our feet here in Chennai. And as the tradition does hold good in Spain, with the recently concluded La Tomatina abroad – Chennai decided to go a different route with an international style La Tomatina menu instead.
The humble tomato takes centrestage at The Park’s recently launched food festival and as for the other combining elements, let’s just say eyebrows were raised in surprise, at every course.
Sample this for a cocktail: Tomato juice, black salt, Sprite and vodka. A few sips down and you’re already intrigued by the flavour combinations. Still to come, a baked tomato – three cheese tart, classic spaghetti with meat balls and bright red marinara sauce and even a tomato gelato!
Salivating at the prospect, we wait for the courses to take their course. Today, it’s ‘red fever’ all the way. And just to jostle guests along with the colour theme of the meal, a ketchup-coloured menu card makes a splash on the table.
Says chef R Rajesh, director – food production at The Park, “We took about a month to arrive at these flavour combinations. Actually, all the dishes are a first on The Park’s Six-O-One restaurant menu.” He adds quickly, “And we made it a point to stay away from Indian dishes this time. I wanted people to try something new, so all the food choices have a very international feel.”
Straight off the bat, the tomato-based Gazpacho (soup typical of the sidewalks of Spain) sets the tone for the meal. Once started, it takes a bit of will power to put your spoon down and save space for round two. With crisp pieces of olive topped toast and a generous garnish of rocket pesto, this ‘cold’ soup experience paves the way for an array of unique starters up next.
A trio of tomatoes comes next — there is a Sun-dried tomato with a pop of sweetness from the liquid balsamic ravioli, an oven dried Tomato Tempura and a Spiced green Tomato Fritter! For experimental appetizers – these certainly got those digestive juices flowing.
However, the prize of the meal was a much decorated Whole baked snapper. Plated with an assortment of tomato slices, potatoes, artichoke, kalamata olives and caper berries – the fish was a delight to dive into. And if you’re gutsy enough, try a squeeze of fresh orange juice on top. With an zing of tanginess, it’s even better.
Skipping ahead to the four varieties of the tomato-based dessert, the best advice one can offer is to try them all. There is no chocolate, but with good reason. “We wanted to keep the focus on our core ingredient,” explains chef Rajesh, “and chocolate is a dominating flavour.”
So instead, we settle down to the sweet and sour gooey goodness of a Tomato and dark pitted cherry crumble and a serious sugar kick with the Tomato and blackberry pavlova. The latter is sour and balances the sweetness of tomato combined with Chantilly white chocolate mousse just right. To add another dimension of layering to the dessert is an apricot glaze. Fingers are licked unabashedly. To wash it all down is a Tomato and cane sugar sorbet. This could have been a tad lighter and more icy as is expected of sorbet. Then again, after so much indulgence – it’s not too much of a dampener at this point.
The final dessert of a two-hour long luncheon is a scoop of Tomato and mascarpone gelato, with almond slivers and a lone chocolate stick wafer for crunch. Talk about a tummy-full!
Tomato-inspired ‘tongue teasers’ just sliced into a whole new level.
(La Tomatina is open for lunch and dinner at The Park up to September 15. For details, contact 044 42676000.
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