With its Chinese, Malay, Javanese, and South Indian influences, Peranakan cuisine is a novelty that Chennai will now enjoy, thanks to MasterChef Australia winner, Sashi Cheliah’s restaurant, Pandan Club.
“Chennai is hungry. I’ve done enough pop-ups in the city to know that the city’s well-heeled are always looking for unique experiences that are honest and full of flavour. We wanted to deliver a new culinary experience for Chennai,” MasterChef Australia winner Sashi Cheliah sums up his vision for his first restaurant venture in India and outside Australia. Pandan Club has seen unprecedented pre-launch buzz in a city where there are still gaps in the fine-dining, standalone restaurant space. “That’s where we come in,” quips Manoj Padmanaban, one of Sashi’s three like-minded partners who has worked extensively in the restaurant experiences space in the city.
MasterChef Sashi Cheliah’s path to Pandan Club…
The first seeds for Pandan Club were sown before the pandemic. Chef Sashi Cheliah’s cult following in India played a part too. It was during one of his visits to Chennai for a pop-up that Chef Sashi Cheliah and his partners first discussed the idea of a restaurant venture in Chennai. Chef Cheliah is no stranger to Chennai and Tamil Nadu. He might have been born and bred in Singapore, but his family’s roots are near Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu. Just like many Tamilians in Singapore and Malaysia, his first visit to the state was a temple tour when he was six years old.
Indian audiences rooted for Sashi along his journey to become the winner of MasterChef Australia in 2018. “I never planned this. It happened at a time when I was almost grappling with a mid-life crisis of sorts. I was 40 and had done the same job (Sashi was a special operations cop in Singapore before he moved to Australia as a cop) for half my life. I was itching to change course and then the dream unfolded,” Chef Cheliah recounts his life journey from my favourite space at Pandan Club — a community dining zone with high tables.
The restaurant has sought design inspiration from the culturally rich eastern Singapore neighbourhood of Joo Chiat. You will find quintessential Peranakan design elements like handmade ceramic tiles and rattan frames at the restaurant aside from lively colours like jade and turquoise that add to the Peranakan vibe.
It wasn’t just Chef Cheliah’s India connection that had the Indian and Aussie audiences rooting for him, it’s his earnest approach that made him a star. He was honest enough to admit that he hasn’t cooked Peranakan cuisine much but grew up savouring this cuisine in Singapore. He began to research the cuisine only after the idea of Pandan Club was born. “I had to understand it well enough to ensure it suits the Indian palate without losing the authenticity of the cuisine,” he explains.
Peranakan cuisine for the Chennai palate
So, what is Peranakan cuisine? I’ve been obsessed with this unique micro-cuisine since my first visit to Melaka in 2013. The origins of Peranakan or Nyonya cuisine date back to the 15th century and the Peranakans, descendants of the early Chinese migrants who settled in vibrant trading hotspots like Penang and Malacca. The cuisine combines Chinese, Malay, Javanese, and South Indian culinary influences. Sashi believes that his forefathers who moved from Tamil Nadu to Malaya in the 19th century also made their contribution to the cuisine with new ingredients they took from them. There are subtle regional variations in the cuisine. You’re likely to find a lot of tamarind flavoured dishes in the Penang area thanks to the nearby Thai influences while the Indonesian influence is evident in dishes from Melaka (the coconut vegetable curry at Pandan Club) with the generous use of coconut milk.
Chef Cheliah has taken great pains to ensure the authenticity of the cuisine is not lost while trying to appeal to Chennai’s flavour profiles. Chennai has a strong historical connection with Southeast Asia and many of the city’s hip set travel to food capitals like Singapore and Penang for culinary experiences. “We’ve focused on building the menu with Peranakan dishes that will work for the Chennai palate rather than playing around with the authenticity of the recipes,” he explains.
For this MasterChef, it’s not about posh food
Manoj tells me how they have followed the McDonald’s model of getting the supply chain in place before arriving at the final menu. “It’s not just about the launch phase, the dishes need to stay consistent,” he adds. The restaurant imports 30 per cent of ingredients — like candle nuts, gula melaka, pandan essence, and anchovies, from Southeast Asia. Each of these ingredients is vital for dishes on the menu — the blacknut enhances the flavour profile of the piquant blacknut lamb curry. Peranakan chefs will tell you how this ingredient (buah keluak) with its slightly bitter flavour profile adds depth.
There’s a lot at stake for Chef Cheliah. It’s his first restaurant venture in India. He might be a MasterChef winner but he’s quick to clarify that he’s not into posh food. “I’m more about authentic flavours than theatrics. The visual aspect is important because diners see first and eat next, but flavours supersede everything else. Expect an honest culinary experience that also allows you to travel out of your comfort zone. We all travel for food, don’t we?” he says. We tend to agree with him.
Overall rating: 1 to 5 stars: 4.5
Food: 9/10 | Drinks: 8/10 | Service: 8/10 | Interiors: 8/10 | Vibe: 8
One dish we loved: Kueh Pie Tee (Nyonya pastry cup)
One dish that didn’t work for us: The sugarcane-based mocktail
Address: 30/19, Bazullah Road, T Nagar, Chennai: 17 / Phone: +91 78715-15515 / Instagram – @pandan_club / Meal for 2: Rs 4,500.
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