Cilantro offers the cuisines of the Mediterranean region, Asia (including Japan and New Zealand), North America and India twenty-four hours a day. This understatedly elegant, tri-level restaurant utilises sophisticated airflow techniques to isolate a non-smoking section between two smoking sections. Each level has its own decor and ambience; as one enters Cilantro, with the Gourmandise (confection and pastry) counter on one's left, a plushly carpeted area opens on the right, a few steps up and ahead is the wooden-floored level with the Japanese Teppanyaki (grill) counter, and between these two is the marble floored non-smoking section. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto the pool, garden and outdoor dining area.

Mind the tumblers in which the fruit juice is served - they have angled bases, the current vogue in Europe! This writer would like to call them 'leaning glasses'. The most popular preparations are the Rack of Lamb, cooked New Zealand style, Kodi Vatta Curry with Kal Dosa, the Sirloin Steak, King Prawns and Chinese Prawns in Yellow Curry. The Biriyani - of chicken, mutton and vegetable - is cooked Andhra style, with green chillies. A seat at the Teppanyaki grill has to be reserved a day in advance for it seats only eight. Here, with the diners gathered at the counter around him so that they can watch every move, the Chef prepares meat, vegetable and seafood dishes. There are also pizzas and hamburgers, a Middle East Lamb Kofta and Vietnamese Spring Rolls. For dessert for the first-time visitor this writer would recommend the chocolate mousse, the softest and smoothest in Chennai, with a rich, nutty aftertaste.

The theme buffet at dinner is very popular and usually exceeds the orders a la carte. It features a particular kind of food on each day of the week: on Mondays, solely vegetarian dishes; on Tuesdays, South Indian; on Wednesdays, Italian; on Thursdays, Indian; on Fridays, seafood; on Saturdays, noodles and on Sundays, Asian. The buffet consists of 14 salads, including 4 kinds of cold cuts, with 5 dressings, 6 meat and 10 vegetable dishes, including 3 mandatory Continental dishes, 2 rice preparations, noodles and 12 desserts. Uniquely, the main courses include a meat and a vegetable pizza! The buffet costs Rs.370-425 per head.

Cilantro is fast becoming a destination for food lovers who want to experiment or indulge their taste for a variety of cuisines, but, because it is such a vast, multi-hued canvas, and is still spanking new, it has not yet acquired a distinct identity. However, given its undeniable attraction and the cultured service - guests receive a genuinely warm reception - it will take probably only a little time to evolve its own unique charm. To accompany dinner, from Wednesdays through till Sundays, The International Duo, Sean Robert on guitar and Arjun Thomas on the mike, render music from a wide range of genres to complete that global feeling!

Address:
Cilantro
At Hotel Le Royal Meridien
No. 1 GST Road,
St. Thomas Mount (near Kathipara Junction)
Chennai 600 016.
Phone: 231-4343.

It is open 24 hours a day:
Breakfast (and buffet) is served between 6 and 11 am.
Lunch (and buffet) between noon and 3 pm.
Dinner (and buffet) between 7 and 11 pm. 

Arun Masilamoni

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