Restaurant takeover: Fireback Goa brings Thai cuisine to Chennai

Banana Leaf Wrapped Sea Bass
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Coast to coast, straight from the shores of North Goa’s Siolim-Bardez, Thailand’s maritime cuisine is making a three-day stop at Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa, Mahabalipuram, from March 14. Restaurant and bar Fireback — known for its mastery over authentic Thai food with Chef David Thompson as its culinary director — arrives at Sheraton’s C Salt for a restaurant takeover with an exclusive pop-up menu that offers its best-selling curries, stir fries, small plates and grills. The four-course menu is split in four sections — appetisers, soups, mains, and desserts — available in vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.

The starters range from raw papaya som tam and ma hor (pineapple topped with cherry tomato, palm sugar and fried shallots) to khao tang na tang (creamy chicken curry dip served with dago crackers) and grilled sweet potato (with gorlae sauce and cucumber relish). The coconut and galangal soup comes with mushrooms for vegetarians and with chicken for meat eaters. The mains comprise four dishes, including banana leaf wrapped tofu/seabass, dry Panaeng curry of raw banana/pulled pork, green curry (with an option of chicken and vegetables paired with pea aubergine, palm hearts and fried shallots) and stir-fried morning glory with pakchoi and yellow bean sauce.

Kaustubh Haldipur, brand chef at Fireback, is rather excited to visit Chennai, not only because he spent nearly four years in the city for academic pursuits, but also because of its coastal palate. “One of the most compelling aspects of our cuisine here at Fireback is that all our curry pastes are made from scratch. We do not use any premix like Namjai. That’s our USP,” he says. About the curation of the exclusive menu for C Salt, Kaustubh shares, “I made sure that our best-selling dishes were put on the menu. At Fireback, banana wrap seabass, green curry, raw papaya som tam and grilled lamb from the charcoal grill are our bestsellers. Also, procuring local ingredients and kitchen setup were the key factors for selecting the dishes for this restaurant takeover.”

Fireback has done quite a few restaurant takeovers in the country, from Delhi to Bengaluru, but this is the restaurant’s first-ever sojourn in Chennai. “The collaboration aligns perfectly with C Salt’s coastal dining concept, creating opportunities for exciting fusion dishes and curated dining events by the beach,” says Deewan Singh, director of operations at Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa.

This dining experience ends on a sweet note, with three desserts: cashew nut pudding with caramelised taro, coconut-and-jaggery ice cream and tropical fruits with perfumed syrup and crushed ice.

The vegetarian menu starts at ₹5,000, and the non-vegetarian one starts at ₹6,000. The pop-up is on from March 14 to 16; 7pm to 11pm. For reservations, call +917824010209.