Paati Veedu, T.Nagar

My friends Viji Hari and Kiruba Shankar had invited me for a dinner meet organised by the Professional Speakers Association of India to celebrate the successful run of their first conference in Chennai earlier this week.

With about 15 participants, the meet turned out to be a nice informal networking event – I had the opportunity to talk to a few interesting and accomplished professionals from my city, who came from diverse fields of Photography, Human Resources, Hospitality, Academia, Food, Author and Services. Luckily, I was the sole representative from the Software field, which meant I was able to say anything about current technology trends and the others nodded their heads without questioning my ignorance.

The venue was at the recently opened restaurant Paati Veedu in T.Nagar, Chennai, who had graciously hosted the dinner for PSAI which meant we all got treated to a scrumptious seven-course traditional vegetarian meal. The meal was accompanied by a brief narration by the founder(s) of the place about their journey over the last one year on how they had started from a set of recipes from their Grandmother (Paati/பாட்டி in Tamil means Grandmother) to getting the right staff identified and trained, to sourcing the proper cutlery from Bombay which could give the colourful deco they were aiming for – their goal was to bring the feel of a typical family home in these parts (Veedu/வீடு in Tamil means house). The icing on the cake (pun intended ) was a finger-licking “Karuppatti” halwa (Gelatinous sweet made with Palm Jaggery) that is healthy too!

For me, the highlight was their snacks shop near the entrance, that sold scrunchy savouries and sweets. I bought a bag full of them for my son – who says I can’t eat some too – duck, duck, I can hear my wife’s voice.

Thank you PSAI and Paati Veedu for an enjoyable evening!