Valentine’s Day: Aphrodisiac food, special rides for Chennai couples

Chennai: Aphrodisiac dishes, exotic drinks, romantic settings, table dessert, special overnight packages, zorbing, rides in all-terrain vehicle (ATV)/boat and other interesting fare are what star hotels and high-end restaurants here are lining up to treat their guests on Valentine`s Day, which falls Feb 14.

"Valentine`s Day is a day of love and we have designed out fares in line with that," Nimrat Pahwa, chef at On the Rocks restaurant at the Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers here said. For two persons, the tab would be Rs.4,000 plus taxes. The focus of the chefs at various city hotels is to whip up dishes with fig, asparagus, almond, lobster, prawn, chicken, garlic, ginger and others to accentuate the romantic mood and the libido on Feb 14th night. "We try to make that day memorable for couples with our food acting as a catalyst," Girish Kumar, executive chef at Courtyard by Marriott here said. The hotel has also designed special packages for V-Day. "The menu is designed with exotic blend of elements to tantalise the sensual desires within," Roy Satheesan, senior sous chef at Sheraton Park Hotel said. At the Sheraton Park Hotel`s 24-hour restaurant Cappuccino, the chefs have designed aphrodisiac vegetarian and non-vegetarian dinner menu for V-Day like charred corn and avocado salsa on tortilla crisps drizzled with jalapeno honey, fresh green asparagus veloute accented with lemon thyme, mace; and toasted almond slivers and ratatouille lasagna made with sun-dried tomato and mascarpone cream. For the non-vegans, the restaurant offers lobster bisque with lobster medallions and flambeed sherry, grilled John Dory or grilled spring chicken breast with baby potato confit, creamed garlic spinach, roasted shallot beurre blanc and molten chocolate pudding with Baileys ice cream and macerated figs. The dinner could be ended with tea or coffee with chocolate glazed strawberries. A few steps away, chef Pahwa would offer a five-course meal at her On the Rocks restaurant. "Our USP for Valentine`s Day is the serving of Absinthe, also known as Green Fairy, a drink with high alcohol content to be consumed diluting with water and adding sugar," she said. Another interesting item will be the special artistic dessert made by the chef on the couple`s table itself. The beach facing Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay Mamallapuram, about 70 km from here, offers aphrodisiac food containing jumbo prawns, asparagus, crab, chicken, pine nut and others besides couples` activities like zorbing, ATV and boat rides. "We have planned to give couples shell engraved with heart shape and presented in a tiny bag for their remembrance of the day," Elango Rajendran, director operations said. The newly-opened five-star Park Hyatt Chennai invites guests with two individual special packages - The Valentine`s Dinner (Rs.2,990) and The Valentine`s Stay package (Rs.9,500). At Ramada Chennai Egmore hotel, the four-course libido enhancing meal is priced at Rs.2,999 plus taxes for couple and there will be a live Bulgarian band, Y. Prakash, Chandran, general manager said. Meanwhile, specialty restaurants like Benjarong Thai and BBQ Chicken too have announced special menus for Valentine`s Day. Benjarong will be offering special menu for V-Day that includes watermelon and litchi mocktail or non-alcoholic wine, vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters, choice of soup, prawn green curry, fish in garlic and crushed chilli flakes, Phad Thai vegetable curry with steamed rice. IANS