Is Chettinad food too spicy for children?

Families often hesitate before bringing young children to a Chettinad restaurant. The cuisine has a reputation for fierce heat. The truth is more gentle: Chettinad food is peppery and fragrant, and its depth comes from roasted spices rather than raw chilli.

Our dishes are medium-hot by default. When you ask for mild, Meenakshi reduces the dried red chilli and some of the black pepper in that portion, while keeping the fennel, cinnamon, kalpasi and coconut that give the dish its character. The dish tastes the same, just softer. Tell the server the age of the child, and we adjust accordingly.

Some dishes suit children without any change. Paniyaram, crisp outside and soft inside, is a favourite with coconut chutney. Parotta with vegetable salna is mild and filling. Idiyappam with a mild coconut milk kurma, curd rice and the sweet paal paniyaram are always safe choices. Most children enjoy the egg kothu parotta too, made a little milder on request.

A few practical notes. A glass of buttermilk or a spoon of curd cools the mouth faster than water. The banana leaf meal includes rasam and buttermilk, so children can mix their own rice to their taste. High chairs are available for toddlers, and we can serve a small portion of plain rice with dal and ghee for very young children at no charge. Many children who start with paniyaram graduate to the pepper chicken by their second or third visit.