Bisi Bengaluru: Marina Fresh bites with baited' breath

Fruit de la Mer. From Chennai. That is what this new seafood restaurant in the city offers foodies. An outlet that sprung from the famed Chennai’s Marina that goes fishing into the deep blue sea to give you an extravaganza of seafood, fresh and made to your taste. And, Indiranagar, again, seems to be the place for all new outlets to open. Marina sits at the beginning of 100 Feet Road.

The Marina in Chennai is helmed by a man who is behind hundreds of restaurants across India, and is fondly called Hot Breads Mahadevan, who started Hot Breads initially, among a slew of other stand alones. The Marina brand is in Myanmar too. The city restaurant is helmed by his able team with relative newbie in the hospitality scene, Nagashri coming in as managing partner.

A former IT person… she searched for a unique concept and Marina seemed apt for this young girl from Karur, Tamil Nadu. A bit of an anathema is that she is vegetarian. The seafood, chefs and kitchen is helmed by chef Chhetri who has been with Mahadevan’s team for over 15 years. The catch of the day is spread on a bed of ice in a huge glass counter, and there’s so much to choose from, and you pay by weight, and not by preperation, quite like a chic fish market which works well on the not-to-deep pockets as well. It is also very reasonably priced, especially for seafood.

“The catch is sourced directly from Chennai, it comes fresh, customers can pay by weight, choose the style, and Chef Chhetri’s team will prepare it for you in Coastal, Manglorean, Chinese style, Chettinad, tandoor or Kerala style. The a la carte menu has sides and curries with a few starters as add ons. I have partnered with the brand, with its founder Mahadevan, who everyone calls Hotbreads Mahadevan. In Chennai alone he has more than 200 plus restaurants, brands with the parent company Oriental cuisines, Hot Breads, French Load, Benjarong, Teppan, Ente Keralam, Wangs Kitchen. All international Sarvana Bhawans have been backed by him, and internationally he has 270 plus partners,” explains Nagashri.

With a steady fresh supply, there’s crab, clams, prawns, different varieties of fish, squid and more, all freshly laid out in a special glass counter for you to choose. We started the meal with the Seer fish haryali grill which was flakey with hints of Mint and coriander. It was ok.

“We let the customers discover their own style, pick and choose the seafood they want and the cooking is free,” says Nagashri.

An amuse bouche of fried hot garlic corn cake came next which was crispy and crunched up. The lemon butter garlic tiger prawns grill was very average, butterflied, we were disappointed as the prawns were dry, not succulent and juicy. The squid golden fried was alright, again could have had the fresh crispiness associated with squid, bigger rounds of the squid would have been nice.

For mains, we had the Kerala Varathiyadhu with freshly made Malabar paranthas. We liked the onion Masala mingling with the flakiest and freshest of fish. Quite delicious. Next came the Cod fish in a Calicut rawa fry which was creamy and garlic infused, which we loved. The Fish Phuket, was batter fried fish in Pan Asian flavours, average but with the freshest of fish bites. Fresh seafood, we feel deserves a preperation that adds to its freshness, and batter and fried dulls this.

The Seer fish steamed in mandarin sauce was very interesting and the freshness was unmistakable, we liked the tang and spice. Again, fresh as can be. With a plethora of fresh seafood to choose from, home delivery is also on agenda.
Kishore Chhetri says the phuket fish, with onion, ginger-garlic and celery, pan fried Is popular. We liked their version of the tres leche too, not too sweet and caramelly. There are also minimal chicken options for non seafood lovers. The small menu has Soups, starters, breads, noodles, rice and we spotted Kal dosa too.

Choose your seafood and try steamed options in Tom yum, Mandarin and garden ginger, or Oriental sautéed style with soya ginger scallion, Mongolian, oyster sauce, black pepper and Malaysian chilli.

There are options from their lava grill and Tandoor and western preparations like lemon butter, Cajun, black pepper. We aren’t convinced with the western fare, as Indian seems their signature and Pan Asian is also popular. Also with Indians not being too keen on doing the whole interactive choose-your-fish-and-sauce-routine, it might be wise to have some pre-set meal options. But when seafood pangs strike, this is definitely a place for the freshest, and where else can you get it customised to your taste?

311, Gowra, Binnamangala, Indira Nagar Stage 1

Call 080 43711707

Meal for two: Rs 1,300