We are delighted to open the ‘authentically Indian’ Chennai Lounge in in Southampton close to Oxford Street. The Chennai Lounge is the brainchild of a husband and wife team Kanna and Masila. opening their first restaurant outside Surrey.
The menu celebrates traditional Indian recipes and ingredients, using fresh seasonal produce and modern Indian cooking techniques. Featuring regional Indian dishes, kebabs, tikkas and curry dishes including favourites like Butter Chicken, Black pepper Squid Sukka, vegetarian and vegan options such as Dal Curry and freshly made breads including a Gruyère cheese and onion naan.
Kannan and Masila have a novel partnership. Masila designed the restaurant and adorning the interior are many of her artworks. While Kannan looks after the kitchen side working with the Chefs to get the dishes tasting authentically Indian, using only the best fresh ingredients. The couple have an award winning Indian restaurant in Surrey and this is a big step for them as the venture further afield.
Kannan said: “This food is very close to my heart, we’re developing dishes that my mother cooked me as a child. This restaurant is about exploring the myriad of flavours used in traditional Indian cooking, and sharing with the people of Southampton and Hampshire how authentic Indian cuisine should taste.”
The story of how the couple came to open a Indian restaurant in Southampton is quite simple, Kannan describes: ” We’re opening by accident if anything and its quite scary, we came down to visit friends who took us to one of the best known Indian restaurants, but nothing tasted like Indian cooking should. Lots of the dishes came out dripping with oil and had little resemblance to the cooking we know from home. When we looked into it we realised most of the ‘Indian’ restaurants in Southampton were run by people from Bangladesh with Bangladeshi chefs, which is like having Spanish owners and Spanish Chefs cooking and running a French restaurant; It wont ever taste right. Our goal is to present the classical Indian cuisine passed down through the generations we know and love to the people of Southampton in a modern way.”
The Chennai Lounge is located at 13 Terminus Place next to Oxford Street in Southampton. The restaurant is open 7 days a week from midday to 11pm. Tables can be booked online.
