PIPING HOT IDDLIES IN PARIS

 

 

 

 

 PIPING HOT IDDLIES IN PARIS

 

 

 

WE GOT EXCELLENT "VADA PAV" IN SWITZERLAND

NEAR THE HISTORICAL REICHENBACH FALLS--

SHERLOCK HOLMES DIED HERE.

 

FRANCE IS REMEMBERED BY THE SLOGAN

"LIBERTY EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY ".

 

NOW MUTHUSWAMY HAS MADE IT FAMOUS FOR

IDDLIES.

 

READ ON

....

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The Idli goes to Paris

 

It's not caviar and champagne but the humble

idli, vada and dosa that is going places.

Muthuswamy, who once supplied milk in

Matunga, has Mumbai's upper crust eating

out of his hand, quite literally.Meet the man

behind the batter.

 

When big-time

 

diamond

 

merchant and film producer

 

Bharat Shah wanted to throw a party in 

Antwerp to celebrate the wedding of his son

a few years ago, guess who he turned to for

catering the food? Not the Hilton or Radisson

but Muthukrishnan Reddy aka Muthuswamy

of the Matunga Labour Camp, celebrated for

his light-as-air idlis and tangy sambhar.

 

Muthuswamy, 58, accepted the order with his

characteristic alacrity and flew down to the land

of De Beers with an entourage of ten cooks and

a lot of cooking vessels. He rustled up the

pleasantly pungent Rasam vadas, fluffy idlis,

crisp dosas, perfectly spongy panniyarums.

The aroma of freshly ground coriander, tamarind

and curry leaves wafted in the party hall, and

Muthuswamy had the guests, including the who’s

who of the diamond trade, licking their manicured

fingers. More recently, when industrialist Mukesh

Ambani and wife Nita wanted to host a Diwali party

at their Rs1,600 crore home Antilla in Mumbai’s

Carmichael Road, the self-effacing Muthuswamy

was the natural choice. The five feet something

caterer, clad in a white mundu and shirt, is

a regular fixture at parties thrown by the richest

couple of the land. Muthuswamy is also sought

after by other biggies of India, including the

Ruias and Mittals. The man who started his

career 30 years ago by supplying milk in

the Matunga Labour Camp-Dharavi area later

graduated to selling idlis and dosas at the

ramshackle Uma Shankar Hotel in Dharavi,

he has since come a long way. His annual

turnover runs into a few crores, but he doesn’t

like to discuss it. “You know why,’’ he says.

Muthuswamy is truly bitter about the high rates

of taxation in India. “Apart from income tax,

I have to pay value added tax, service tax, etc.

Almost 60 per cent of my earnings goes to the

government. It is not worth it,’’ he complains,

much like anyone else in the corporate world.
Muthuswamy receives 50 to 60 catering orders

every month for large weddings, anniversaries,

birthdays and JLT (Just Like That) parties hosted

by Mumbai’s upper crust.
When asked which one was the biggest party

he has catered, Muthuswamy replies diplomatically:

“Well, all clients are the same for me. What I am

interested in is the satisfaction of my clients and

their guests.’’
Indeed, gastronomic satisfaction is his USP

and pride. Many who have consumed hundreds

of idlis in Udupi restaurants, guzzled litres of

their sambhar and tasted their fair share of

chutneys and masala dosas validate Muthuswamy’s

food. His idlis are known for their fluffiness and

his sambhar recipe beats the best in the business.
Ask for the secret of his recipes and he says,

“I do not compromise on quality come what may.

I source the best ingredients in the market and

prepare the dishes in a traditional manner. I have

done my own experimentation and apart from

that I have learnt a lot from recipe books like

Samaithupaar. I personally supervise the

preparation of all items.’’
His micro-management seems to have paid off. 

Muthuswamy presides over quite an empire. 

He has catered parties all over the world,

including Belgium, Italy, France and South Africa.

In fact, until sometime ago, he would export ready

-to-cook idlis and other foods to a company in

South Africa, which in turn exported them to

Paris, Rome and other European capitals. He has

stopped his export business because of

logistical issues. Muthuswamy has three sons,

one of whom is an aeronautical engineer while

the other two are management graduates who

help him run the business. They also have plans

to expand. A few years ago, Muthuswamy

purchased a fast-food joint called Relax opposite

Matunga railway station and renamed it Arya Bhavan.

It is no surprise that Arya Bhavan is a big hit with

the Gujarati, Kutchi and south Indian community

in Matunga. Interestingly, it sells idlis called the

Brahmin idli and Iyengar idli. Muthuswamy also

owns a restaurant in Madurai called

Nellai Arya Bhavan.