Lobster, Salmon, Prawn Or Calamari: This New Seafood Spot Will Make Your Fish Exactly How You Like It

If it’s seafood of all kinds that you’re after in an array of cuisines be it Chettinad, Malabari, Mangalorean, tandoori or even Oriental, The Marina, on 100 Feet Road is the place to be.

Bringing in the fresh catch of the day from Chennai’s catchment area, The Marina {originally a Chennai brand} is the latest kid on the Indiranagar block. Bravely located a few metres from Toit, this one holds its own thanks to the fresh seafood — from snapper, salmon and lady fish to lobster, calamari and massive prawns, that will be cooked to your taste and preference.

The space isn’t overly done up to be a seafood space, but the staff in sailor suits, little canoes doubling up as showcases, and shades of blue paint, keeps it subtle and pleasant. You can go to the open freezer and pick out your fish before heading back to the table to choose what kind of sauce, marinade or gravy you’d like, and of course, how you want it cooked. We picked prawns grilled in lemon garlic butter, hariyali bhekti, tawa fry and even some seer fish in Oriental Black Pepper Sauce.

While we waited for this to arrive, we had some wonderfully crunchy Crispy Corn In A Golden Basket — slightly spiced corn in cute edible filo shells. We sampled a clear noodle soup, but skipped it in favour of the seafood offerings. In fact, we suggest you also skip the dim sum, spring rolls and a few other starters they have on the menu and focus on the fish. Drinks are simple, ranging from lassi and fresh lime soda to jal jeera.

The grilled tiger prawns set the bar quite high — slightly charred on the outside, but succulent inside, the plump pieces had nicely soaked in the garlic butter. Hariyali bhetki retained the flaky texture of the flavour in the tandoor, and the mild coriander marinade made it a great option to savour the fish itself. The tawa fish was a pomfret fillet spiced with chilli, garam masala and though a bit low on salt, it was a hit at the table. Especially with a squeeze of lime.

For mains, we picked Malabar Pepper Roast — a dry but spicy option with pomfret. It had a hint of coconut, and wasn’t a hot favourite. Maybe the Malabar Curry with Coin Paratha would have been a better bet. The Prawn Biryani, however, was the undisputed winner of the meal. A traditional Kerala-style biryani, with seeraga samba rice {the smaller grains}, it was aromatic and flavourful, and with plenty of prawn in the rice, it’s a meal in itself.

We didn’t experiment with blue lobster and calamari too much, but we’re certainly headed back for that. These guys really do know their fish and make it just how it should be.