A cool breeze washes over my face. I am at Palms rooftop restaurant at Hotel Rathna Residency enjoying a panoramic view of the sparkling city skyline at night. The tables are set with candles surrounded by fresh red roses; and a photo booth decked in red and white floral décor beckons as we try Luvfoodcoma, a curated menu for Valentine’s Day.
Rathna group, which is primarily into pharmaceutical distribution, entered the hotel industry in 2002 with a property in Madurai, followed by Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Salem and Erode. They have a hotel coming up in Chennai next. Started by two brothers K Palaniappan and K Chinniah, the business hotel has always been known for bed and breakfast, and banquet spaces.
“Swamy Theatre, one of the oldest movie halls of Coimbatore stood here which we demolished to raise this five-storey hotel. My father just wanted to construct a mansion when he started in Madurai. It was an interior designer from Coimbatore who gave us the idea to expand and develop it as a business hotel and that’s how we entered the hospitality industry,” says K Palaniappan, chairman of Rathna group.
However, his daughters Saranya Muthiah and Muthu Sethuraman who are Business graduates have now stepped in with new ideas to give a makeover. “Our clientele has been from the pharma industry.
We wanted to bring the younger crowd and let them know that it is also a fun place to hang out over some good food,” says Saranya, adding that they are working on training their chefs to try new cuisines, starting with hand-made pastas, lemon grass coconut curry, and some Vietnamese dishes like fruit cakes. Rathna Regency has two hotels. While Fusion, their multi-cuisine restaurant, stays true to the founder’s roots in Chettinad and offers authentic Chettinad fish curries, and paniyarams, Palms experiments with grills, pastas and salads.
To have visibility on social media, they are collaborating with food bloggers, Instagram influencers, and Masterchef Tamil participants to hold pop up events at the restaurant.
The event Luvfoodcoma on Valentine’s Day, they say, kick starts this new journey where they have attempted a served-on-the- table menu for our guests in duo-chromes of red and white paying attention to aspects like plating.
Lakshmi Priya R, Chinniah’s daughter-in-law who comes from a Communications background, a latest entrant in the business takes charge of creative ideas. One of the first things the young team did was to reward employees who contributed to growth.
The kitchens are now state-of-the-art and energy-efficient. “We took measures to conserve water, and put formal food safety and hygiene standards in place,” she says.
As we talk, refreshing salad sweet water melon paired with salty, crumbly feta arrives, followed by a refreshing raspberry sherbet. Among appetisers, there are crunchy nachos dunked in cheese and succulent kebabs. In an attempt to provide something for everyone, the menu spans Indian, Italian and continental food: so there is achari paneer and malai murgh , as well as creamy spinach cheese cannelloni topped with melted mozzarella.
A dinner for a couple is priced at ₹1500 plus taxes. Guests can also get the menu delivered to their doorstep. For door delivery, orders close on February 13. For reservations, call: 9750964442.
