The Periodic Table — Restaurant in Tamil Nadu

A couple of days ago, my family and I had the delight of dining at The Periodic Table, Ooty. Everything from the outstanding service by Narosenla, Jeeva and Smith alongside the best ambience and cutlery/dinnerware, right down to, of course, each and every part of the meal bursting in flavour and finesse thanks to the incredible team of Chefs led by Chef Gomes, was simply perfection.

We started off with a complimentary corn and cheese quiche, followed shortly by an intensely flavoured set of black tacos with exotic mushrooms. This second dish was certainly a highlight, a standout example of how Mexican cuisine can meet the Indian palette in the most exquisite way. The Blue spritzer mocktail was another delight, with beautiful blue ice pieces slowly melting away into a refreshing slush as one drinks it. Thid is the point at which Smith (the head of the restaurant) told us of The Periodic Table’s mission in bringing diverse foods to create something entirely new, in other words, to showcase Transformation. From ice to liquid, from one continent to another, transformation was everywhere in the dinner!

We now come to the main dishes. We was greeted by a roasted pumpkin soup that tasted like no other of its kind, and also served in such an elegant manner! Pumpkin seeds and some olive oil patterned the bottom of the bowl before the soup itself was poured for us by Narosenla and Jeeva. Every sip of this was like experiencing pumpkin in its fullest sense, not to mention it feeling light as well!

Before we received our next two dishes, we were had a surprise visit by Head Chef Gomes himself, who had come out from the kitchen to show us magic that I’ve only ever seen on TV/Masterchef! Presenting, molecular gastronomy. The pinnacle of transformation within the food industry, and something that played right into my interests as a recently graduated Chemical Engineer! Molecular gastronomy refers to the scientific discipline concerned with the physical and chemical transformations that occur during cooking, and Chef Gomes brought this to our table through little fruit spheres. Using a process known as spherification, little pink and yellow spheres were made by Chef Gomes and presented to us in glass cups. He told us to drink this as though it were fruit juices in a shot glass, and to experience the joy in doing so afterwards. And that we sure did! To our surprise, this little sphere burst open upon contact with our tongue, sending strawberry/mango essence along with mint and herbs swirling in an instant. What flavours, and what an understanding of something as simple as fruit juice. The presentation, the science, and the taste, were well beyond anything I’d experienced before. Chef Gomes, you truly are a magician, and we thank you for giving us this experience of a lifetime!

We mistakenly thought things couldn’t get any better, proven wrong by the two main dishes were served soon after the spherical fruit shots. These dishes looked like architectural phenomenons at first sight. A black rice paella with plants used as decor served using Tagine clay cookware, and an eggplant-tofu Mille-feuille with a stunningly crafted circular structure that gave a crunch to the dish arrived at our table, and were gone within just a few minutes. Not only did these look like they should be in museums, they tasted incredible.

After these main dishes, we finally came to the end of our meal at The Periodic Table with a Hazelnut soufflé, served with strawberry sauce and little pistachio cakes. Another 10/10 dish, and one that ended our time at The Periodic Table (for now) on the sweetest of notes.

We sat back, relished in the flavours presented to us that evening, and thanked all staff profusely for the amazing dinner. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone passing by or residing in Ooty, as it’s far beyond food, and more so a wholesome experience. Thank you Chef Gomes, Smith, Jeeva and Narosenla, and hope to see you all very soon for another set of...

The Periodic Table, Ooty, is simply the best restaurant I’ve ever been to. It has been the best meal I’ve ever eaten, and has ticked off a massive item on my bucket list: consuming food made with molecular gastronomic methods.

My biggest thanks go to Head Chef Gomes, and the restaurant staff, Narosenla, Jeeva, and Smith.

Moving forward with the review, we were first served a delicious complimentary quiche after we ordered from their simplistic, elegant and curated menu. The drink we ordered, which was the blue spritzer mocktail, was a slushy, that slowly transformed into a regular mocktail as you drank it.

This leads me to the restaurant’s clear vision. The restaurant’s manager, Smith, explained to us that The Periodic Table strives to take raw, plain food, and transform it into delicious, novel and beautifully presented food.

We ordered delicious black tacos, that bursted with flavors. Their roast pumpkin soup arrived with just vegetables in the bowl, while the was poured aesthetically in front of us, further displaying their vision of transformation.

For our mains, we had their Eggplant tofu Mille-feuille, and their black rice paella with artichokes. The presentation was immaculate, and the technical skill needed to procure each dish was extremely high. With the mille-feuille, the biscuit ring and the eggplant layers were so delicately placed. It is insanely difficult to get the ring right, as seen from cooking shows like masterchef. Regarding the black rice paella, the unveiling of it was beautiful, and the standing artichoke as part of the aesthetic presentation was stunning. With both these mains, the taste was superb.

The best part of this entire experience was when Chef Gomes walked up to our table, delivering SPECIAL molecular gastronomic food. To the 4 of us, he served 2 strawberry flavored spherical shots, and 2 mango ones as well. He just let the food do the talking. As we gulped the sphere down, a BURSTING flavor of the fruit sprung up, and the fruit came alive in our mouths. It was beyond shock, and took us all by surprise. Chef Gomes was very nice to us, and created unforgettable culinary memories for us.

Finally, we had a beautiful hazelnut soufflé for dessert, served with strawberry sauce on the side.

EVERYTHING tasted awesome! The presentation was world class. The service was lovely. And finally, the molecular gastronomic spheres were class apart.

We will eat at the periodic table every time we visit Ooty. Thank you so much The Periodic Table, for the best culinary...

Visited Periodic Table with my wife as we wanted to go to some place special. Initially we sat outside at the coffee shop and there was no one to talk to for a while. I went to speak to the barista at the coffee bar and asked if there is service inside the restaurant. He seemed very preoccupied and just said NO! So we looked around and we sat at a table. It took a good 10 minutes to be attended by the staff and we almost decided to leave. The person who handed us the menu said that the restaurant is inside and this is just the coffee shop. He said someone will be there with us inside and we moved in. We were greeted by our gracious host for the evening Jiiva. Things were looking better already. He told us that the food was mainly Italian which got us even more excited. The menu arrived and consisted of some mocktails, salads, soups, main course and dessert sections.

We started off with a salad that had beetroot dumplings with feta cheese and a delicious watermelon dressing. We moved on to a pork bao that had deliciously tender perfectly cooked pork with smoky teriaki sauce. The meat was completely filled with the flavours of the sauce and the bao buns were perfectly soft and fluffy. We moved on to a mushroom stuffed pasta with a pesto sauce that was simply delicious. We were pleasantly surprised when our host, Jiiva got us a complimentary dessert, the signature special dessert which was a white chocolate pudding. It was a perfect fine dining experience with good food, a great host and wonderful ambience.

I definitely recommend this place for anyone looking for a fine dining experience either for the love of food or with your loved...