Review: At Nellai Banana Leaf, Chettinad cuisine gloriously expands WNY’s Indian menu

Eat & Drink

AndrewG

May 28, 2024

Review: At Nellai Banana Leaf, Chettinad cuisine gloriously expands WNY’s Indian menu — A man eats orange snacks from a plate as orange dust splatters across the table.

Clockwise from upper left: crispy, savory lentil doughnuts called mehdu vada, fried bread stir-fry called chilli parotta, tandoori chicken, Gobi 65 fried cauliflower, potato-stuffed samosas with chutney.

If you’ve seen one Indian restaurant in Western New York, you’ve seen them all.

That’s the way it feels after 15 years of curry-hunting on the Niagara Frontier. Most customers at Indian restaurants can order without looking at the menu. Butter chicken, palak paneer, tandoori chicken, garlic naan, rogan josh, you know the drill. Northern Indian dishes are 95 percent of local Indian offerings.

That’s why I say “Nellai Banana Leaf” when asked for my favorite Indian restaurant. Its menu zigs where others zag, to South India, specifically Chettinad.

India has more than 40 distinct regional cuisines. Among them, Chettinad has a reputation as a real head-turner, due partly to ingredients brought back by wide-ranging Chettinad traders. “One is lucky to eat like a Chettiar” is a South Indian saying for a reason.

In American terms, discovering Chettinad after a lifetime of Northern Indian was like opening a 64-pack of Crayolas after a lifetime limited to the eight basic shades.

Kuzhi paniyaram and mehdu vadai are vegan, gluten-free appetizers.

South Indian cuisine has its own iconic dishes.