NYC'S NEWEST TODDY SHOP

Chatti by Regi Mathew presents the Big Apple with a tiny bite of Kerala.

- Magandeep Singh

"The restaurant is childfriendly so you are most welcome to bring your child for dinner." I don't think I have ever heard sweeter words while trying to make a reservation at a restaurant which has only recently opened and is the hottest thing on the gastronomic scene. Right there, the chef and their entire brigade already had my heart. But, in the interest of sincerity and earnestness, I was still curious to see how the food and drink would fare. And that is how I ended up at Chatti by Chef Regi Mathew with my wife and kid, and a lovely coincidence that it also happened to be on my wife's birthday.

First, some background. No, not on my wife, on Chatti. Chef Regi Mathew, or a food traditions conservationist, as I would like to moniker him, doesn't cook or open restaurants to merely garner stars and accolades. I am sure they are a great encouragement but his real joy seems to lie in bringing joy to people through food. Nothing transcends boundaries like a good meal served right and all of his restaurants seem to run on that core underlying ethos.

I have dined at his outlets in India (in Chennai and Bangalore) on numerous occasions, I have even attended his popup in Delhi, but I was extremely curious to see how he would package and present his fare and his brand of hospitality in NYC, a city as ruthless and biting as a noir graphic novel might depict it.