Not just cars, Hyundai also has a menu!

Chennai: If you ever thought that the Hyundai brand name was only restricted to cars, you should visit the ITC Park Sheraton in Chennai.

Because the hotel has something called the Hyundai menu, a multi-course meal comprising starters, main course and dessert including about 8 varied dishes, exclusively designed for the Koreans from Hyundai Motors India Limited. Though all of them are basically South-Indian dishes, each one of them has been altered to suit the Korean palate.

“Koreans cannot take in very spicy food. But they eat a lot of meat. Hence, we have designed this menu exclusively for them depending on their meat preferences and spice levels”, says Palanivel, one of the Captains of the Dakshin Restaurant.

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The folks at Hyundai seem to have a penchant for seafood. The bestselling items on the Hyundai menu are Dakshin Yeral (masala-fried prawns), Nandu Puttu (shell-less crab meat) and Meen Moilee (fish curry in coconut milk). The Banana Dosa (banana mixed in dosa batter), which is mostly served as a starter, is another great hit. “Generally, we make some annual changes in all our menus. But the Hyundai folks are so particular about the Banana dosa, Nandu putu and Yeral that we do not tamper with them,” say the Dakshin chefs.

Hyundai Motor India Limited’s Executive Director Han-Woo Park cannot stop praising the food. “Banana Dosa and naan are my favourites,” he replies instantly when quizzed about the Indian dishes that he likes the most.

Interestingly, the Hyundai menu came into existence only about 4-5 years ago, when a group of Koreans from the Hyundai Chennai unit along with their Executive Director had gone to dine at the Dakshin. “They experimented with a whole lot of stuff and finally came up with a menu which has been standardised now,” says Palanivel, who has been with ITC Park for over 13 years now. After they identified a set of Indian dishes suiting their tastes, the hotel folks customised the menu for Hyundai and christened it as the Hyundai menu.

In fact, Park and his Korean team, whether in a group or alone, carry a printed copy of the Hyundai menu with them when they go to the hotel. The group has also been trying its best to replicate the same in some other hotels. “Hyundai folks do have a set of favourites that they ask for - Beijing Duck is one of them,” says a Food and Beverages manager at the Chola Sheraton, another five-star hotel in the city.

Whether it is making cars or eating out, the Koreans are as meticulous as they can be, and the Hyundai menu is just an example of that.

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