Who is Chennai’s anonymous sauce maker behind Maadi Mart and Pulip Party?

Did you know that an anonymous hot sauce-maker has been part of the Chennai food scene since the start of the pandemic?

Five years ago, Amy (this is the most he’ll reveal about himself), a black mask-clad entrepreneur running an Instagram page, reviewing food spots in Chennai decided to take a leap of faith and launch his own brand: Maadi Mart. His experimentation and experiences from his travels to locations like Serbia and Georgia, had him selling flavoured ghee, chilli crisps, curry leaf zaatar cured egg yolk chips, and a range of hot sauces, at pop-ups and exhibits across the city.

He also held Maadi parties two years ago, cooking feasts from different parts of the world including Japan, Peru, and Cambodia, once every two weeks for friends and enemies, as part of a pop-up on his terrace.

“Ever since I was young, I was obsessed with food. It’s probably because my mother was an excellent cook. When I was in school, I’d have the coolest lunches. She would make me pizza and Subway burger buns from scratch. I entered the world of IT because I needed to make money but my heart was always in the culinary space. Over the years, I have travelled to 23 countries, trying to familiarise myself with cuisines from many different places. Corona Cookery, my page, started as a result of that,” he says.

A dish from Pulip Party
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Amy experimented extensively with his content and his pop-ups, serving up pieces of mortadella and other dishes every fortnight. He made a series on food from Iran when the war between the country and Israel was underway, and a set of videos from the North East of India, eating everything from bugs to drinking local liquor. When he came back, he wanted people around him to try food from these locations. Pulip Party, a second attempt at a terrace pop-up with his friend and content creator Praveen Duraivelu, set to take place on September 12 at the founder’s terrace in Ramapuram. It is deliberately small in scale and has only a limited number of seats available for booking via Instagram.

The first edition of the event draws on Jamaican staples like oxtails (a coco bread and oxtail curry), an ice cream, chicken patties, jerk chicken, and dried fish, all reimagined with local ingredients. Amy feels like the typical Chennai eater is hesitant to try new cuisine but there is a growing audience that wants to eat unfamiliar food.

“I promise inauthentic but great food. I don’t intend to import the most expensive ingredients from the world while we have potential substitutes in Chennai. Why use a Scotch bonnet pepper when there’s a bhoot jolokia. My aim is to be unapologetic with cooking. I will not be diluting dishes to suit local preferences. If a recipe calls for beef tongue, I will use it. Food in Chennai need not just be briyani, parotta or pizza,” he says. Expect to receive goodies including a T-shirt, he adds.

More events are soon expected to take place in restaurants across the city with the next likely to take place in Atlas House. It’s time to get saucy.

Pulip Party will be at Michael Garden, Ramapuram on September 12. The meal will be priced at ₹1,499. Follow Amy on @pulipparty on Instagram for details.