Eat, Drink, Travel & other things...

Kajha Biriyani, Vaniyambadi - near bus stop

2012-01-02T08:51:00.000+05:30

This is essentially a non-vegetarian, South Indian restaurant located a stones throw from the Vaniyambadi bus stop. The biriyani at Vaniyambadi is popular and I did not know which restaurant to source it from. I started making inquiries at Krishnagiri and also again while approaching Vaniyambadi and was directed to this one. It may be around 2 km off the Chennai - Bangalore highway (NH-46)
Food - The biriyani is made with long grain rice and is quite good. The mutton is cooked well and falls off the bone. It is accompanied by a onion raitha and a brinjal based gravy, both of which go well with the biriyani. There is ample meat in the biriyani and if you are not hungry, might find it difficult to finish the pieces of meat. The only minus was that there were a few small bone fragments that you need to capture and do away with before gorging into the biriyani.
Ambiance - Basic, non air-conditioned. I had in any case done a take away and did not eat there. However, I presume the place would be quite hot in summer. Parking a car around the restaurant would be challenging though not impossible.
Service - Fast - you come in, are seated, place your order...food is packed and served!
Cost - @ Rs.85/- per plate of mutton biriyani, it is reasonable.
Summary - Food - Good, Ambiance - Basic, Service - Acceptable, Cost - Reasonable.
Reco - I will definitely go there again when I drive thru this stretch of highway. It is certainly better than the more popular Ambur Star Biriyani and I do not think it is related to the Kajha Biriyani in Ambur. Certainly worth a detour!

Hard Rock Cafe, St. Mary's Road

2012-01-01T16:17:00.000+05:30

HRC Bangalore (or HRC Bengalooru as it is now called), is located off MG Road, off Church St., in a heritage building.

Food (&Drinks) - the Caiproska - a vodka based drink with lime, sugar and mint was quite good - a favorite of mine. The Mojito (similar to caiproska but has white rum instead of vodka) was also quite good. The chicken kebab did not seem to be a kebab - not a tandoori kebab..but was quite tasty and the mint chutney accompanying it was good. The potato skins with beacon was also good, potato skins, with a bit of the body scooped out and stuffed with beacon and cheese and baked..however one potato was a bit under done and a tad raw.

Service - Its a pain getting a table around the bar section..however managed to get it...service is a bit laid back...there are a number of waiters..who display a lot of energy...but are mostly not around tables...however, they serve with a smile.

Ambiance - Has three sections, the bar, the restaurant and the outdoor - for smokers....the former two are typical HRC with a lot of music memorabilia displayed. The music system seems to have been replaced - certainly sounded a lot better than last time. They do have free valet parking.

Cost - A pint of KF draft was around ₹190/-, the cocktails come at around ₹360/-. The kebab had six pieces and was around ₹350/- and the 4 pieces in the potato dish around ₹250/-. A bit on the higher side..but in line with similar restaurants / pubs. 10% service charges are extra!

Summary - Food - Average, Drinks - Good, Ambiance - Good, Service - Can improve, Cost - Appropriate.

Reco - I'll go there again!

Terminology - ₹ - Symbol for Indian Rupee

Coconut Grove, Church Street

2012-01-01T15:55:00.000+05:30

This is a semi alfresco restaurant serving Kerala cuisine. Liquor is served.
Food - The crab fry a dry preparation with fresh grated coconut and red chili was spicy and tasted good. There were three crab bodies on offer and a couple of claws. A good starter. The aapams were a bit sour...they usually add a pinch of sugar to compensate for the sourness..but this was missing...it was served hot and fresh nonetheless. The fish molly a mildly spiced stew with fried fish pieces was awesome. The fish curry was a let down....nothing to write home about - the gravy was predominantly chili chili and chili and turmeric..seemed a bit raw (the spices). (Both the fish dishes were prepared with Seer Fish.)
Service - Service was largely prompt but there is scope for improvement.
Ambiance - Basic furnishing, has an open air area and a covered non air-conditioned area as well. I did not notice any valet...so you may have to try hard to park in and around Church St....especially during a busy evening or lunch time on week days. However, it is very close to the MG Road Metro station.
Cost - Quite steep - probably a bit more than similar restaurants on Church St., They do not fleece you additionally towards service charges. A bottle of KF beer is around ₹190/- and a 60ml bacardi comes at around ₹290/-. A plate of aapam is around ₹80/- for two pieces. The gravies cost close to ₹400/- each and the crab dish around ₹450/-.
Summary - Food - Good, Service - Acceptable, Ambiance - not bad, Cost - a bit expensive.
Reco - I'll go there again..not any time soon..and will avoid the fish curry.
Terminology - Aapam - 'hoppers' - a pancake made with fermented rice flour - a staple of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

Eden Park (near Indian Express)

2011-12-11T09:58:00.001+05:30

This place is known for its Andhra Meals and we had gone there for lunch.

Food - Ghee, gonkura, a pickle, salt and podi are all available on the table. There is a rasam, a sambar, curds and a watery butter milk served in cups (you can get extras of these except curds). The rasam and sambar were good. The gonkura chutney was fresh and hot (spicy). The podi was also good.

Yellow dal, a spicy masala based gravy and a veg dry accompaniment are served at the table. The dal was a bit too bland. The gravy was great and had pieces of vadai (fried lentil balls) - it was spiced with cinnamon and saunf. The veg accompaniment - a ladies finger (okra) and black channa dal (chic pea) based one fried with onions and topped with shreded coconut - a tad oily, was good.

The rice was grainy and hot.

The meals is served on plantain leaves. They serve non vegetarian dishes as well, but we had not ordered any.

Ambiance - There is a garden alfresco area that is open in the evenings. Lunch is in an old building. No air conditioning was in place, however the weather was pleasant and we did not find this an inconvenience. The interiors are basic with tables and chairs.

Parking should not be a problem with the restaurant folks illegally cordoning off a portion of public space outside their restaurant for parking.

Service - a bit slow.

Cost - Rs.100/- per meal.

Experience - Food - good, Ambiance - do not go there expecting one, Cost - worth it, Service - needs improvement - but may never improve.

Reco - I'll go there every once in a while.

Terms - Podi - refers to parupu podi (Tamil) dried pulses with red chili and other spices either finely or coarsely ground

- gonkura - a sour leafy vegetable - used predominantly to make a chutney with dried red chili

Angeethi, Museum Inn

2011-12-10T09:42:00.005+05:30

The restaurant is attached to Museum Inn on Museum Road and is quite a popular one. It is a roof top alfresco restaurant. It serves predominantly North Indian cuisine and is part of the BJN group of restaurants. I had gone there for a Friday lunch buffet.

Food - There were a host of items, including a chat counter - which I avoided as I was there for lunch. There were a host of vegetarian and non-veg dishes. The spinach soup was served at the table and was great a slightly creamy soup. The veg biriyani and the mutton biriyani were really good. The meat in the mutton biriyani was cooked to perfection. It was the typical layered North Indian style of biriyani and not the South Indian or Hyderabadi style.

The prawn gravy a curry type dish was not bad - but nothing to write home about. There were a host of veg gravies that I did not end up tasting. A veg sheek kebab and the chicken tikka were good.

A variety of Indian breads (tandoor cooked) were served at the table.

There were a host of salads - nothing great - and curd rice on offer at the buffet.

The carrot halwa was good and the rasa malai was awesome - fresh and not too sweet.

There was a counter that dished out gola (shaved ice with a choice of syrups) - something that you usually do not find in restaurants - I loved it. There was also a choice of ice creams.

There is a paan counter - you could order your pan and pay for it.

Ambiance - The place was packed and additional tables seemed to have been added to make the most of the popularity of the place on a Friday afternoon. There was hardly any place to walk. The tandoor was spewing smoke on a third of the tables.

Valet parking is available (its a short walk from the MG Road metro station).

Service - We were seated promptly since we had booked a table. But service was unable to keep up with the crowd - serving the soups and bread at the tables and filling the fast emptying food counters. It was slow.

Cost - @ 400 per person it seemed worth it for the food if not anything else....the paan in the paan counter are expensive.

Summary - Food - great; Ambiance - poor; Service - poor; Cost - acceptable.

Reco - I would like to go there, perhaps not on a Friday when I expect it to be a little less crowded.

Italia, 100 Ft Road

2011-12-06T08:29:00.003+05:30

Located in one of the prime top end business centers in Bangalore there were hardly anybody around. This place is supposed to dish out Italian Vegetarian food. We had gone for a friend's (vegetarian) birthday treat on a Monday morning - this place had a reputation and we went there expecting a good experience.

Food - The starters consisted of a couple of a stir fried vegetable and deep fried battered baby corn, though not Italian, were both good. The corn and cheese balls - again fried, were also good. The bruschetta was good but the garlic bread was a bit dry. The cream of veg soup with some basil thrown in was quite good, though we had to send it back to be re-heated as it was luke warm.

The main course consisted of 3 pizzas - artichoke and olives; tomato onion and a green capsicum (bell pepper) based one. All the pizzas were good, thin crusted. There was also a couple of varieties of pasta - lasagna and spaghetti in both white and tomato based sauce - not bad.

There was also a veg fried rice - (the Indonesian or Malaysian nasi goreng type) and a veg noodles - no Chinese gravy to accompany. I had a bit of the rice which was not bad - but how on earth did these dishes find a place on an Italian buffet menu?

The desserts were a big let down - a blue berry cheese cake - did not look too good to risk a tasting and fruits on jelly - more jelly than fruits. I ended up ordering a tiramisu - again a let down - not much of a coffee flavor.

Now the kicker - Most of the items - the soup, starters and main course were served at the table. If you did dare to go to the counter to help yourself, most of the counters were either half empty or totally empty!!

Service - pretty laid back.

Ambiance - Simple interiors but quite good with a sub ground level, a ground level and a mezzanine level. Can not comment on the parking as I went by auto.

Cost - Rs.375/- per plate - pretty expensive given the experience (service and lack of food in the counters and lack of desserts).

Summary - Average food, nice location and setting, poor service, bad experience.

Reco - I will not go there again.

Terminology - Lasagna - Long ribbon shaped pasta

Mainland China

2011-12-04T10:07:00.003+05:30

I went for the lunch buffet on a Saturday. I have been here over weekends and have found it difficult to find a place...now it was not that difficult..perhaps the quality had come down or there were more options or perhaps, people just were not spending. Cuisine is, of course, Chinese.
Food - Starters and soup are served at the table. The chicken clear soup had a funny smell and no taste. There were two veg and two non veg starters. There was veg dumplings and fried veg wontons and there was a stir fried veg and chicken and chicken dumplings. Both the dumplings were good, especially with the accompaniment of the spinach based sauce. The stir fried veg and chicken was more veg than chicken and the dough was undercooked and raw.
The main course had a prawn fried rice which was good and a sichuan chicken noodles that hardly had chicken, but was tasty all the same. The crab gravy was good but difficult to eat as it was only the halved bodies of the crabs without the proper implements to eat them with. The prawn / basil gravy was good, though a tad salty.
I did not try the fish or chicken gravies on offer. The veg fried rice was not bad but the veg hakka noodles was too bland. The stir fried vegetables in a brown gravy was repulsive. I did not try a couple of other veg dishes.
The salad counter had a five salads including a non-veg one and all were quite good. The dessert counter had a mousse, a couple of cakes and a brownie (which was good) and a choice of cut fruits (good once again) and a choice of 4 ice creams with hot chocolate sauce, nuts and butter scotch to top.
You get a welcome drink or a pint of fosters with the buffet.
Chinese green tea is served at the table for no additional cost.
Service - Was prompt.
Ambiance - Pleasant, air conditioned, spacious. They have valet parking.
Price - Rs.696.50/- per person. Costly!!
Summary - Average food; satisfactory service; good ambiance; expensive!
Reco - May not go there in the near future.

Nandhini Deluxe

2011-12-02T21:20:00.002+05:30

This is the one on ESI Hospital Road and not the one next to the Domlur Flyover.

For starters, the restaurant has shifted to the next building and the building in which this restaurant was located now strangely has Bhagini (another multi cuisine Andhra restaurant).

Food - I had a full meals and some guntur chicken. The rice was hot and there was ghee on offer. You have 'gonkura chutney', 'avvakai mango pickle', salt and the lentil mix at the table. There was a chutney (onion based) which was very sour. The sambar was sour and did not stand out. There was yellow dal - which was also slightly sour. I did not risk trying the rasam as I felt that would be an explosion of sourness too.

The vegetable sides was a potato dish that had some onion and was pepper based. It was actually a nothing dish.

The meals also had the usual curds and butter milk. Fried salted dry chili (Mor Molaga in Tamil) was served at the table - which was good.

The guntur chicken was a semi dry preparation that was wonderfully spicy and aromatic - not too hot, the sad part was the chicken was under cooked.

The carrot 65 was a batter fried sliced carrot - also sour - was again a nothing dish.

Service - very poor...had to wait for the rice, they almost forgot the carrot 65....had to ask at least thrice before the second rounds of the lentils, the chutney and the vegetables.

Ambiance - basic, air conditioned - but was probably switched off as I felt it was warmer inside the restaurant than outside.

Damages - Full Meals - Rs.96/-, Guntur Chicken - Rs.135/-, Mutton Biriyani - Rs.130/-, Veg Biriyani - Rs.95/-, Carrot 65 - Rs.90/-. (I have commented on only those items that I tasted).

Summary - Food - Ordinary, Service - Poor, Ambiance - Nothing, Cost - Reasonable (matches quality of food / service / ambiance).

Reco - I will not go there again in the near future!!

Terminology - Yellow Dal (lentil - Tur dal - pigeon pea)

AM BACK

2011-12-02T20:28:00.001+05:30

Sorry folks...for the long absence...just did not get to blogging...guess it was the facebook effect...now that FB effct is wearing down...u should see new posts regularly!

Kamat Upachar, Kamanadoddi, NH-7

2010-05-22T13:10:00.000+05:30

I happened to go here on day when it had rained earlier. I was at the restaurant at around 6.30ish in the evening. The restaurant was infested with flying ants in sizes varying from half a centimeter to a bit larger than an inch - probably out to mate. There were a few people who were eating despite this annoyance.

I, though, made a quick getaway. It may be noted that the people working there were not making any attempt to clear the tables or the floors of these insects.

On a later occasion, on a sunny day, I had been there for a quick bite. I ordered a plate of idli and vadai. Both were not hot and barely warm. With such poor quality and trying to capitalize on their otherwise good brand name in Bangalore, I doubt this restaurant with last long.

Reco-I will certainly not go there in the near future, rain or no rain!! Avoidable!!

Nova Kitchen, MBK

2010-05-22T08:28:00.000+05:30

In a recent visit to Bangkok, while shopping @ MBK, stopped at a small eatery that could seat around 40 pax for a quick lunch. The eatery serves traditional Thai and South East Asian cuisine.

The fish porridge was excellent, hot, mildly flavored, chunks of fresh salt water fish and in a rice broth. The Mamuang which my partner ordered was also quite tasty and served with rice. It is a spicy, garlic based semi dry chicken preparation.

The quantity of the food served, especially the porridge was substantial.

The above dishes with iced lemon tea and a pint of Singha beer cost us THB 430/- Worth it.

Reco - I'll probably go there again when I shop @ MBK.

Eatery@Star Bazaar, Koramangala

2010-03-27T13:23:00.000+05:30

The eatery is tucked in a small area under the escalators and serves a number of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, a salad bar and a host of bakes.

There is no place to sit and portions are weighed. A little more than a dozen pax can stand and eat around this place. The place is pretty warm as the open / live kitchen is also present there - not an inconvenience if you are doing a take-away.

For

+ Good food – the Methi chicken – a gravy dish is simply awesome. Not very spicy (hot) and very flavorful. The veg biriyani was also extremely flavorful and tasty. Food is prepared fresh and is served / packed hot.

+ Convenience – The place is apt as a takeaway after you are done with your shopping to pack stuff for lunch or supper if you have not yet cooked at home.

+ Portions – as I had mentioned earlier, you are charged by weight and there are sufficient pieces of meat in non-veg dishes.

+ Reasonable pricing.

Against

- Slow billing – the staff are pretty slow, seem untrained and there is only one operational cash counter.

- Food can be better – the mushroom / peas curry – a red, spicy gravy was not tasty, although it was not bad. The vegetables are not finely chopped in most cases – in order to save time and concentrate on volumes.

Quarter kg of the mushroom and the chicken dish and around 400 gms of veg biriyani cost around INR 190/-

Reco – Definitely a convenient place to pack tasty food if you have not prepared much @ home.

Rajdhani, Forum Value Mall, Whitefield

2010-03-27T09:23:00.000+05:30

It is located in an air-conditioned and exclusive area within Transit that can seat around 100 pax. Place serves vegetarian Rajasthani cuisine and no liquor.

For

+ Good / uncomplicated Rajasthani Thali – Almost all the items on offer are tasty. The stand out item was the bitter gourd dry side dish and the rice dokla.

+ Good variety – You get

>3 chaat items, including rice doklas, served with mint and tamarind sauces and a veg salad

>3 varieties of bread (rotis)

>3 types of lentil (dal) including kadi

>3 other side dishes (2 gravies and 1 dry)

>butter and jaggery

>butter milk

>plain rice, ghee, kichidi and curd rice

>pickles, fried chili and onions

>a choice of 3 sweets – srikand, a milk sweet - basundi types and a halwa - moong dal halwa – of which one can be taken.

+ Good quantity – but for the sweets that is limited, all other items are served in unlimited quantities. (1 ltr bottle of bisleri water is given free for each table)

+ Reasonable Pricing - @ INR 200 per plate, the pricing is reasonable

+ Excellent Service – You have a senior waiter attending to around 6 guests. You just have to ask and any item reaches your table in an instant. In many cases the items are refilled even without your asking for it. When you are seated and finished, you can wash your hands in warm flowing water brought to you by a waiter in a jug and a container to collect the dirty water.

Against (nothing much)

- The kichdi had some sago in it making it a touch jelly like – not the best I’ve had.

- The food is predominantly bland – but that is how this type of food should be – actually not complaints on this front.

- The moong dal halwa was a bit dry.

Cost per plate is INR 200/-

Reco – If you like vegetarian fare, this place is a must visit. The food is way better than most thalis (meal plates) and buffets available in town.

Eden Park Restaurant, 1, Cunningham Road

2010-03-26T18:21:00.000+05:30

This place is tucked beside the Indian Express and Hindu offices in the Cantonment Area - off Infantry road and not on the 'main' part of Cunningham Road. This is a part garden restaurant and part indoors. The place can seat easily seat around 200 pax between the indoor and outdoor areas. There are both air conditioned and non air conditioned sections that can easily accommodate around 50 pax each.

There is a play area for kids with some computer games. They serve alcohol. They serve Andhra cuisine.

For

+ Good Food – the meals was really tasty and so was the fish fry (seer fish slice marinated in chili, salt, ginger and garlic and fried). There is lentil powder (parupu podi) and ghee (clarified butter) at the table which go very well with hot rice.

+ Pleasant service

Against

- Painful parking – you need to park in the busy infantry road, queens road area.

- More variety of curries and gravies could have been included in the meals.

- Expensive - @ INR 80/- per meals it is pretty expensive.

- The ghee was not of the best quality.

2 meals + 1 fish fry cost close to INR 300/-

Reco – I do not mind going there again. Not the best of places for Andhra cuisine, but certainly a good place.

Kamat Upachar, Kamanadoddi, NH-7

2010-02-25T08:43:00.000+05:30

This is a relatively new restaurant from the Bangalore based Kamat group. It is attached to a Reliance Petroleum outlet. Since Reliance Petroleum outlets do not have as much business as normal ones and this eatery is yet to install its signage on the highway, the crowd was sparse.

I’m sure, given the shortage of restaurants in this stretch and the brand name of the group would ensure more footfalls.

It is not air-conditioned, has ample parking and can seat around 100 + pax. Liquor is not served.

Going For

+ Tasty Masala Dosa – It is the typical Bangalore Masala dosa which has a smattering of chili powder on one side (This is a powder made with red chili, some pulses and at times spiced with a touch of coriander seeds and / or garlic).

+ Ample Parking

+ Adequate seating

+ Prompt service (It had better be, considering only a handful of customers were present.)

Not Going For

- Limited menu – I would blame this on the fact that this unit is only starting out now.

- Specialties of the group, being based out of Karnataka, such as Kadubu are missing in the menu.

- Cold Vada – This could certainly have been avoided.

2 Masala Dosas + 1 Idli Vada + 1 coffee came to around INR 110/-.

Reco – I sure do expect all the negatives, such as the cold vada, the limited menu and the lack of specialty dishes to improve. I’ll definitely visit this place again.

Gloria Jean's Coffee, St. Mark's Road

2010-02-14T09:29:00.000+05:30

This is a popular coffee shop chain to which I had been in Australia. There is an outlet on St.Mark’s Road, opposite Bishop Cotton school. The outlet can seat around 40 -50 pax, is air-conditioned and overlooks the road.

The menu is a typical list of different cold and hot coffees, some teas and other hot and cold beverages, sweet and other bakes and some Indian short eats such as samosas.

Going For

+ The coffee – the espresso was quite good – much better than what you get at Coffee Day, as good as what you get at Barista. The cappuccino was good too.

+ The large espresso costs as much as a small shot – which is never the case in either CCD or Barista.

+ Pleasant service

+ Comfortable seating (quite a bit of sofas and couches), although a bit cramped.

+ Credit Cards are accepted – I am specifically mentioning this as a factor going for, since recently I had a tight squeeze at some CCD outlets and McDonald’s.

Not Going For

- No Wi-fi connectivity

- Parking may be a problem – if you have a four wheeler since the building may not have adequate parking on weekdays, being a commercial complex. The parking on the road too is not very adequate during peak hours.

- Apple Pie – Taste was not bad. Had too much of dried grapes (kishmish). The sad part was the stem of the grapes was not removed in some of them. There was too much of powdered sugar on top and the pie just did not come off well onto the fork. The portion was quite good, I should add.

The two coffees and the pie came to around INR 170/-, pretty much in line with Barista.

Reco – Go there for the coffee.

Pelita Nasi Kandar, Thyagaraya Road, T Nagar

2010-02-11T08:29:00.000+05:30

PNK serves Malaysian cuisine – which has influences of Malay, Indian and Chinese cuisines. The restaurant can seat in excess of 125 pax, is air-conditioned and seating is across two levels – ground and mezzanine. Liquor is not served as is the case with most stand alone restaurants in Tamil Nadu.

Parking is not available at the restaurant, but sufficient parking facility is available on the road outside.

Going For

+ Excellent Food – The Sotong Goering (Fried squid), and the two meal combos that we ordered – the Fish and the Quail – were both tasty. The meals come with a portion of rice (may not be sufficient if you are very hungry), a gravy of the selected meat, 2 vegetarian dry dishes and a papad. Both the gravy dishes were Tamil Nadu (Chettinad) cuisine influenced.

+ Live Kitchen – while the seating is not any different from any other restaurant, one side of the restaurant is a live kitchen - it is always nice to watch the food being prepared fresh.

+ Menu – The menu is quite exhaustive with a number of dishes of the three main types of cuisine available in Malaysia – right from starters to desserts.

Not Going For

- Service – Service is a bit slow. Although there are a number of waiters and persons taking orders, the service is quite slow.

- Noisy – The restaurant is very noisy – like some of the large coffee shops found near colleges.

The three dishes mentioned above cost around INR 350/-. The Fresh lime soda was expensive @ INR 35/- and bottled water is sold at double the list price.

Reco – Must visit. I will certainly go back and try another set of dishes.

McDonald's, India Grage Petrol Bunk, Kasturba Road

2010-02-08T08:37:00.000+05:30

No I am not reviewing the food @ Mac's. This is a 'fast' post for this fast food joint!

-It is the service - I had ordered 2 burgers - a Fillet o Fish and a Chicken Maha Mac. The time was around 5.45 in the evening on a Friday. There was not much of a crowd either at the counter or seated, ahving palced orders. It took at least 5 minutes for the burgers to get delivered at the counter - pretty trady given their reputation of serving up in a minute or so!!

-The other thing is if you are not carrying cash, do not go to McD. They do not accept cards.

The burgers that cost around INR 130/- were good!

Bananaa Leaf, TTK Road

2010-01-29T15:38:00.000+05:30

Yes, the name of the place is spelt bananaa with 2 ‘a’s. The place is air conditioned and serves Chettinad cuisine. The restaurant is located in a house and hence the seating is quite unlike other restaurants and is split across a number of rooms. The place probably seats around 75 pax. I think beer is available in the sly, not sure.

Going For

+Parking – One may park around 4-5 cars outside the restaurant, else you can leave it with the valet.

+ Timings – It opens at 7am and remains open through the day. There is a different menu for breakfast, lunch, post lunch and dinner. I happened to go there for lunch.

+ The meals was a typical South Indian spread and both vegetarian and non vegetarian thalis cost INR 125/-. There are gravies of chicken, mutton and fish with the chicken and fish gravies having a small piece of meat in them. The entire spread with the veg dry curries, the sambar, the rasam and the works is quite filling and quite tasty.

+ Karuveppilai Kozhi – this dry chicken fry is spiced with red chili and fried with curry leaves leaving a wonderful flavor of the curry leaves on the meat.

Not Going For
- Lax / slow service
- The rice was not served piping hot as was expected.
2 meals + 1 portion of the chicken dish cost around INR 430/-.
Reco – Worth a visit.

The Spirit Lounge, HAL Airport Road

2010-01-27T14:01:00.000+05:30

This joint is diagonally opposite Total Kemp Fort on HAL Airport Road. Although, the place claims to be a multi cuisine restaurant, it is essentially a bar and the cuisine is predominently Andhra cuisine.

There are air conditioned and non air conditioned sections. I happened to go to the air conditioned portion. The air conditioning, though on, was not very effective. The place can seat around 70 pax, is dimly lit and probably doubles as a dance bar on special occasions (but then again, maybe not).

Going For

+ Nellore Chilly Chicken - spicy chili chicken - similar to chicken 65 - chili coated fried chicken.

+ Mushroom 2009 - green chili and mushroom fried.

Not Going For

- Service - the hapless waiter was conversant with Telugu only (I hope), he did not know either Kannada or English or Hindi.

- EggChilly - batter fried boiled eggs - quite a mess.

- Ambience - a dark and dingy booze joint! I should mention that even @ 6.15pm, when I was there there were some guests in the table next to mine who were served a portion of biriyani!

30 ml Teacher's 50 costs INR 210 and 30 ml of Bacardi INR 110. A beer costs INR 110/- for a bottle. Non - veg dishes (dry or starters) cost around INR 110 and vegetarian ones cost around INR 70/-. A masala peanut cost INR 35/-.

Reco - Not recommended for ladies - either by themselves or escorted by gents. Given the price, there are other shady joints one can go to for a quick gulp of hard liquor or for a quick swig of beer!

Serengeti, Total Mall, Madiwala

2010-01-25T10:01:00.000+05:30

This restaurant is located on the top floor of Total Mall along with a pubm(Zanzibar), belonging to the same group. There was sufficient parking when I went, but doubt if place would be availabe during weekends when there is more footfalls in the mall.

This is a theme restaurant, as the name suggests, sports an African theme. The false ceiling is covered with dense plastic leaves, the pillars are covered by tree trunks and there are birds, monkeys, squirrels and other animals all over the place. There is also an artificial rain fall in the middle of the restaurant, and the waiters are dressed up like forest officers - in khaki.

The place can seat around 100 pax and serves 'Awadhi' cuisine - cuisine of the Moguls where food is more often than not slow cooked over a light flame and in 'Dum' style - by encapsulating the smell and flavour of the meat and the spices.

Going For

+ The Theme - very refreshing and different, worth a visit.

+ The welcome - you are welcomed pleasantly and seated without having to wait for too long.

Not Going For

- The music - this forest themed restaurant plays old Hindi film songs.

- The music system - the Hindi film songs are not well heard, and on top of it you keep hearing the loud beats emanating from Zanzibar.

- The service - very laid back

- The food - the Raan - E - Sikandari - was a leg of mutton which was supposed to be slow cooked. But was smeared in Tandoori Chicken masala and was not done very well - the meat was not very soft. The Awadhi Ghost - a spicy (flavourful with Awadhi masala) gravy - was very ordinary.

A pitcher of draught costs INR 475/- and a mug INR 150/-. Cocktails cost around INR 350/-. The Rann, the Awadhi Ghost, 5 Tandoori Rotis and a Dal cost around INR1100/-.

Reco - Can go to experience the new ambience and theme, that's about it!

Prego, Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam

2010-01-13T09:18:00.000+05:30

Prego is an Italian restaurant in the 5 star hotel. It is located at the basement level, can seat around 60 pax. The interiors are not too bright, nor too dark, the ambiance is quite good as would be expected of a restaurant in a star hotel.

Going For

+ Tasty food - Veg Broth (Minestrone soup) - served hot and as good as a minestrone soup gets. The spaghetti scampi (with some squid ink spaghetti along with the normal white spaghetti and scallops), the risotto scampi (prawn risotto) and the tenderloin tartare were all tasty.

+ Pleasant service

+ Good ambiance - as mentioned earlier.

+ The passion fruit cocktail (with white liquor) was quite good.

Not Going For

- Very few prawns in the risotto - 4 nos. - considering the dish costs INR 700/-.

- The tartare, while tasty could have been a bit more acidic / lemony. It was a bit too bland.

- Lazy service - certainly could have been better for a star hotel!

- Limited menu - The menu is very limited and I do not remember seeing any Pizzas in an Italian restaurant.

- Badly arranged menu - The menu is not very well arranged either by way of meats or by way of types of dishes or by way of starters and main courses.

The aforementioned 4 dishes cost around INR 2600/- fair for a 5 star hotel. The cocktail came to around INR 375/-. Scotch was costly as expected with a 30ml of Teachers highland cream costing around INR 400/-.

Reco - Not bad. May not be worth it!

Spicy Spoon, Shoolagiri, NH-7

2010-01-11T10:09:00.001+05:30

This restaurant is in the same HP petrol bunk complex that houses the veg restaurant - Sri Krishna Inn and a Cafe Coffee Day.

This place serves non-veg cuisine, is not air conditioned and can seat around 60 pax.

Going for

+ Location - ample parking, availability of relatively clean toilets.

+ The chicken masala was tasty.

Not going for

(pretty much everything else)

- The chapatti and parotta (kerala parotta) were not served hot (it was mildly warm - probably kept in a hot case).

- The service is quite poor - untrained / lack direction and a couple of the servers kept sneezing and coughing even as they were serving - God help!

- Expensive - a plate of two parottas or chappathis and a portion of chicken masala costs INR 60/-.

- The menu is limited and what is available is less than 50% of what is there in the limited menu.

Reco - AVOID

La Boulangerie - The French Bakery, Kotturpuram

2010-01-11T09:42:00.000+05:30

Another one on this bakery...since it is quite close to home.

It is essentially a takeaway with a variety of bakes, pastries and breads.

Going For

+ Pleasant service

+ Some tasty bakes - The veg puff and the chicken puff are very good. The filling is well done and the crust is soft and flaky. The almond croissant was good too, though a bit rich.

+ Parking is never going to be a problem outside this shop. (On the road, of course)

Not going for

- The walnut brownie - was a bit dry. Had a strong dessicated coconut taste - why add coconut to the brownie?

- Chocolate muffin - not the best muffin I've tasted. A bit dry and a bit too buttery...leaves a thick buttery feeling on your palate.

- A bit on the costly side

Veg puff costs INR 25/-. Chicken puff costs INR 40/-. Chocolate muffin is INR 35/- and the brownie costs INR 50/-. The almond croissant costs INR 60/- (while the size of the puffs and the croissant are a bit above par, the brownie is certainly small).

Reco - I would still say it is worth a try....just don't buy the chocolate muffin or the walnut brownie.

Au Bon Pain Cafe, MG Road

2010-01-11T09:24:00.000+05:30

This cafe is located at the entrance of 'Spencer's' on MG Road. Its got a small outdoor seating area which can seat around 30 pax and overlooking MG road.

Going For

+ Different Menu - It is slightly different compared to either a cafe' or a salad bar or a bakery. There is a bit of everything here. Breads, sandwiches, soups, salads and of course coffee and pastries.

+ Walnut Brownie - Was very tasty and not too sweet!

+ Location - It is always nice to have a hot cup of coffee and a brownie or a sandwich looking at the bustling crowd on MG road.

Not Going For

- The staff need to be a bit more trained to guide the customer through the ordering / billing.

- Since it is on MG road, expect no parking unless you are in luck!

A walnut brownie comes to INR 50/-, a espresso INR 25 for a single shot and a cup of hot chocolate INR 50/- (+ taxes).

Reco - certainly worth it! I will certainly go back to try out more of the bakes and the sandwiches.

Madurai Alagappar Chettinadu Restaurant, Ramapuram

2009-12-19T17:27:00.001+05:30

This non - vegetarian, air - conditioned restaurant serves Chettinadu cuisine (cuisine from the South of Tamil Nadu - which is spicy and most of the dishes have significant amount of chili, onion, garlic and curry leaves).

The lighting was quite dim. The place can seat around 50 pax and is located on the Mount Poonamallee road.

It was pouring the Saturday morning, as we were approaching Chennai and decided to stop over here for food at around 11.30 for lunch.

Going For

+ Good food - The South Indian meals (rice + appalam + rasam + chicken gravy + mutton gravy + fish gravy + sambar + a cup of curds + 2 veg dry side dishes) was served hot and was quite tasty. We were given the non-veg gravies without asking for the same. In some restaurants this gravy is served only on request. The fish fry was a big piece of Seer fish smeared with chili, turmeric and garlic based paste and fried. The Mutton Sukka Varuval - a dry and spicy mutton preparation had good pieces of mutton.

Not Going For

- Service is a bit laid back

- The lighting was annoyingly dim.

Two meals + 1 fish fry + 1 mutton sukka masala cost around INR 290/-.

Reco - Definitely worth a pit stop if you are driving by Ramapuram.

The Cascade, Nungambakkam

2009-12-18T09:58:00.000+05:30

The Cascade is an air-conditioned primarily Chinese, Pan Asian restaurant, on Kader Nawaz Khan road. This time though, I ordered for food to be delivered home.

Going For

+ Good food - the dragon chicken (a spicy(tangy), dry preperation of fried, diced chicken) was good and so too was the Chicken in Thai red curry and rice - spicy and 'coconuty'. The chicken hakka noodles too was quite tasty with a lot of soy sauce.

+ Prompt delivery - My place was not more than a couple of kilometers from the restaurant and the food was delvered in around 45 minutes, although they do not have any committed time. It was a Saturday night and they must have had quite a few deliveries to handle.

+ Quantitiy - The ginger / garlic fried rice and the chicken noodles are sufficient for two people with moderate apetite and a bit too much for one person very hungry person. The thai red curry is served with a portion of rice.

Not Going For

- Nothing much in this order for sure. Probably a tad expensive for a delivery / take-away!

The dragon chicken + chicken hakka noodles + ginger / garlic fried rice + thai chic red curry with rice cost us around INR 700/-

Reco - Definitely worth it!

The dr

Shri Krishna Inn, Shoolagiri, NH-7

2009-12-15T14:14:00.001+05:30

This eatery is attached to the HPCL petrol bunk on NH-7 between Hosur and Krishnagiri. It serves vegetarian fare - specializing in South Indian tiffins. It is in the same HPCL complex that also houses a Cafe Coffee Day outlet.

It is not air conditioned and can seat around 75 pax. No liquor is served.

Going For

+ Ample Parking - since it is attached to a petrol bunk.

+ Food's quite good - The parotta kurma, the masala dosai and the onion uthappam were all quite good (not great) and served hot and fresh.

+ Not too much mark up on bottled / canned drinks - the coke can had a mark up of INR 2/- on MRP, which is quite reasonable.

Not Going For

- Blink and you may miss the 'mineral' water billed to you since it is kept on your table (INR 15/-). Of course you can have it reversed if you have not consumed the same.

- Side eats to go with the dosai are only sambar and two varieties of chutnies (most of the restaurants in Chennai serve at least 3 chutnies and some also serve chili powder). Maybe I am expecting too much here.

-Less quantity of kurma served with the parotta - of course, they do get you more, if required, but in the first instance itself if it would have been better if it were adequate.

- Would be nice if idly were available through the day.

1 plate parotta + 1 masala dosai + 1 diet coke can + 1 onion uthappam cost INR 107/-.

Reco - Certainly worth it. Fill up ur tank and then tank up on food!

Reco - Certain

Mr.Delivery, Cathedral Road, Opp Music Academy

2009-12-15T07:13:00.000+05:30

This is a takeaway, delivery counter belonging to the Amaravati /Savera group. The counter is at the same complex that houses Amaravati, Coconut Lagoon, Palki and Snowfield.

The menu is a combination of dishes from Amaravati and Palki and a few dishes probably from their Punjabi restaurant - The Dhaba.

Going For

+ The start taking orders early - as early as 6.45pm, in case you want to pick up your supper early.

+ Can order from the menus of Coconut Lagoon / Amaravati / Palki - The choice is not restricted to the menu of Mr Delivery, especially if you plan to order from the counter. You have access to the menu and kitchens of the restaurants located in the complex.

+ Excellent Syrian Beef Fry (This is a specialty Kerala dish with small cubes of beef fried in a host of spices with a lot of thin slices of coconut and finely chopped onion and cooked in coconut oil). One of the best available in Chennai. This was from the menu of Coconut Lagoon

+ Good biriyani - The biriyani is from Amaravati and both the mutton and chicken kind were good and is served with a spicy liquid gravy, onion raitha and a boiled egg. The biriyani is not excellent but is certainly good.

Not Going For

- Do not open the complex for parking till 6.40pm. This is despite their having ample vacant parking.

- A tad expensive - considering it is a takeaway joint!

The Syrian Beef Fry costs around INR 120/- and the biriyanis too cost around that much each.

Reco - Certainly worth it and don't miss the Syrian beef fry. (Am not sure how efficient their delivery service is.)

Star Biriyani, NH-46

2009-12-14T13:10:00.000+05:30

This is the famous biriyani shop @ Ambur. There are a few tables and chairs, but the place is more of a take-away rather than a restaurant.

As is suggestive of the name, they are a biriyani shop and there was nothing else on the menu when I went.

I wanted to have mutton biriyani, but had to settle for chicken biriyani as the mutton dish was to be made available only for dinner.

Going For

+ Adequate quantity - there is more than adequate quantity of meat packed along with the biriyani. The serving of half a plate is sufficient for one person.

+ Good pieces of meat - the pieces of meat were nice medium sized chunks and were not all bone and spare parts.

+ Reasonably priced.

Not Going For

- You never know if you will get the biriyani you want when you stop by. It is either not ready or has been sold out! I picked up my packed @ 5.15pm in the evening!

- Parking - you have to navigate and find parking on the busy service lane. Even if you stop in the middle of the service lane, no one will pounce on you!

- The biriyani was not made with basmati or other long grained rice and was a bit spicy (chili). The biriyani was certainly not bad, but it could have been better!

Half a plate of biriyani cost INR 60/-.

Reco - If you feel like having biriyani on NH-7, between Bangalore and Chennai, look no further!

Saravana Bhavan, Pondy Bazaar, T Nagar

2009-12-14T11:02:00.000+05:30

Saravana Bhavan (or Hotel Saravana Bhavan - do look for the HSB logo in the genuine outlets) is part of a very popular chain of restaurants, based in Chennai. It serves vegetarian, multi cuisine fare. Does not serve alcohol in any of its outlets. Popular for its South Indian (Tamil Nadu) tiffin items.
They have air conditioned and non air conditioned outlets and among the air conditioned there are standard and premium outlets, and among the non air conditioned, again, there are outlets with and without seating.
Some of the outlets serve a limited menu and some have 'chat' and other specialized counters too.
One of the chutnies - the onion and tomato one was quite different here (less of onion and a bit more sour) compared to their Mylapore outlet.
The area on the ground floor could seat around 60 or more pax.
Going For
+ Cleanliness (common sight across all their outlets) - akin to what one finds in a restaurant of a star hotel in India, maybe even better!
+ Tasty Fare - the Idly, Masala Dosai, Rava Masala Dosai and the Onion Rava Masala were all fantastic.
+ Sweet Pongal - The sweet pongal is quite different in this chain, since it is infused with small fried shavings of coconut.
Not Going For
- Lack of Parking or Valet - This is common across almost all outlets in the Pondy Bazaar area and across most outlets of Saravana Bhavan.
- Expensive Juices - INR 50+ for a glass of sweet lime juice is quite expensive!
- Crampped - As is the case in most of their non - premium outlets, the place is a tight sqeeze to get into your seat and out of it!
2 plates of idly, 1 each of masala dosai, rava masala dosai and onion rava masala dosai + 1 sweet pongal + 3 sweet lime juices came to around INR 475/-.
Reco - Do visit Saravana Bhavan between your shopping @ Pondy Bazaar for tasty South Indian veg fare!

Fusion Express, The Mark Boulevard

2009-12-11T09:11:00.000+05:30

Last time I was here, I thought it was worth a visit, given the limited options around this area in Whitefield.

It is a multi cuisine restaurant with a lunch buffet. The portion of the restaurant that was open could seat around 70 pax and is air conditioned.

Going For

+ Live pasta and chat (Indian fast food) counters - made to order and fresh!

+ Hot and good gulab jamun (a soft, fried dish dipped in syrup)

+ Quite a number of dishes.

+ Parking is never a problem, although the entry is a tight squeeze!

Not Going For

- None of the items, save a dal (yellow lentils gravy) and a vegetarian gravy, were warm (let alone hot).

- The fruit salad was not the freshest.

- The mutton biriyani was special with some 'hair'. Thank God for small mercies, I noticed the hair before I could put in a spoonful into my mouth!

- The captain did not even apologize when I mentioned the hair, and offered to give me biriyani in a different plate. Wow!

- None of the dishes stood out among the starters or the main course items.

Costs INR 350/- per pax.

Reco - AVOID - @ INR 350/- per plate post discount (which you can get if you are a group of 4 or more) it is certainly not worth it. Better to travel a bit more than get stuck here!

I should mention that I was quite surprised that the place was more than half full for a Monday afternoon, with the poor quality of food they dish out!

Food stalls @ Marina Beach

2009-12-07T10:54:00.000+05:30

I happened to go to Marina Beach (one of the longest beaches in the world). I went there at around 9pm and most of the vendors and food stalls on the beach were closing. Given below are a list of food stalls that I came across on the beach leading all the way to the waterfront. These stalls were exactly behind the Gandhi statue on beach road.
>>A few pepsi stalls vending bottles of pepsi, mirinda and 7 up. Surprisingly there were no vendors of coke or coca cola products.
>>Ice cream vendors – there were vendors of quality walls, amul ice creams and arun ice creams – I guess, the latter two are slightly cheaper compared to quality walls with a range of basic cup ice cream offerings.
>>Chat stalls – there were quite a few of these – selling channa (chick peas boiled in Indian spices), samosa (a fried snack with an outer pastry shell stuffed with potato and other vegetables cooked with spices), cutlet and the traditional chat fare of bhel puri (a snack, primarily composed of puffed rice, onions, coriander and tamarind), pani puri (fried – puffed hard wheat bread – the puri, stuffed with mashed potato with dried red chili and served with a watery sauce made primarily with tamarind, green chili and coriander). The snacks here start at INR 10/-.
>>There was this stall selling raw mango (with salt and red chili powder) and boiled peanuts served with finely chopped onions, green chili and coriander starting @ INR 5/-.
There was one tea shop serving tea, coffee, milk and some snacks such as chili bajji ( a spicy snack – batter fried large green chili – like a jalapeno) and bonda ( again a fried snack – primarily a batter fried mashed potato which is mildly spicy).
>>There were a couple of sandwich shops dishing out both grilled and non grilled sandwiches. There were egg (bread omlette) and vegetable sandwiches in offer – prices starting @ INR 10/- per sandwich.
>>I also came across a couple of vendors walking around the beach, hawking cotton candy in plastic covers @ INR 10/- a pack and muruku (a crunchy, fried Tamil Nadu snack made primarily with rice flour) @ INR 5/- for two pieces.
I had finished my dinner by then and did not eat any of the stuff.

What was noticeable was that all the stalls served only vegetarian food (spare the eggs in the sandwich stall).
The food available was that which can be served in a hurry to the common man and was quite cheap.
However, it is sad to note that most of the stalls used plastic cups, paper plates and plastic covers – all of which end up polluting the beautiful beach.
There were a number of other stalls along inner road that runs alongside the Marina and a number of other outlets scattered around the beach – I shall write about them on another day.

Hard Rock Café, St Marks Road

2009-12-07T09:05:00.000+05:30

I had been there for the event they had organized on a Thursday evening – the Rolling Stones Tribute to the Dire Straits. The show was to start @ 9pm. The area around the bar was set aside for this and the stage was above the bar. Quite a portion of the hall was cordoned off for what ever reason – at least 30-40 folks could have occupied this area – this certainly could have been better arranged. The sound system @ the portion (of HRC) that hosted the event was not bad.
There was a cover of INR 250/- per head which could be exchanged inside for food and beverages.
Going for
+ Electric Iced Tea – a lime and white spirits based cocktail with blue Curacao.
+ Caipirojka – a vodka, lime, mint leaves and sugar based cocktail – refreshing
+ Food – The spicy calamari – light batter fried and the cobb salad (with egg whites, cheese, corn, chicken, beacon and vegetables) were both good.
Not Going For
- The speakers at the food section were not switched on until the concert was well on its way.
- The arrangements around the stage for those viewing the show could have been arranged a lot better.
3 Caipirojkas, half a plate of salad, 1 electric iced tea, 1 30 ml portion of teachers highland cream and 1 calamari cost around INR 2400/-. The caipirojka cost INR 285/-, certainly worth it.
Reco – Try the caipirojka. During events, the arrangements ought to be better.

Hong Kong Hustle, Church Street

2009-11-28T10:22:00.000+05:30

We went to Church Street to try out any new restaurant that had come up. We found the name board of Saigon (sandwiched between Ruby Tuesday and Oye Amritsar) lit up and found a few customers seated inside. We had liked the food @ Saigon before they were closed for renovation. Having ventured to Saigon, we did not find the name reflecting in the lift – of course there was this Asian restaurant named Hong Kong Hustle and we ventured to that place.
Place is air conditioned and can seat around 50 pax. There are a number of seats overlooking Church Street. Place serves Hong Kong street food as they call it and serves liquor too.
Going for
+ New and different concept – It is a combination of a buffet and a set menu. There are 5 veg (veg dimsum, grilled mixed veggies, cauliflower pan fried, potato pan fried and a fried veg wanton) and 5 non veg starters (fried prawn triangles, chicken dimsum, fish skewers, mutton skewers and chicken wings). The starters are served at the table. This is followed by a main course of rice or noodles, the varieties are plain, chicken, vegetable or egg. This is served in a gravy for which you decide the ingredients. There is a choice of around a dozen vegetables including bamboo shoots, button mushrooms, sweet corn and baby corn. After choosing the vegetables, you can choose your meat from chicken, prawns or fish. There is a choice of three sauces to choose from ranging from bland to very spicy. The rice or noodles and the gravy made with ingredients of your choice is served at the table. This is followed by 5 desserts + ice cream being served at the table.
+ Very good Indianized Chinese food – the chicken wings, the gravy that came with the main course, the fish and mutton skewers and the fried potatoes and the grilled mixed vegetables stood out. So too did the dry fruit fried wanton served with the desserts.
+ Courteous and prompt service.
+ Price - @ INR 375/- per person it was worth it,even if not cheap. You can have as many helpings as required.
Not Going For
- The dimsums were very bland.
- The mango jelly was not the best of desserts.
Per person the cost is around INR 375/-. Carlsberg – 650 ml beer comes at INR 190/- and is the costliest beer on the menu.
Reco – Definitely deserves a visit.

Daily Brew, Forum Value Mall

2009-11-26T08:27:00.000+05:30

As is suggestive of the name, this is a coffee shop. Located at one corner of the atrium of the mall. The area is open and can seat around 20 pax - there are a couple of couches thrown in along with the chairs and tables. On display are a number of bakes including pastries, puffs, muffins and bread varieties. It is part of the 'Daily Bread' chain. The different varieties of bread baked by Daily Bread is also available at the counter.

Going for

+ Nice place to sit and sip coffee with a muffin - with the mall bustling all around.

+ Nice variety of bakes.

Not going for

- The coffee is not served hot! That too an espresso.

- Understaffed - typical of many coffee shops, only 2 staff man the counter and hence when more than a handful of items are to be served, there is a delay.

A pastry comes at around INR 50/- and a shot of espresso costs around INR 30/-.

Reco - If you have time and don't want hot beverages, it might be worth a visit. If you want hot coffee - avoid, unless its empty.

Namma Sagar, Food Court, Forum Value Mall

2009-11-25T09:34:00.000+05:30

Namma Sagar specializes in South Indian tiffin items, while also serving North Indian tiffin items and juices - all vegetarian. Namma Sagar has two outlets adjoining each other and is (in line with most other food courts in Bangalore that have veg-South Indian tiffin outlets) the most popular counter in the food court. It is a typical outlet at a food court - with moderate to poor service and slow to deliver the food.

Going for

+ Variety of dosais (thin crusted rice flour batter pancakes) and other tiffin items.

Not Going for

- Nothing exceptional about the food. At times the sambar (Souht Indian lentil and vegetable based light gravy) is not served hot.

- North Indain items, especially parathas (milled wheat Indian flat bread) need to be improved.

A Masala Dosai costs around INR 45/-. Onion dosai costs around INR 40/- and a plain dosai comes to around INR 35/-. Parathas come for INR 50+.

Reco - Not bad. Stick to the traditional South Indian fare.

La Boulangerie - The French Bakery, Kotturpuram

2009-11-24T13:22:00.000+05:30

Tucked beside a Citibank ATM it is a small blink and you miss sort of an outlet. It is air conditioned and sells a variety of baked items.
Going for
+ Good range of bakes – you get a variety of breads including the French loaf, puffs, pastries, mud cakes, banana cakes, muffins and quiches. Both vegetarian and non vegetarian varieties are available.
+ Fresh and tasty bakes – the white cut sandwich bread and the brown cut sandwich bread were good. So was the French loaf, the banana cake and the chicken puff.
+ Pleasant service – there are 2-3 persons at the counter, and they always serve with a smile.
No Going for
- The mushroom quiche – had a distinct raw egg taste and was disappointing.
- Breads are expensive – especially the white and brown sandwich bread portions that have only a handful of slices.
A portion of bread (10-12 slices) costs around INR 35/-. Puffs are around INR 40/-. Cakes and pastries start at around INR 40/-.
Reco – Nice place to pick up cakes, pastries and other bakes including French loaf. Avoid the mushroom quiche.

Rakabdar, opposite Forum Mall-dairy circle exit

2009-11-22T18:23:00.000+05:30

This place opposite Forum Mall boasts of Awadhi or Lucknowi cuisine.
The interiors are dimly lit and the place can seat around 70 pax. The interiors seem to be confusing in that there is an attempt at being ‘flashy and royal’ while at the same time attempting to be ‘modern and simple’. The place is air-conditioned and serves liquor.
The restaurant is on the first floor of the building, while the second floor houses a lounge bar and there is a roof top bar on top of that.
Going for
+ Soups. I tasted two of the 3 or 4 soups on the menu and they were awesome. One was the Shorba Yakhani Badami – a chicken soup with minced chicken balls and flavoured with almonds. The other, the Shorba Imtiazi, was spiced with lemon leaves, celery and coriander and had a few pieces of Indian salmon, a few rings of squid and a tiger prawn. The latter was a bit sweet and the presentation of the dish was good too. Both the soups were light, clear and flavourful. The latter was a recommended dish on the menu.
+ Service. Service is with a smile. You are recommended the right quantity to order – we were told a couple of soups and a biriyani would be sufficient for the two of us if we were not very hungry and the recommendation was spot on.
Not going for
- Very bad biriyani (aromatic rice dish made with ghee, basmati rice, mutton, garlic, onions and a host of Indian spices. The dum biriyani is slow cooked in a sealed vessel to preserve the aroma and the flavour of the spices). The Dum Gosht Lucknowi Biriyani, another recommended dish on the menu was not good. The rice was under cooked. The meat was not well done. The meat was hard and had an odd flavour. I doubt it was mutton at all. Maybe the meat used was lamb (sheep). There was hardly any flavour and absolutely no aroma.
The biriyani + the 2 soups cost around INR 700/-
Reco – Not recommended. The soups were great. Maybe some of the other items are good. Don’t go anywhere near the biriyani.

Saravana Bhavan, Mylapore Tank

2009-11-22T09:21:00.000+05:30

Another one on Saravana Bhavan. Saravana Bhavan is a popular chain, spread across the globe with a majority of their restaurants in and around Chennai. They are best known for their South Indian tiffin items, although they serve Chinese and North Indian fare too.

Saravana Bhavan serves only vegetarian cuisine and do not serve alcohol in any of their outlets.
There are many restaurants that go by this name, although the original ones have a red HSB logo and go by the name Hotel Saravana Bhavan.
This place in Mylapore has an air conditioned section that can seat around 100 pax and a non air conditioned section that can seat a similar number. The car park can accommodate around 20 cars.
Pricing varies (even within a city) based on the location of the restaurant and with the air conditioned portion charging almost twice that charged in the non air conditioned portion.
I always stick to the South Indian items which is their specialty.
Going for
+ Awesome food. The idli (steamed rice flour batter) is as soft as it gets. The dosai (thin pancake made with rice flour batter) was perfectly done – just a bit crunchy while still being soft. The aapam (pancake made with fermented rice flour batter) was light and served fresh with its shape (‘U’) intact and was served with fresh coconut milk (a bit sweetened). The aapam also comes with a veg gravy if required. The adai (a thick pancake made with a batter of mixed pulses) served with avial (a thick mixed vegetable gravy infused with coconut – popular in Tamil Nadu and Kerala). The rava dosai (a very thin pancake made with a batter based in broken wheat semolina) was also done to perfection – more crunchy than soft. The idli and dosais are served with multiple chutneys (sauces) – coconut, coconut and coriander and tomato and onion, chili powder (chili ground with various roasted pulses and salt and served with sesame oil) and shallots sambar (a light South Indian gravy made with shallots and pulses infused with tamarind and seasoned with mustard and curry leaves).
+ Cleanliness – is nothing less than what you get in a 5 star restaurant in India.
+ Consistency – there is absolutely no deterioration in quality and taste of the food served.
+ Presentation – the presentation of the food is as best can be for the South Indian tiffin items.
Not going for
- Service – very laid back. This is true of their other outlets and also of their air-conditioned section.
- Lack of parking – If the parking is full, it is not easy to find a spot near the Mylapore tank.
Non air conditioned - 2 plates of idli + 1 dosai + 1 rava dosai + 2 aapam + 1 adai avial + 2 cups of coffee came to around INR 230/-. (The pricing in this outlet is a bit on the higher side for the non-air conditioned section)
Reco – Must go. If you visiting Chennai or any other place where there is a ‘HSB’ do drop in to taste some idlis and dosais.

Kahwa, The Zuri Whitefield

2009-11-16T08:47:00.000+05:30

Kahwa is a 24 hour coffee shop serving multi cuisine food and boasting of a live pizza oven. I had infact wanted to go to the Pan Asian restaurant in the hotel but was told that the same was open only for dinner / supper. The place is quite large, spacious and well lit and can easily seat over 100 pax. It is located just beyond the lobby of the hotel.

The restaurant serves both ala carte and buffet and they have separate menus for lunch and dinner. I thought I would go in for the buffet so that I taste a wider variety of dishes. The multi cuisine buffet had North and South Indian dishes, Chinese and Continental dishes.

Typical of a business hotel in a business district, the restaurant was quite empty on the Saturday afternoon.

Going for

+ Fairly large spread with 5 non veg dishes, 5 veg side dishes a few rice and noodle varieties and a few salads and desserts. Indian bread is served fresh on the table and so are a few starters.

+ Pleasantly welcomed and seated.

+ The veg Hakka noodles, the fried brinjal in soya sauce and the fresh veg and chicken dimsums served as starters. The cream of pumpkin soup was also very tasty.

+ Fresh hot tandoori (char grilled) Indian bread (this is standard in India in any multi cuisine buffet)

+ Karamani Thoran - A Kerala dry fry made with spices, long beans and grated coconut with coconut oil.

+ Indian desserts. The gulab jamun (fried flour balls in syrup) was fresh, tasty, soft and not too sweet and so were the gajar ka halwa (sweet made with grated carrots) and the rosogolla (a Bengali sweet made with paneer or Indian cottage cheese and syrup).

No going for

- The North Indian mutton gravy dish was as bland as could have been, although the mutton was juicy and well cooked.

- The salad section was nothing special and although there were half a dozen vegetarian and non vegetarian salads on offer, it was not appealing.

- The vegetables with mixed mushrooms was boiled vegetables and the mushrooms were nothing but soggy water filled mushrooms. Not that the mushroom flavour had permeated or complimented the vegetables either.

- Only one vegetarian and one non vegetarian starter is served on the table - the vegetarian one was a kind of fried cheese and was not bad. However, the chicken tikka was disappointing in that one expects it to be boneless.

- The vendakai kara kozhumbu - meant to be a Tamil Nadu dish - a spicy light gravy with okra - was bland and tasteless.

- There were no fruits either as part of the desserts or as part of the salad counter.

- The bread varieties - except for the shape tasted just the same.

- The western desserts - nothing worth a mention.

- There was iced tea on display but we were told that it was not part of the buffet.

- Service - was very lax with respect to removing the plates from the table, attending to the table or in handling the billing.

- Not value for money.

Cost - @ INR 550/- per person and a pint of Bud costing INR 200/- certainly very expensive.

Reco - Avoid the buffet. The Chinese dishes showed promise, probably the Pan Asian restaurant is good?

Almustafa, Gelbe, Sydney

2009-11-14T09:29:00.000+05:30

Located off Paramatta Road in Gelbe, the place seemed quite popular. Despite incessant rains on that Friday evening, the place was quite packed. We were quite lucky to get a table. Almustafa serves Lebanese cuisine and can seat around 50 pax, maybe a bit more. Liquor is not served, however, you can bring your own drinks.
Going For
+ Specialty cuisine - Specialty Lebanese restaurants are hard to come by.
+ Tasty food - The Samkeh Harra was recommended to us. The barramundi (fresh water fish) fillet was very tasty and the fish was perfectly done and was absolutely fresh. The portion was filling and the flavors of sesame (on account of the tahini sauce), chili and garlic complimented the fresh fish fillet. The Cousa - zucchini stuffed with spices, rice and minced lamb was also good.
+ Belly Dancers - They have belly dancers in the evenings on Fridays and Saturdays and the entertainment was worth it while we waited for the food to arrive.
+ Service - Though a bit slow, food was always served with a smile and there was always a waiter available to attend to your table.
+ Price - not too costly for a specialty restaurant.
+ Bring your own liquor policy.
Not going for
- Cold Pide' - the pide bread served was not warm, I prefer the fresh kind.
- Minimal desserts - There are only a few items in the desserts section of the menu.
- Missing items - Some items mentioned in the menu were not available (like the baby octopus dish - grilled pickled octopus)
- Interiors - while attempt has been made to make the place look Lebanese, the place is too congested. It is made of one very narrow hall with one row of tables and another perpendicular portion that has a few tables - an 'L' shaped seating area.
- Service time - Takes quite some time to serve the food - probably because it is freshly cooked!
- No liquor served.
The aforementioned two items, a scoop of ice cream and a cold drink came to around AUD 100/-.

Reco - If you like West Asian cuisine, head here. Friday and Saturday would be better with the belly dancers.

Oporto, Sydney City

2009-11-14T08:14:00.001+05:30

Oporto is Australia's answer to KFC and Macs.

Items are all chicken based and they boast of their fresh / non frozen grilled chicken.

There are stand alone eateries and restaurants attached to food courts.

the menu includes breakfast items (beacon and egg variety), salads, wraps and burgers. Of course, there are the standard bottled drinks, water and sodas on offer. On both the occasions I had been there I had their burgers.

Going For

+ Healthy grilled chicken based menu.

+ Tasty burgers - the Bondi Burger - with grilled chicken fillet, cheese and lettuce and served with their signature chili sauce was fresh, different and tasty. The small Bondi burger was a lighter version of the bigger one.

+ Different option - to a KFC or a Macs.

Going Against

- A burger is a burger when it has a beef patty inside.

- Menu is limited to chicken based dishes.

The Bondi burger was a bit more than AUD 10/-. The mini burger was around AUD 5/-.

Reco - Must visit if you are a tourist on a budget or if you want something different.

Chen Fu Ji, Food Court, HK Airport

2009-11-14T07:45:00.000+05:30

This eatery is part of the food court at the transit terminal in HK airport. Seating as in any food court is in the common area. You are given a token number when you place the order and pay which you display @ your table. The food, when ready, is served @ the table.

This restaurant is said to be part of a popular Singapore based chain of restaurants.

Going For

+ Freshly made noodles

+ Tasty noodles and noodle soups - the seafood in the laksa was quite fresh and the quantity was good too.

Going Against

- Limited menu like most restaurants in food courts

- Typical of express quick Chinese food, most meat / vegetables are pre-boiled / pre-cooked and mixed and matched depending on the order.

- The iced tea was very ordinary - but iced teas are never 'special'.

- Certainly not value for money.

1 seafood laksa (coconut infused spicy clear noodle soup) + 1 Chinese pepper chicken bun + 1 iced tea came to around HKD 130/-.

Reco - Limited choice in this terminal, hence either you go here for South East Asian fare or go to one of the lounges!

ID idli&dosa, Sathyam Theatre

2009-11-13T18:39:00.000+05:30

Vegetarian restaurant serving predominantly South Indian tiffin items. It is located inside the theatre premises. Is open between 11 am and 11 pm on all days.

Going for

+ Good food - the idli (steamed rice flour), aapam (pancake made with fermented rice flour), the aapam was served with fresh coconut milk, pesarattu (thin pancake made with flour of pulses that is spiced with fenugreek, green chili and other Indian spices) - the pesarattu was served with upma (broken wheat steamed with various spices - literally translated means salt and flour) and adai (another variety of thin pancake made with pulses flour) were all good.

+ Number of chutneys (sauces) were served on the table - coconut, tomato and onion, coriander and green chili were the varieties served.

+ Presentation of the food is quite good, including the serving plates.

+ Conveniently located.

+ Value for money.

Going against

- Some food items were not good - for example the avial (a South Indian dish made with a number of vegetables stewed with a generous helping of coconut cream) was too sour and was not served hot.

- Service - quite slow - too many pax catered to by each waiter.

- Ambiance - The place is quite cramped. A place that can ideally seat around 40 pax seats around 70 pax.

- Not open for breakfast.

2 pcs of idli + 1 appam + 1 pesarattu + 1 adai came to around INR 150/-.

Reco - must visit if you go to the theatre after 11 am

Eating @ HongKong Airport

2009-11-13T18:27:00.000+05:30

There are two airports in HK.
One is the main airport where one checks in and disembarks if one is going into HK. The other is the transit airport where one gets off the plane and waits if one is transiting.

The main airport is huge and has a number of eateries. If you are going via HK and have more than a few hours at hand, just go to the main airport, finish immigration and just wait out there. You might get lost in the huge airport but would certainly not get bored and you would have more than enough options to choose from when it comes to pleasing your taste buds. Note that visa is mostly on arrival in HK and you may not need a prior visa to clear immigration and wait out in this airport.

The transit airport is relatively small. Has but one food court with a handful of eateries and is not the best place to wait - especially when you are transiting.

Chili's, HAL Airport Road

2009-11-13T17:49:00.000+05:30

More of a lounge bar serving Tex Mex cuisine. Located near Total mall in a very congested portion of HAL Airport road.

Going for

+ Ambience - has a couple of large LCDs if you land there on match days. Music being played is not too loud and retro and current pop + rock. Not too brightly lit and can seat around 100 pax, maybe a bit more.
+ Presidente’ Margarita - it is their signature drink
+ Mushroom Fajitas - tastes better when ordered with extra mushrooms
+ Other Margaritas - El Nino Margarita and the Classic Margarita (Have purposely left out the composition of the drinks. Just try them out, all margaritas are tequila based as they should be.)
+ Buy one get one free on drinks till 8pm on all days
+ Other food items such as chips with spinach mushroom dip, veg quesadilla and veg pasta
+ Valet Parking
Going against

- Service - pretty slow, on match days concentrate on the TV rather than on guests, take orders wrongly and bill wrongly too (all in the same day!)
- Service Charges @ 12% on your bill!
- The crowd or rather the lack of it.

2 Presidente', 2 Kingfisher Pint, 1 classic martini, 1 el nino margarita, 1 classic margarita, 1 30ml Bacardi, 2 30ml shots of silver tequila (all the above were during happy hours = +1), 2 Budweiser pints + 2 pints of draught beer came close to INR7000/-

Reco - go with a large group and enjoy the drinks during happy hours. Don’t mind the poor service.

Chili's, HAL Airport Road, Bangalore

2009-09-06T15:53:00.000+05:30

This is a franchise of a US based chain that serves TexMex cuisine. The place seats around 200 pax, is air-conditioned and has Indianised Tex Mex food also in the menu.

Happy hours are upto 8 pm and it is buy 1 get 1 free during happy hours. The Chicken Nachos were quite tasty - Nachos topped with chicken and melted cheddar. The fried mushrooms were whole button mushrooms, batter fried - not bad but not worth it @ INR 195/-. The presidente' margarita and the classic margarita were good cocktails @ INR 600/- a piece, worth it during happy hours where you can get 2 for the price of 1.

The plate of nachos that we ordered came with a salsa dip. The nachos were pretty bland and lacked salt. Hence we requested for some pickled jalapenos. The waiter initially told us that jalapenos are not spicy (for what ever reason) and then told us that he would get us a 'rammigan' of jalapenos. I got the jalapenos in a small cup and it cost us INR 20/-. I am still to figure as to which language 'rammigan' is from. The cheesecake was a genuine cheesecake and was quite tasty. It was unlike most of the cheesecakes you get in India which are nothing more than biscuit topped with some mousse.

But for the above, the service was quite good. The lighting was pretty bright and the music was more of pop. There are a couple of large LCD TVs beaming sports channels.

The aforementioned items + 3x30 ml servings of Gordon's Dry Gin (+3 during happy hours) + a tonic water cost us INR 3500/- including a 12% service charge of INR 360/-.

Reco - worth it during happy hours - a competitor to TGIF / HRC.

Ice&Spice, St. Mark's Road, Bangalore

2009-09-06T15:25:00.000+05:30

This old time eatery on St Mark's Road, is situated near the old time Scottish Pub. The place has an air-conditioned area that can seat around 10 pax and a place outside overlooking the road that can seat around 15 pax.

Since the place was famous for its lamburgers, we had one of them. It was quite good. The meat was done well and there was no cheese to spoil the taste of the meat. The bun was fresh and soft - all in all a good burger. The burger is served with chips - probably 5 - 6 pieces of potato chips. They might as well have not served the chips. The potato wedges were served hot, but we found hardly half a dozen pieces. The almond / chocolate biscuit was a bit like a granola bar, but was not sweet, had a good amount of almonds and half of it was dipped in milk chocolate - not bad. The espresso - double shot - was around 90 ml of coffee - again not the best espresso I've had.

A couple of burgers, the other items mentioned above and a diet coke cost us INR 285/-. Not steep, but certainly not cheap. There are a whole lot of other cafe' food such as subs, sandwiches, quiches, cakes and pastries on the menu apart from a variety of coffees and granitas. Finding a place to park would be a problem on any evening or on any weekday during lunch time. Service is a bit laid back, but something that you can put up with.

Reco - Do try the lamb burgers.

Indigo Cafe, Andheri-West, Mumbai

2009-09-06T14:55:00.000+05:30

This place was highly recommended by my host in Mumbai. We did not find any seating when we reached the place @ 8 pm and had to wait till around 9 pm to be seated.

We caught the chef who was outside and requested him to recommend some main courses. He recommended a special lamb and a special fish dish.

The lamb dish was lamb braised with red wine and served with garlic bread - some of the best lamb I have had in the recent past. The fish was a pan fried salt water locally available white meat fish served with mashed potato. The fish was juicy and fresh but paled in comparison with the braised lamb.

The beef sandwich was quite large and we immediately requested them to cut it and pack half as a take away. The fried beef in the sandwich was done to perfection, browned outside and pink inside - nice and juicy with other vegetables, mayonnaise and quite filling.

The roast pumpkin soup was very flavourful and thick and was a good starter.

The best part was the cocktail that we had called brandy toddy - brandy mixed with a couple of table spoons of cloves and cinnamon sticks, some orange peel and granny smith apple to garnish and mixed with honey and hot water and served in a brandy glass. Simply superb and cleared our blocked nostrils and our congested throats (on account of a lot of beer over the last couple of days) in a jiffy.

However, the second round of the same drink that we ordered had far less spices than the first round - a shame.

The three main courses mentioned above, 7 brandy toddies, a 'Due of Melon' - vodka with chunks of various melons (nice sweet drink without the taste of alcohol), a veg pasta, a dry martini and an espresso cost us INR 5300/- quite steep.

The place is air-conditioned and seats around 100 pax. The service is quite good - but they did not give us the sandwich takeaway when we left - a shame.

Reco - go there for the brandy toddy and for some good continental food. Mind the prices.

Misha's Restaurant, Varca, Goa

2009-09-06T14:43:00.000+05:30

This is a small shack that can seat around 50 pax. There is no air conditioning, liquor is available like it is in any eatery in Goa. The place is located around 50 meters from the Club Mahindra Resort.

We ordered some side eats initially to go with the fresh toddy that we managed to get close to the resort. The Crab Masala was simply awesome - crabs cooked with the shell on and in a onion and garlic based gravy. The Kalamari fry was not good - a bit too rubbery - probably because it was a bit deep fried - and the spices used were also not too fragrant - only turmeric and chili.

The prawn fry was simply finger licking good - around 10 pieces of fresh king prawns in a gravy of pepper, onions, garlic and garam masala and shallow fried.

The Crab Masala had 3 medium sized (4 inches across) crabs. The calamari fry probably was made with two 5 inch long squids.

This package cost us INR 600/- a bit steep.

Reco - Good for starters (especially if you are staying at Club Mahindra where the food sucks!)

Rotikaa, Whitefield, Bangalore

2009-08-26T19:05:00.000+05:30

This one of three restaurants in the Sathya Sai Hospital, Vydehi Hospital belt. The place is air-conditioned and can seat around 100 pax. Some of the seating is quite uncomfortable in that there short plastic cubes for seats with short tables to match. The other two are Beijing Bites and the canteen of Vydehi Hospital.

The Wednesday afternoon when we went, there was a lunch buffet for INR 150/-. However, we decided to order ala' carte. While the restaurant started off as a North Indian non-vegetarian restaurant, they have now started serving Chinese fare after Beijing Bites set shop above Rotikaa.

The two Chinese dishes we ordered - Crispy fried vegetables and hot and sour veg soup were quite bad. The veggies were not crispy fried and comprised mainly of cabbage. The soup was not very spicy - more like hot and thick tamarind water - and again had a few strands of thinly chopped cabbage and carrots.

The rotis and naan (Indian flat bread made with unrefined and refined wheat flour, respectively) were good, but the rotis were pretty small (approx - 6 inch diameter). The mushroom masala, the dal makani (black gram slow cooked with spices and butter) and the cauliflower masala were not bad and went well with the bread that we had ordered.

Special mention about the quality of service - do not expect much. It is slow and tardy.

In all, the bill for the four of us came to around INR 540/- (we had 2 soups, 3 naan and 5 rotis).

Reco - Not bad - stick to the North Indian fare

Annamalaiyar Chettinadu Restaurant, NH-4, Chennai

2009-08-23T16:35:00.000+05:30

Traveling from Bangalore to Chennai, the three of us wanted to eat biryani @ Ambur in Star Biryani. But the biriyani was sold out by the time we reached (7.40pm). We then decided to try out this place.

This place is located on NH-4, at the junction where the road splits towards Tirupati. This restaurant is located behind the 'Krishna Sweets' part of Motel Highway.

Considering the number of cars and buses parked outside we expected this place to serve a good fare.

They had only a few items. There was not biriyani and the only rice item they had was a 'Veg or a Chicken Fried Rice'. Unlike was was suggested by its name this place serves both Chettinad and Indian Chinese cuisine.

The chicken masala was a pepper based gravy with small pieces of chicken and was quite good. But when we ordered the item a second time, we got a toned down version (diluted with water). The parota (pan fried Indian flat bread made from processed wheat) was not fresh and was one that was ready - but reheated.

The paya (mutton hoppers) was just not tasty - had a smoky taste. The dosa (thin rice pancake) was fresh but the idiyappam (a rice flour based noodlesque preparation) or string hoppers was again not fresh.

The place is air conditioned and seats around 70 pax. Nothing to mention about the quality of service. The aforementioned items (2 portions of parota and a bottle of water) cost us INR 340/-. Money 'badly' spent.

Reco - Avoid - Just drive away from here!

Pizza Hut, Bangalore

2009-08-23T14:35:00.000+05:30

I have not mentioned any location as it was a delivery order that I had requested for. Even as the order was placed I was told the pizzas would be delivered in 50 minutes. It was quite early in the evening and I did not mind the waiting. However, 50 minutes to deliver a pizza is way above what is expected.

I was told the Pizza Hut in India had stopped the preparation of pizzas with classic Italian base - a shame. You have the choice of either cheese filled base or the regular pan base or the cheesy bites base.

I ordered a couple medium sized ones with their regular pan base. However, I noticed that the base was 'fried'. Either they had lined the baking dish with too much oil or with cheese. The base was pretty awful to say the least and when you consider they take 50 minutes to deliver the pizza - I can only say - stay away from ordering pizzas @ Pizza Hut. I am not even getting into what Pizza I ordered or how much it cost.

Reco - STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!

Biriyani County, Langford Road, Bangalore

2009-08-16T12:47:00.000+05:30

The place has 4-5 tables and a few chairs and can seat around 20 pax. It is non air-conditioned and nothing in it to mention about the interiors. Although the board says it is a family restaurant it is more of a takeaway and hence the few chairs and tables - basically to seat the people who are waiting to pick up their orders.

Again, despite being called Biriyani (flavoured and spicy aromatic rice generally cooked with mutton or chicken and made with Basmati - long grained - rice. It is cooked in different ways across the length and breadth of India) County, the place serves both North Indian and Chinese cuisine. There are only chicken and egg biriyani on the menu. The place serves some vegetarian and some egg and chicken based dishes. All other types of meat are out of the menu.

The biriyani costs INR 70/- for a plate and has at least one leg, a portion of breast and a portion of chicken wing - quite a bit. The rice was not aromatic to say the least. It was more of a yellowish rice in which the chicken was also cooked. It was unlike any biriyani I had ever had. Apart from the healthy serving of chicken, the only good thing about this biriyani was that it was not oily.

I had ordered a chicken pepper fry but ended up being given a chili chicken - costing INR 80/-. Nothing special about this dish too. The service was quite cordial.

Reco - Avoidable - except when you need to pick up some food in a hurry.

Bayang, Clarke Quay, Singapore

2009-08-16T11:45:00.000+05:30

It was yet another balmy afternoon in Singapore and we decided to try out a slightly different Asian cuisine. We ventured to Bayang, an Indonesian restaurant. The place can seat less than 100 pax, is air-conditioned, has dim lighting and is situated in block 'A' of the Quay.

On that Saturday afternoon we were the only guests at the restaurant. We landed in the restaurant at around 12.45 pm and were immediately told to place the orders by 2pm and that the place would close around 3 pm. Not the most pleasant way to be welcomed, I must say!

The appetizers platter was mixed meat skewers and some fried meat. Some prawns, chicken and beef - since some of the folks who came with me did not eat beef, we had extra servings of chicken. Was not too bad - was fried meat with dabbed in some sweetened sauce.

The Ikan Bakar Bali - a whole fish char fried was quite good - fresh and juicy fish - can not recall which fish it was. The Tum Ayam - steamed chicken in banana leaf - was quite different, quite bland and not very spicy. The Nasi goreng - Indonesian fried rice served with chicken skewers was again nothing extra ordinary although it was good.

The service was quite poor and we literally had to shout out to catch the attention of the waiters. This despite our being the only guests. And we were constantly reminded to place the last orders before the cut off time. Some fried prawn crackers that were served on the house were pretty bad in that they were tasting quite bitter.

The aforementioned items + a soup (Ayam Bambu Matah - lemongrass based chicken soup - quite tasty) + 2 Singapore Slings (cocktail) + a couple of pints of beer cost us in excess of SGD130/-. Quite expensive - in line with other restaurants in the Clarke Quay area - but the appetite of the four of us was not quite satiated!

Reco - not a good experience - can enter if other restaurants around are full - beware of the service, again!

Fanoos, Hosur Road, Bangalore

2009-08-09T10:48:00.000+05:30

Fanoos is primarily a takeaway joint serving different types of kebabs (charcoal grilled meat), katti rolls (pan fried bread stuffed with meat, rather the kebabs/ vegetable stuffing) and shawrma (shaved grilled meat and pickled vegetables stuffed in pita bread.) While the bread used for normal katti rolls is covered in egg batter, the ones served here are plain paratha based. Likewise the pita bread (pan fried flat bread made with fermented wheat and should be eaten fresh) the ones available here are the off the shelf - not the best of pita.

Food tastes good and is very reasonable. Food for two would cost around INR 120/- max. the specialty dish is the beef sheek kebab (kebab made with minced beef and flavoured primarily with green chili). One is not to expect cleanliness in this place. It is more like a street food stall and is quite popular since it is located adjacent to a couple of mosques at a busy intersection. The joint is quite packed in the evenings, especially on Fridays.

Reco - Worth a shot - beware of the stomach bug!

Mirch Restaurant, Whitefield, Bangalore

2009-08-09T10:17:00.000+05:30

Located close to ITPL, it may be quite a popular joint - especially during lunch - as Whitefield is bereft of a choice of restaurants to go to. It is a typical lower end multi cuisine restaurant serving Chinese and North Indian cuisine.

It is primarily a garden restaurant that can seat around 100 pax in a covered section and another 100 odd pax in an open section. There is not much of a garden - just a drying up lawn and the seating is not on this either. The menus are food stained and the seating comprised primarily of plastic chairs around a 'quickly' assembled wooden table.

Service was not bad, but the waiters clothes too matched the menu in that they were pretty stained.

My companion did the mistake of requesting the waiter to make the mushroom pepper fry extra spicy - one could hardly taste the mushroom. It was pepper, more pepper and some chili. The hot and sour veg and chicken soups too were more 'hot' than sour and were not particularly flavourful.

The stuffed kulcha (milled wheat pan fried bread stuffed with vegetables - we had gobi kulcha or one stuffed with cauliflower) was dipping with oil that we had to dab some out using paper napkins. The mushroom masala was a green chili based mushroom semi gravy dish. We necessarily needed to down the food with sweetened fresh lime juice, lest we have burning back sides the next day. In fact one of my companions also needed to have a lassi (sweetened yogurt shake) in addition to the fresh lime.

The aforementioned dishes (3 portions of fresh lime and kulcha, 1 veg and 1 chicken soup)+ a dal (lentils) cost us INR 635/ -. Quite expensive for this place.

Reco - Avoidable

Go Thai, Great World City Mall, Singapore

2009-08-07T13:26:00.000+05:30

This was part of a chain of restaurants in Singapore that serves Thai cuisine as the name suggests.

Located at the top floor of the mall, the place was quite popular, one of the reasons being it is placed very close to the entrance of the multiplex in the mall.

The riverfront area does not have any large shopping arcade or mall other than the GWCM. We had been to Go Thai for dinner, We had a noodle soup made of sliced beef and vegetables. This dish was quite nice. The beef was well cooked and thinly sliced and the portions were quite large. The tom yum noodle soup although tasty was certainly not authentic.

This place in the mall could accommodate around 40 pax. The service was great, food was good but not authentic Thai.

The aforementioned items alone cost SGD 21/-, probably a tad expensive.

There are a host of other specialty restaurants in the mall including Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese and Italian apart from the standard Singapore food - court.

Reco - Maybe worth a visit before or after the movie!

KuraNoNaka Japanese Restaurant, Clarke Quay, Singapore

2009-08-05T11:54:00.000+05:30

After a busy day (shopping with women) Clarke Quay is a nice place to unwind in the evening. We sat in the outdoor section which could seat around 50+ pax and overlooking the quay.

A platter of mixed sashimi (raw meat - usually sea food served with wasabi and soya sauce) and mixed sushi (vinegar rice and raw meat and at times vegetables, sometimes wrapped in seaweed and served with wasabi and soya sauce) disappeared in no time along with the warm Sake'. Each of the platter had 2 pieces of tuna, eel, shrimp, salmon, and some extra salmon as they had ran out of yellow tail and some caviar. The sushi included a few pieces of vegetarian varieties too.

The evening was quite pleasant and the batter fried soft shelled crabs that followed disappeared too - only that it was a tad oily (maybe the yin and yang balanced was achieved due to the raw and fried food that we had).

3 pint equivalent of the sake' + the above dishes cost around SGD 105/-. A tad expensive, but worth it. The service was very good.

Reco - Good place for Japanese food!

TGIF, HAL Airport Road, Bangalore

2009-08-03T14:52:00.000+05:30

Thank God it is any day before 8pm. Yes it is happy hours time till 8pm and you get one drink on the house for every one that you order. And this is the best time to visit the place.

Seating in the air-conditioned area can seat around 150 + pax and outside it can seat around 50 more. The interiors are in line with their decor anywhere else in the world. There are a few large plasma screens beaming either sports channels or MTV. The music is a bit loud and plays retro pop and rock. Since the music's loud, the people speak louder to be heard - all in all - a pretty noisy place.

The snacks are again from their international menu and are generally pretty rich and not for one who's watching the waist line. There are only a few vegetarian items on the menu. Portions are quite large but for the starters (again nothing to complain about). The pita bread we ordered came with a humus dip and a salsa dip - both went well with the bread. The mushroom pizza too was quite good - thin crust and had quite a bit of mushroom topping. I had to stick to a veg menu as my companion was a vegetarian.

These items + a couple of bottles of beer + 2 large RC whiskey + a couple of pints + 1 large Bacardi cost us around INR 2200/- - certainly worth it. The service is quite good - can say it's a bit better than HRC Bangalore.

Reco - Good place for a drink - whether it is Friday or not!

Arasappar, Nandanam, Mount Road, Chennai

2009-08-02T18:10:00.000+05:30

This is a restaurant, which can seat around 75 pax is air-conditioned and serves Chettinad cuisine.

Chettinad cuisine is primarily non-vegetarian (although there are a number of vegetarian items that are normally do not find the menus of these Chettinad restaurants) and consists of spicy (green chili, red chili or peper based) food which could either be dry or a gravy.

A plate of Aapam (a pancake made with fermented rice flour and without oil), parotta (pan fried milled wheat bread), a paya (lamb shanks in a mildly spicy gravy) and chicken Chettinadu (an onion, tomato, garlic and red chili based gravy) cost around INR 300/-.

The food was excellent and the quantity was more than adequate, especially considering the price. The only problem with the place was the dim lighting which was way too dim.

Reco - do visit for good, value for money, Chettinad food

Adyar Ananda Bhavan, NH-7, Krishnagiri

2009-08-02T17:48:00.000+05:30

This is a vegetarian restaurant attached to a BP petrol bunk. This part of the Chennai based chain that goes by the same name and serves South Indian veg tiffin items and meals (for lunch) apart from the sweets and savouries the group is famous for.

The service is quite poor and the place has both a self service area that seats around 50 pax and a area where you are served which is indoors and seats around the same number of pax. There is no air-conditioning. Ample parking is available.

The joint is quite popular as there is no other restaurant that belongs to a bigger chain or a 'popular' chain.

While the food is quite good, the place is infested with flies, which one has to put up with. Idly(steamed rice flour dumplings) and dosai (rice four batter pancake) are available through the day and for lunch one can buy some South Indian meals which is quite good.

The cost of a couple of plates of idly and masala dosai (dosai served with a potato and onion based filling) would cost around INR 150/-.

Reco - Not the best of restaurants, but probably one of the better ones on this highway.

Cafe Coffee Day, NH - 7, Krishnagiri

2009-08-02T17:24:00.000+05:30

Wow, finally a cafe on this highway. For a person who drives often on this road, especially at nights, there was no cafe' wherein one could have some steaming espresso for that caffeine kick.

The outlet is part of a petrol bunk complex and has recently opened.

Apart from the usual stuff such as samosa, pastries, sandwiches and so on, one can also catch some idli (steamed rice dumplings) or dosai (rice flour pancakes) or some paratha (milled wheat pan fried bread - generally stuffed with some vegetable(s)).

The place is air conditioned and can seat around 60 pax. There are a few sofas to stretch yourself and although the place professes to be a 'self service' one, the bearers willingly serve you at your table.

An espresso, a hot chocolate and a plate of veg samosas (savory filled, covered in a layer of milled wheat flour (maida), shaped triangularly and fried) cost around INR 160/-.

Reco - A good pit stop on NH-7

Barista Cafe, Garuda Mall, Bangalore

2009-08-02T13:35:00.000+05:30

Nothing different about this Barista from any of their other mid sized outlets. It can seat around 100 pax with a few couches and a lot more chairs placed around tables.

The air conditioning is not good - probably a problem with the mall.

The service is quite bad considering the place is bustling as it is one of the better places to catch a cuppa in that area. (Certainly better than what is available in Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle or Bangalore Central.)

They have some items for those who want to look after their waist - microwaved fries without oil - was not bad at all @ around INR 80/-.

A couple of coffees + a doughnut + the fries came to around INR 300/- , probably a tad expensive.

Reco - best coffee in that area, you have to put up with the Air conditioning and the poor service.

Chill, Radha Hometel, Whitefield

2009-08-02T13:21:00.000+05:30

One of the few hotels in Whitefield wherein one can catch a drink after work. Being on a prime road (Opp SAP Labs) in Whitefield, it was expected to be one of the better ones, especially considering it is part of the Hometel group.

However, I was quite disappointed.

The music being played was some retro English songs - probably some CD bought off the rack. There were only 2 bearers for a place that seats close to 100 on a Friday evening. (This was probably because most of the other guests already knew how bad this place was.)

You have some potato wafers served at the table and that is about the only snacks they have (at least till 7pm when the kitchen opens). We left after our first drink.

With a bottle of Kingfisher beer costing INR 225/- and a large RC whiskey costing INR 400/-, I am sure the other hotels in the area would be a better bet for a drink or two.

Reco - Avoid

Samarkand, Infantry Road, Bangalore

2009-08-02T13:04:00.000+05:30

For starters, this restaurant seems to be quite popular in that getting a seat on a Wednesday night was not as easy as I thought it would be.

The seating is quite bad - quite low and small - they have tried to create a 'Dhaba' style seating. I am taller than the Indian average @ 6ft, but it was inconvenient even for my companion who measures 5'4". The lighting too is quite dark and could have been a bit brighter.

The Kameeri ki roti is one made with marinated dough and was quite fluffy and different. The Lagan Ka Murgh was very good and so was the mutton biryani. The biryani was a bit low on salt but the flavours and the succulence of the meat was simply superb.

Service is good but could have been better considering there is a 10% service charge in the bill.

Liquor is pretty costly with a bottle of beer coming to around INR 200/- and a small of RC whiskey costing INR 175/-.

The total bill for the aforementioned food + 1 large whiskey + a bottle of water came to around INR 1450/-

Reco - mind the seating - but a must visit for the biryani.

Kefi, Taj Mount Road, Chennai

2009-06-27T11:39:00.000+05:30

Taj Mount Road is the new hotel from the Taj group and is located on Club House Road, off Mount Road, opposite Spencer's super market.

Kefi serves Mediterranean cuisine and along with Cedars, is probably one of the two restaurants serving Mediterranean cuisine in Chennai.

It is located @ the terrace of the hotel. Few tables are located in air - conditioned comfort (considering Chennai is hot and humid, even @ night) and a few tables on the roof, overlooking the chaotic traffic on Mount Road. Both these areas appeal to the eye and to the senses.

You are served pita bread on the house and this is served with a creamy sauce. Of course, there is olive oil on the table which could be used to dip the bread in. And additional servings of this can also be requested for.

The Hummus Beiruti was tasty and went well with the warm pita. The turlu - a eggplant based preparation in olive oil and served on a bed or rice was tasty but the portions were not too appealing. The Lamb Barkook - lamb slow cooked in prune sauce was exquisite - simply the best mutton available in Chennai.

Liquor is available - but is extremely expensive, partly on account of higher taxes star hotels have to shell out. A pint of beer cost INR 350/- and a 30ml of cheap Indian rum cost INR 175/-. The food bill came to around INR 1600/- and this also included a Turkish coffee (strong and aromatic).

The service was good. Please note that the restaurant rules does not allow entry to children.

Reco - certainly a must visit for Mediterranean cuisine.

Fusion Express, The Mark Boulevard, Whitefield

2009-06-27T11:13:00.000+05:30

Fusion Express is the restaurant in The Mark Boulevard, a business class hotel in Whitefield. For lunch there is a buffet spread.

The buffet spread consists of a nice salad bar with different vegetarian and non vegetarian salads, a chat counter where one can order for fresh chat of their choice (chat is North Indian cuisine which includes a number of snacks and fast foods wherein multiple Indian spices and sauces are mixed with processed Indian food to create a tasty concoction).

There is a pasta counter where one can choose the base sauce, the type of pasta and the veggies / meat that needs to go into it.

Of course, there is the usual biriyani, plain rice, gravies - both veg and non-veg, different types rotis (Indian breads), papads, fresh juices, curd rice and dessert. The dessert includes two Indian desserts, two choices of ice-cream, some baked items and fresh fruit salad.

The spread was sumptuous and although there is no dish that stands out, was quite tasty. The service too was quite good. The fresh juices were not good, though.

The restaurant is air conditioned and seats around 50 pax. There is a partition that leads to another seating area and can seat another 50 pax. Cost of the buffet @ INR 350 per plate may be a tad expensive.

Reco - In a place like Whitefield, where there are not too many restaurants to choose from, Fusion Express is certainly worth a visit.

Palomar Cafe, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok

2009-06-27T10:55:00.000+05:30

This is a small cafe' with the kitchen in the center and the service area placed all around the kitchen. Seats around 20 persons at a time. An ideal place for a quick bite - if your flight timings are such that you need to catch a bite @ the airport.

Serves various types of sandwiches and bakes, quick fix Thai food (red curries with select meat and served with rice), coffee and packaged drinks. The Thai red curry with rice was as good as I have had on the streets of Thailand. The Parma Ham Baguette was quite filling and the espresso was fresh and aromatic.

As is to be expected in a restaurant in an airport, the prices are on the higher side and the aforementioned items would cost around THB 700/-.

Reco - nice place for a quick bit @ Suvarnabhumi airport.

Empire Suites, Castle Street, Off Richmond Road, Bangalore

2009-06-27T10:27:00.001+05:30

This is part of the Empire chain of hotels and restaurants that dot Bangalore. The cuisine is multi cuisine with a leaning towards Mopilla cuisine (cuisine of Muslims from Kerala). The service, despite only 4-5 of the 30 odd tables being occupied was very slow - but this is to be expected in any of the Empire restaurants.

The mutton in the Biriyani (an aromatic rice preparation made with a lot of spices and generally with mutton or chicken) was quite hard - as though it had not thawed enough and the biriyani itself was not too aromatic. The Wheat Porotta (a pan fried Indian bread, normally made with refined wheat flour) was good and this chain is one of the few places which serves them.

The butter chicken was chicken in a sweet and spicy thick red gravy. It was nothing special. However, the presentation was quite horrible. Whoever told the chef to grate cheese on top of the thick red gravy - if you are not strong, you might lose your appetite, just looking at it.

The restaurant was not air conditioned and none of the empire restaurants serve liquor.

A couple of parotas, the biriyani and the side dish (half plate, boneless) would cost around INR 250/- If you throw in a couple of lassi (sweetened yoghurt shake) it would cost around INR 330/-.

Reco - Not a place to plan a dinner. Not bad to dive in when on the move and have some time @ hand.

Toscano, UB City, Bangalore

2009-06-27T10:13:00.000+05:30

Well, this Italian specialty restaurant has now started serving beer and wine, finally.

The Beef Carpaccio was a good starter - thin slices of beef in a bed of veggies with olive oil and vinegar. The Linguini carbonara was a generous portion and was good. The roasted Fillet Mignon was also a juicy chunk of beef and was made rare as requested. The espresso that was requested to wash the food down was also of good quality.

However, the service is quite poor. I had ordered a salmon starter that had to be served with some wafers (as per the description of the dish) - however it was not served so. Upon bringing it to the notice of the waiters, these wafers were brought in a separate plate. Food is not all about the eating - it is also in the presentation - especially in a premium restaurant. I was quite disappointed with this. This apart, the service is very very slow.

The place now attracts more crowd, now that they have started serving liquor.

These items with a couple of Belgian beers - Chimay Red - would cost around INR 2100/- including 10% service charges for the poor service.

Reco - Food's good. Service certainly needs to pick up. If you have a lot of time and patience, do pay a visit.

Food stalls @ Coral Island, Patayya, Thailand

2009-05-09T19:18:00.000+05:30

There are a number of islands in the Patayya Bay. These limestone islands are surrounded by corals and the main island among these is called Coral Island.

There are a number of adventure activities in and around this island. These include para sailing, water scooters, banana boat rides, speed boat rides and under sea walk.

Undersea walk involves wearing a heavy glass helmet into which air is pumped and diving into the water. The water does not seep in due to the air pressure. You do not have any other gear. I did this here after a gap of six years. I did notice that the types of fishes that swam were far less than what I encountered during my first walk. While the corals, the sea sponges and sea urchins were there, the clams were missing. Only the empty shells were strategically placed for pleasant viewing. I understand that the clams are considered a aphrodisiac. Very sad - A result of man's greed and global warming.

In Coral Island, the largest of these group of islands, there are a number of food stalls selling mainly Thai food. Guava or Raw mango with chilly and salt is available for a quick bite and to go with that chilled beer you can pick up from one of the many hawkers. Tender coconut water and juices are available to quench the dry throat.

Thai food is available aplenty. I had a khao phad gai - Thai chicken fried rice topped with a sunny side up and a tom yum fish soup. Tom yum soup is a spicy clear soup with a distinct lemon and lemongrass flavour. The prawn variety is more popular and is one of my favourite soups. The fish variant was just as tasty. Food and drinks out here is quite expensive compared to the mainland. A beer that costs THB 30 in the mainland costs between THB 50 - THB 60 here. The food I had cost THB 150 - would have cost around THB 100 in the mainland.

Reco - No trip to Patayya is complete without a trip to Coral Island.

Siam Bay Shore, Patayya, Thailand

2009-05-09T19:08:00.000+05:30

A four star resort and spa located at the best spot in Patayya. The resort is located at the end of Walking street. There is a private beach and a swimming pool and a restaurant adjoining the beach. There is another fairly large pool in the resort which also has a slide for children and a jacuzzi to calm the muscles.

The rooms are scattered around landscaped gardens which have apart from the orchids and palm fronds, large tanks holding lots of colourful fishes.

The massage parlour which is part of the spa offers excellent Thai massage.

The only meal I had here was the breakfast - which was a buffet. A sumptuous spread with lots of bread, spreads, cheese and lots of cold cuts, sushi, a few varieties of cereals and muesli served along with dry fruits and marinated fruits, fresh native fruits and juices, some local varieties of noodles and rice and lots of sweet bakes to finish it off. The restaurant has both airconditioned and open air seating and overlooks the road.

Full marks to the resort but there is a stream of backwaters that flows across the resort and this gives a foul smell when you walk across it. A minor hindrance that can be tolerated.

Walking street - is the most happening place in Patayya. As the name suggests, vehicles are prohibited from 6pm. The place is abuzz with tourists and locals traders. There are a number of restaurants and bars on this street and there is plenty of street food that is available here. A couple of restaurants where you can have a sip of beer and watch Mauy Thai - kickboxing is also available. Plenty of places where one can watch 'night' / 'live' shows line the street. There are people hawking almost everything here, including themselves!!

Reco - if you go to Patayya - this is the place to stay.

Street Food @ Walking Steet, Patayya, Thailand

2009-05-09T16:41:00.000+05:30

Anytime from when the sun is about to set till late into the night, hawkers line Walking Street and the adjoining street that leads into the Patayya Bay selling a variety of things.

The sheer variety of food that is available is awesome. You get Pizzas, Shawrma, kebabs and then a whole lot of native cuisine. The native cuisine includes a whole lot of seafood including fish, prawns, shrimps, mussels and squids. There is also pork and chicken cooked Thai style. Meat is either served grilled or fried or cooked in a Thai gravy and served with rice or noodles. I should not forget to mention that there is plenty of fresh juices, fruits and tender coconut water available to quench your thirst - which you will definitely have considering the tropical warm weather.

For around THB 100 - 150 you are more than full. The only problem is that you are spoilt for choice and have not tasted it all.

There are also quite a few seafood restaurants wherein you can choose the live fish or lobster that you want cooked for you. The street is lined with a number of bars and the street along the bay also has a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut - if you do not want to experiment.

Hat's off to Thai street food.

Aromas of China, Eva Mall, Bangalore

2009-04-26T17:42:00.000+05:30

I was quite a fan of Aromas of China, a restaurant belonging to the BJN group. I've liked the service, ambiance and the food in this outlet and the one in Richmond Circle.

I'd ordered a thick duck meat soup. It was quite good and had a distinct flavour of green chillies. The duck meat was hard but that is how duck meat is. The chicken in sichuan sauce was also nice and spicy and went well with the bamboo fried rice ( veg fried rice served in a hollowed out bamboo stalk - meant to be cooked in it too, but I doubt it was considering that the bamboo was quite dry on the outside). The items I ordered along with a starter or a dessert would be sufficient for two.

The bill for the aforementioned came to INR 830/- including service charges @ 10%.

And once I had paid the bill, a nice and big cockroach ran across the couch on which I was seated. I had enjoyed the meal and did not want to take this up with the management.

I certainly will not visit this place in the near future.

Reco - at these rates, if you are keen on cleanliness, please avoid.

World Cuisine Network- La Vigna, Indiranagar, Bangalore

2009-04-25T21:13:00.000+05:30

This was supposed to be a place that served various varieties of world cuisine in specialty restaurants under one roof. I later discovered that it is part of a chain of restaurants based out of Dubai.

We went to the Italian Restaurant - La Vigna. The place was extremely cold and nothing was being done to increase the temperature despite our requests. Thankfully we managed to find ourselves a seat beside a pillar that shielded us from the air-conditioner's blast.

The restaurant was quite full as was expected on a Friday night. We decided to go for a Pizza and since 'Diavola' seemed quite interesting decided to go for that. Diavola was meant to be a spicy pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, beef salami and dried chilly. It was quite large, if I am right, at least a 10 inch diameter one. Although it was not the best pizza I have had, the taste was very strange. It tasted of saffron. There was a strong saffron flavour in the pizza which was quite unnerving. I quite did not enjoy the pairing of saffron with tomato, chilly and beef salami.

The Tiramisu was superb.

Service was horrible. You had to repeat your order to at least one other bearer other than the one who took your order before you are served.

The aforementioned dishes + 2 pints of beer and a large Smirnoff came to INR 1300/-

Reco - Probably can give it a shot to try some unimaginable (may not be tasty) culinary twists. However, mind the service.

Cream Center - RA Puram, Chennai

2009-04-25T21:04:00.000+05:30

This was another one of those places that had got rave reviews in the media. It is a branch of a Mumbai based outfit and dishes out vegetarian cuisine - North Indian and international.

I had a stuffed paratha of onion, mint and garlic - it was nothing but a roomali roti stuffed with onions and deep fried. It was not a paratha where the veggies that needed to be stuffed are stuffed into the dough. A big disappointment.

Veg pakoras were nothing but mixed vegetable bajji and instead of using the bajji chilly for one of the bajjis, they had used regular green chilly. The difference between a bajji and a pakora is while both use similar batter of gram flour and red chilly powder, in the case of a bajji the vegetable is dipped in a slightly light batter and fried in oil, while in the case of pakora, the vegetables / cashew is mixed in a slightly thicker batter and handfulls of the batter are then fried in oil.

The aloo paratha was quite good though. I understand the place specialises in Chole puri - I have not tried that out. Portions are not too big. The ambience and decor are great. The place is air conditioned.

Although espresso and other coffees are on the menu, they are nothing but those from a Georgia vending machine. Disappointing, given that it is meant to be an upmarket eatery.

Meal for 2 would come to around INR 500.

reco - avoidable

Hotel Dravida, Veilankanni

2009-04-19T08:21:00.000+05:30

This is a restaurant located on junction of the 'bus stand' road and the road leading to the main shrine / church.

We'd been there for lunch. You are served a number of combos of meals. Plain vegetarian meals (not recommended as the sambar - a South Indian gravy made with pulses, vegetables, tamarind and a variety of spices - is quite insipid. ) The rasam - another typical South Indian gravy, more like a clear soup, literally means 'essence', made with a host of spices including coriander seeds and cumin seeds, with pulses and either tomato, tamarind or lime to give it the sour punch - is tasty with a garlic flavour. There is a pulse dish mixed with vegetables (dal / kootu), papad / appalam (a crispy fried snack made with black lentils - urud dal) and a dry vegetarian preparation that are served as accompaniments. There is also generous servings of very light butter milk (neer mor) but curds are served @ additional cost.

The other meals that are available are fish curry meals, mutton curry meals and chicken curry meals - the veg meals + a spicy gravy of the selected meat. There are a number of typical non-vegetarian chettinad dishes that are available - such as fish fry (seer fish fry), brain masala (made with goat / cattle brain), mutton chukka ( a dry mutton preperation), sora puttu (a dry flaky dish made with sharks), nandu masala (a semi gravy crab dish) and the list goes on.

We had ordered all three varieties of non-veg meals and I had a bit of all - the fish gravy meals was the best, although the other two were not bad either. The fish fry was a bit too well done and a bit dry. The sora puttu was good and so too was the mutton chukka.

The bill for 6 meals + 3 omelets + 1 mutton chukka + 1 sora puttu + 1 fish fry came to a bit less than INR 400/-. The interiors are very basic. The place is quite popular and at times one may have to wait to be seated. There is no air - conditioning and a place that could comfortably seat around 40 pax seats around 60+pax.

Reco - Must try - especially for lunch- and don't miss the fish curry meals.

Xtreme Sports Bar, 100 Ft Rd, Indira Nagar, Bangalore

2009-04-18T10:26:00.000+05:30

The bar is situated just off 12th Main on 100Ft.Road. It is on the 4th Floor and the entrance is via the back of the building and one has to negotiate their way around the various crates of liquor that is stacked for the bar. There are no sign boards directing you to this entrance and you will have to ask your way to the entrance.

The bar counter is in the center of the room. There are a number of bean bags strewn around to make yourself comfortable. It is air-conditioned and there are a couple of closed rooms wherein a group of 10-15 can have fun in private. It is dimly lit and one may have a problem in verifying the bill. There are a number of LCD TVs all around the place and a projector screen showing sports channels.

The acoustics suck. Fridays are karaoke nights - a nice thing to have and there are a number of crooners who try and belt out love songs. In the absence of the crooners, a DJ plays music (mostly retro pop and rock and some contemporary popular numbers) and unmindful of the smoking ban in restaurants and bars smokes continuously. The management also turns a blind eye to this.

The snacks that go with the drinks cost between INR 130 and INR 250. You can not get the usual 'masala peanuts' or chips. We ordered what was supposed to be nachos (served with melted cheese and vegetables) - these certainly were not corn chips! & cost INR 200/-. the menu also included biryanis (including a jack fruit biryani) a number of Indian and continental main courses and a number of kebabs - both veg and non veg.

We went for a 3.5 lit draught beer that comes in a dispenser - more because it was quite unique. This 3.5 lit of draught costs INR 850/-. 1 litre of draught is available for INR 250/-.

It takes some time before you are able to catch the eye of the waiters who are busy chatting among themselves. After multiple attempts we had to complain to the manager who then dispersed the waiters to all corners of the bar and the service improved since.

I'll go there again to taste the jack fruit biryani.

Reco - there is nothing special about this place - you can probably go as a large group - watch IPL matches - guzzle on the 3.5lit draught beer for the experience - try to overlook the bad service and the smoking DJ.

Sangeetha, GandhiNagar, Adyar, Chennai

2009-04-18T09:01:00.000+05:30

Staying in Kotturpuram, I have to go to Adyar, T Nagar or Mylapore to get to a decent restaurant with air-conditioning to have breakfast. I decided to go to Sangeetha in Adyar the other day. I have trashed a couple of other Sangeetha outlets in this blog and I knew I was taking a big risk. This is a vegetarian restaurant.

There is a non air-conditioned section that can seat around 50 but ends up seating around 75. There is also a self service section with around 6-8 tables where seating is not available. The air-conditioned section seats around 75 pax - it was dimly lit but the interiors were typically gaudy, quite old with wet patches and peeling paint in some corners.

We ordered idly(steamed wet rice flour), pongal (a rice preparation), rava masala dosai (thin pancakes made with semolina batter and served with spicy mashed potato) and aapam (rice pancake made with fermented wet rice flour).

All the dishes, save the aapam, were served with at least two different chutnies (sauces) and sambar (a typical South Indian preparation made with pulses and vegetables) and were tasty. This is one of the few restaurants that serves hoppers (aapam) with sweetened coconut milk - an awesome combination.

The service was quite good and I was quite pleased that I found a Sangeetha that lived upto its reputation. Only on receiving the bill did I realize that this outlet was a franchisee of Sangeetha - no wonder it was striving to maintain some standards.

This chain does not serve liquor and the bill came to INR 285/- (2 plates each of idly& pongal and 2 orange juices thrown in).

Reco - certainly not a bad choice for South Indian tiffin varieties.

Kattumaram, St.Mary's Road, Chennai

2009-04-18T08:33:00.001+05:30

I'd been here to parcel something for supper. It was supposed to be a new specialty seafood restaurant and had been reviewed highly in the local papers. There is an air-conditioned area which can seat around 30 pax and a roof top area which can also seat around 30 pax. I noticed that there was only one waiter for each of these areas - probably the service would be a bit slow.

I ordered for some hoppers (aapam - pancake made with fermented rice flour batter), fish kothu paratha - supposed to be paratha (fried Indian bread made with refined wheat flour) that is mixed with fried fish and onions and some green chillies and is minced on the pan. A plain paratha and a dish called 'yeral thoku masala' - Prawns in a gravy of mashed pickle.

The appam was nice - although I always prefer to have aapam served fresh on my plate rather than having it packed. The paratha was quite large (around 8 inch diameter) - nothing to complain about. The fish kothu paratha was a disappointment. It had a 3 cubes of fried fish mixed with plain kothu paratha. The fish itself was not minced with the paratha and this is just not the way it has to be made and served.

The gravy of the yeral thoku masala was good. It was a fresh tomato thoku (mashed tomato pickle). However, there were only 6 pieces of very small prawns. @ INR 150, it certainly was not worth it.

The bill came to INR 365/-. I may not be keen to visit this place again.

Reco - Nothing special about it - go without any expectations & you may come back a bit satisfied.

Olive Beach, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore

2009-04-18T08:06:00.000+05:30

This place was highly recommended. Located in a converted house on Wood Street, off Richmond road - it is in a blink and you miss kind of place. Seating is available indoors - air-conditioned) and outside in the garden. I chose to sit in the garden as the weather was pleasant.

The bar which is indoors looks out into the garden too. Nothing great about the ambiance but it is pleasing.

The wild mushroom soup was a creamy soup and was good. A bread basket with various varieties of bread is served 'on the house' along with a cream dip - nothing special about either the bread or the dip - you do not even get the aroma of fresh bake when this is served.

The sea food salad was awesome. Had quite a few pieces of salmon, jumbo prawns, fish and some crab meat tossed with a light vinaigrette dressing and with some lettuce thrown in. The 8 hour lamb is something that should not be missed if you happen to eat here. The meat was just falling off from the bones, waiting to be eaten and was served with mashed potato.

The smoked chicken and pesto pizza, while being flavourful was a disappointment. The crust was thin - no issues with that, however it was not soft as a pizza crust ought to be. It was crisp and biscuity. And the 'Lavazza' espresso was more of an Americano - very light.

Service was not bad - nothing special.

The bill for the above amounted to INR 2100. They charge service charges @ 10% on top of this. A pint of beer would cost around INR 160/- and a small of domestic whiskey would cost as much too.

And there is a mandatory donation of INR10 towards some Charity - I did not bother to ask about it as it was getting late by the time we were done with the food - but they ought to inform guests that such collections are being billed and what they are for.

I went with very high expectations. While some of the dishes lived upto the expectations, I was not fully satisfied.

Reco - give it a shot - not a must visit type of a place

Memories of China, Taj Residency, Bangalore

2009-03-26T06:34:00.000+05:30

Before I comment about the restaurant, I should mention that the security @ the Taj has been beefed up. Guests cars (even resident guests) are not parked in the complex. You have to exit your car almost as soon as you enter the gate (not even @ the portico...I don't understand how they would manage it during the rains). All baggage is scanned like in our airports and you enter through a metal detector. I certainly hope they are able to manage their security well @ all their properties.

The restaurant seats a bit more than 100 pax. Was brightly lit and when I entered @ around 8pm, only one other table was occupied by a couple. But soon enough the place filled up, mostly with foreigners. Quite good considering it was a Tuesday evening.

They took around 40 minutes to get the steamed pork dumplings (jiao zi pork). Six tasty dumplings that disappeared in no time.

I ordered a beef semi gravy dish (Poached beef tenderloin in spicy sauce). Was rather tasty. However, it was not thinly sliced as it was meant to be. The portion was also quite large. I ordered a seafood noodles to go with the beef gravy. The hakka noodles was again very tasty. The noodles had quite a bit of crab meat and prawns, I should say. The portion of noodles is certainly not enough for two hungry people. One should order at least two items (rice or noodles) along with a gravy in order to be satiated. I did not order more as the gravy was over by now and I did not want to wait for another 15 minutes for the food. The main course items were served in less than 15 minutes, thankfully.

The food cost INR 1700/-. One small RC whiskey costs INR 250/-.

Reco - Food's tasty. Portions could have been better. Worth a visit.

Now, a word on the parking. The hotel has a parking lot adjacent to the hotel which can apparently accommodate upto 100 cars. However, if you are lucky and this place is filled, your car could end up quite a distance away and you would have to wait for at least 15 minutes before you get yours back. Of course if you have the time, you could spend it looking at the reactions of other impatient and nervous guests who had arrived before you to collect their vehicles. I should say I was disappointed with this.

Silver Wok, Off Richmond Road, Bangalore

2009-03-26T06:09:00.000+05:30

This restaurant serves Chinese fare. The menu is quite extensive. The restaurant is air conditioned and seats less than 100. On a Saturday night I was among only a handful of guests who had unfortunately gone to this place.

Almost as soon as the whisky arrived, so did the flies. It was really amazing as I found not only the common housefly but also a really small variety and the bigger variety that is normally present near animals. As the waiters tried their best to rid the place of the flies, I put up with this inconvenience. It was then that I realized that the interior walls looked rather patchy and stained.

The asparagus and chicken soup was very tasty. The Prawn - Spinach fry was rather good..it was fried prawns served along with crispy fried chopped spinach...except for the spinach being a bit salty, it was rather tasty.

Fish with mushroom and bamboo shoots was a dish in thick gravy (primarily of tomato, garlic and vinegar). It was not bad at all but contained probably 3 sliced button mushrooms and 5-6 pieces of bamboo shoots.

I also tried a mixed meat fried rice. Nothing special about it, but the meat (pork and mutton) were rather hard - probably because it was frozen and not thawed enough or probably because it was re-heated a number of times and had hence become bereft of moisture.

These four items cost INR 760/- - pretty expensive for the experience. 1 large RC costs INR 230/-.

Reco - Certainly not worth it.

Daddy's Deli, 12th Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore

2009-03-17T13:22:00.000+05:30

Daddy's Deli is a Parsi restaurant. It is part of a lodging called 'Executive Inn'. It can seat around 40-50 people at a time and is air conditioned.

Service is personalized with the owners acting as the hostess and host. Not much of choice of beverages, although beer is available. The menu too is limited and the restaurant is open only on Fridays (dinner), Saturday and Sunday (lunch). There are specials of the day (1 item) that are available outside the menu.

The special of the day when I visited the place was 'Stuffed Brinjal', I was told. Although not a brinjal fan, I decided to try this dish. It was fried brinjal in a tomato based gravy with peas, served with phulka. Although it was not stuffed brinjal, it was certainly a tasty dish.

I then ordered a prawn pulav. This was one of the best pualv's I have ever had. It was very flavourful with shallots, leek and coriander chopped finely along with the usual spices that make up a pulav. The prawns were juicy and done to perfection. This was served with some mashed black lentil (dal) gravy.

The veg dish + the pulav is sufficient for 2 who are not very hungry but is certainly too much for one person. The bill for these two dishes came to INR375/-.

Reco - Must try - the only joint serving Parsi cuisine in Bangalore (Food's tasty too).

Bike&Barrel, Residency Towers, Chennai

2009-03-16T16:25:00.000+05:30

B&B is the pub @ Residency Towers. I used to frequent this place as it played out some of the best music (rock and retro pop) on week days in Chennai. I had been to this place recently (end-Feb 09).

They have re-hashed the menu a bit. You are served some boiled channa dal, peanuts, salads and potato wafers on the house. There are a couple of LCD TVs displaying one sports channel or the other. The service is not top notch, but certainly is not bad. The cocktails served are plenty and quite good too.

There are two levels, the first level where you need to be accompanied by a lady and the upper level - purely for the stags.

However, the music was so bad that I almost became depressed. Till around 9pm on a Friday there was no crowd at all and there was no DJ either, just some old record that was being played in the background. Just a few foriegners (on account of some tie up with British Council - hearsay) scattered around. B&B used to be choc-a-bloc full of people even on weekdays, at times one would find it difficult to find a place even on the upper level. B&B, I guess, has lost its charm.

A 60 ml whiskey would cost around INR 170/- and a beer around INR 150/-.

Reco - better stay away if you want good music to go with your drink.

Roadside@Veilankanni

2009-03-16T16:05:00.000+05:30

Veilankanni, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu is a popular pilgrimage center. It is famous for the Church of Mother Mary - Veilankanni.

As early as 6am in the morning for around 3 hours and again in the evening from around 6 pm, the road that lines the sea facing entrance to the main Church is lined with women serving delectable delights (OK...do not get carried away...i was referring only to food). These roadside eateries spread into the road that leads to the beach.

You get nice hot idlis (steamed rice and lentil (urad dal) flour) served with coconut chutney and fish curry. Mouth watering stuff. You also get steaming hot puttu (dry rice flour and fresh grated coconut mixed and steamed) with coconut and sugar - one may choose from either the one made with white rice or the one made with red rice. The stuff is simply mouth watering. You could catch a couple of puttus (combo) for around INR10/- or a couple of idlis combined with fish curry for around INR 15/-. You also get steamed tapioca and fried fish, but I did not try these.

I must mention that the place is not the cleanest and you would have a few four legged creatures accompanying the cooks - but it is certainly a must try if you visit Veilankanni.

China Pearl, Koramangala, Bangalore

2009-03-09T13:43:00.000+05:30

For those who are familiar with Bangalore, this place is no different from a Chungs or a Chung Wa except for the price which is at least 20% more than these places.

I had a Pepper Lemon Sea Food Soup - not a bad concoction. Had 4 pieces of prawns and a bit of fish. Was not too spicy but was certainly lemony with both lemon and lemon grass adding to the taste and aromas.

The Veg Fried Rice was very ordinary and probably like what would be available @ a road side joint.

The Fish in Schezwan sauce was not bad but it certainly hurt the pocket @ INR195.

The cost of the experience was around INR 450/-. The above items are enough to serve 2 people who are not very hungry.

The interiors are very basic and air conditioned. Service was a bit tardy. However, the place seemed quite popular as the 25 odd table restaurant was almost full.

Reco - Maybe a Chungs is more VFM (Value for Money).

Zara Tapas Bar, Chennai Airport

2009-03-09T12:07:00.000+05:30

I had landed in the Chennai Airport and had to wait there as I had gone to Chennai to see off a relative of mine who was flying to Australia.

What better way to spend time than have a few rounds in a bar.

The bar is not stacked with the best foreign liquor. The interiors are dark and the service was not the best I have seen. However, I must admit that the service was way better than what one would get in the lounges in Chennai Airport.

The bar, as the name suggests, serves Tapas - Spanish snacks. The main courses vary between Indian and Spanish and I did not have the time for these.

I had a few rounds of RC Whiskey and a few snacks to go with it.

You are welcomed with some warm bread topped with a variation of Salsa sauce - not bad as it was complementary. (Unlike most bars in India, the complementary snacks stop with this)

The 'Gambas Al Ajilo' - stir fried prawns (deviened with tail intact) was tasty. The prawns were nice and juicy and had a lot of garlic flavour. Was indeed a good cocktail snack.

'Spicy Squid' was rings of squid cooked in a very thick gravy of tomato, garlic and chilli - also made for a good cocktail snack.

Finally, the 'Berenjinas Gartinadas' - Chopped brinjal baked with cheese was a disappointment. Although they tried to throw in 'one' leaf of basil, and baked it with a tomato gravy and cheese, it was flavourless. Probably if it had been layered with more basil, it might have tasted better.

These food items cost a bit more than INR 500/-

The cost of 1 large RC was (I think) INR 160/-

Certainly a place to visit @ the airport when you have nothing else to do.

Grameen, Koramangala, Bangalore

2009-02-05T10:03:00.000+05:30

Dishes out North Indian vegetarian fare, with the option of Jain food if requested. The aloo paratha was quite good, but the other parathas had a bit too much of masala, thereby masking the taste of the vegetable(s) filling.

The side dishes, especially the veg koftha was very tasty. The grameen biriyani predominantly tasted of the curry leaf masala used. The curd rice was sour and probably, they had used the left over rice from morning. Among the beverages, the sweet lassi was nice and so was the 'kokum' soda. They served only gulab jamuns for dessert and this was a let down.

Interiors are designed to reflect a villiage atmosphere, but is quite cramped for space. Service is not too fast, considering they take the order even as you wait outside to be seated.

Meal for three comes to around INR 360/-.

The set-meal lunch is recommended. As regards other items, some are really good, while others are less than ordinary - give it a shot!

The Tasty Tangles, UB City, Bangalore

2009-02-05T09:07:00.000+05:30

Having walked out of Toscano as they do not serve alcohol, I went to a restaurant on the other side of the terrace. It looked quite appealing from outside with a fairly large area with tables both outside on the terrace (covered) and an airconditioned area. The name was also quite intriguing - Tasty Tangles.

I was ushered in bu a courteous lady and seated. I ordered for two starters - one veg - Chayote salad - it was plain cut vegetables in a sauce that had no taste - an absolutely bland dish and one non-veg - Fried Calamari Rings - It was batter fried calamari rings and was not bad. Does not deserve any special mention though.

The Tom yum soup did not have any lemon grass - had a few pieces of jumbo prawns that were nice and juicy - but tom yum without lemon grass is unpardonable. The 'small' portion of this soup that we had ordered was in itself a bit of a large serving.

Having tanked up in so many starters, we went for just one main course and a side dish to accompany. We ordered some Singapore noodles - vegetarian - it was glass noodles with veggies in a soya sauce and was not bad. The side dish was a kong pong prawns - The serving size was good. There were quite a few pieces of jumbo prawns. But it was not very flavourful. It was a semi gravy with soya sauce overpowering the taste of the other spices and the bell pepper that the dish had.

The service - less said of this the better. When we asked the waiter to serve the main course and the gravy - pat came the reply that as a policy they do not serve. The dishes are just left on the table and the patrons are expected to serve themselves. Considering there is a 10% service charge on the total bill this is atrocious.

The bill for the aforementioned dishes came to around 1400 + service charge + taxes - around INR 1800. ( I had a couple of drinks -RC Whiskey- too and with the drinks the bill came to around INR 2300.)

When I saw the charge slip later, I realized that the amount was charged to 'Noodle House' - a place that I do not dig much. Had I known this earlier, I might have thought twice about going to this joint.

Ordinary food and poor service - I would certainly not go there again.

Dahlia - Church Street - Bangalore

2009-01-30T11:00:00.000+05:30

This was a Thursday evening. My friend and I thought we should try some new cuisine and after a pint of draught each at Coco Grove, decided to go for Japanese cuisine.

The place was not crowded (around 9pm), with a couple of tables occupied. The ambience was clean and nice (as any far east restaurant would be), I did not notice any sushi bar. However, there were a few low tables to sit with folded legs and eat like one does in Japan. We sat down at one such table to enjoy the fare and the menu was offered to us. The menu had the photographs of some of the dishes, but not for all of them. The dishes had Japanese names and the menu did not specify whether a dish is a rice based or noodle based one or whether it is spicy or less spicy and so on (in most cases).

We decided to take the services of the captain who was taking the meal order. He tried to explain for one query from us and then told us (in a pretty rude tone)that he is not paid to explain what is in the menu. By Jove! Were we surprised by this! On asking him as to how were we to order without knowing what we are ordering, he went on to say that it was upto us to figure out.

The poor service prompted us to walk out without tasting the food.

Reco - Avoid if you want good service

Toscano, UB City, Bangalore

2009-01-30T10:42:00.000+05:30

I have reviewd this restaurant on 2nd Nov. This blog is only an update. I went to UB City to enjoy some Italian cuisine @ Toscano with some whiskey by the side. However, they still do not serve alcohol...probably why it had any customers compared to the other restaurants around it!

Bon South, 80 Ft Road, Koramangala, Bangalore

2009-01-30T09:59:00.000+05:30

This is a fairly new joint that has cropped up in one of the 'Food' streets of Koramangala - 80 Ft Road.

From the outside it looked upmarket and as the name suggested was to serve South Indian Cuisine.

They have both an ala carte and a buffet. The buffet is billed as - lunch buffet (does not include unlimited alcohol) for INR 350/- and brunch buffet (includes unlimited tiger beer / bacardi / eristoff vodka and cocktails based on the aforemnetioned drinks).

I opted for the brunch buffet.

There were only two starters (there was a tomato rasam and a chicken soup also) - a dry baby corn fry and a really dry chicken 'bones' fry - the less said about them the better.

Aapams and Kerala Parotta are served hot on the table. The Fish gravy and the mutton gravy were good and went well with the Aapam and parotta.

There were a few rice items, sambar, rasam, and a few veg curries and salads - not bad but not good either.

The desserts included vermicili payasam (sweetened condensed milk), a rice Halwa, ice creams and cut fruits. The latter two were good while the former two were very sweet.

The service was quite good and certainly is worthy of mention.

Reco - Maybe once in a while when you want to tank up on the drinks! otherwise avoid!

Maharaja - 80 ft Rd, Koramangala, Bangalore

2009-01-30T09:55:00.000+05:30

The ambience is similar to any of the Andhra restaurants such as Bheemas, Sridevi, Navayuga and so on. The menu was multi cuisine, but I stuck to the traditional thali meals.

While the food was tasty, the service was slow, considering the fact that some of the tables were not occupied.

The powders used for mixing with rice in any Andhra restaurant was not available on the table and had to be requested for. Ghee also was not served with the rice. The rice served was not hot and one had to request for hot rice.

For a change there were hot pooris served with the meals unlike chapathis that are normally on offer.

The special boneless pepper chicken was tasty as were all the accompaniments with the meals, especially the dal and rasam. Meals for 3 with a couple of side dishes costs between INR450 to INR 500.

If you can forgive tardy service and can wait for hot rice, you can try out the meals here.

(The restaurant has since shifted to a place on the other side of the road. I have not been here yet)

Crocodile Meat

2009-01-30T09:43:00.000+05:30

Happened to taste Croc Meat Down Under.

Was prepared like an Indian Curry though. It was the Croc Tail that was cooked.

Tasted quite like chicken, looked quite pale (white) and a little less rubbery than chicken.

My Verdict - As good as chicken!

Australia..land of the flies

2009-01-30T09:10:00.000+05:30

Had a wonderful time vactioning in Australia. Covered Sydney and Melbourne. Would have loved to go to the Great Barrier Reef...but time was a constraint.

You only need the sun to shine nice and bright on a day with tempratures around 25 degrees C and you would be attacked by houseflies. It is as though you are walking in a really dirty slum in Mumabi sans the dirt and stink.

Some of the interesting things I saw covered were...

- The Boxing Day Test Match on Boxing Day

- Kangaroos jumping / grazing along the roads - even one that was run over

- The Kookuburra @ close range

- Ate croc meat

- Dandenong Ranges

- Sydney Harbour Area

- Boarded a fighter ship and submarine @ the museum

- Great Ocean Drive

- 12 Apostles

- Yarra Valley wine tasting

- Jenola Caves

- Blue Mountain - 3 Sisters

- Melbourne Casino and Pokies joints

Vacation

2008-12-23T11:18:00.000+05:30

I would be on vacation between 24th Dec and 5th Jan....so till then...Seasons Greetings!!

10 Downing Street, T Nagar, Chennai

2008-12-23T08:37:00.000+05:30

This is supposed to be 'the' watering hole in Chennai. The music was supposed to be great and the experience was supposed to be something that could be remembered.

However, this is one of the most over hyped places to which I have been. To start with there is a fee of INR 700 of which INR 500 is cover charges and the balance entry fee.

Music on a Saturday night was primarily, relatively old, hip hop numbers and was quite bland.

The food - nothing much to say about the limited menu. I had to place the order with more than one waiter - as the initial waiter was pretty 'duh'! On the same note, the service was quite pathetic - a waiter spilt some drinks on a lady guest seated at a table beside mine. He was initially apolegetic as he should be, but when a couple of drunk male members at her table started to make fun of her, the waiter too joined the party and started laughing. Phew! I've never seen this before.

Continuing with the food - garlic chicken was nothing but the ready to fry chicken available off the shelf, fried and doused in garlic sauce. Boiled vegetables and boiled peanuts - as the name suggests are just that - so much so that not even salt is added to it.

Vegetarian items are priced (on an average) at around INR 150 and non vegetarian items at around 200.

A large of whiskey comes at INR 190 - and you do not get smalls (you can buy a bottle if you so desire)

If you want to catch a quick bite before you leave, you are left to choose between sandwiches and rolls.

AVOID!!