Dining options in Chennai after 11 PM is very limited and once the clock crosses 12 Midnight,  those options are even less. I remember dining as a kid in Wang's Kitchen past 11pm and the buffet rate which was normally Rs 299, dropped  down flat to Rs 100. Guess all those days are gone now. If you could find a buffet for Rs100 in this day and age in Chennai, its got to have its annoyances. So if you are looking around to eat in Chennai past 11pm and want to have a decent buffet to kickstart your weekend then your choices are down to the major star hotels in town. On this route  if you decide not to burn your pocket then the list becomes really thin. One such restaurant that makes on to that thin list is Main Street at Residency Towers.









Last but not the least the meal completes with a small selection of desserts. All in all a decent fare. Do try this out, if you are out in the night and have run-out of options to dine at.

Price:
The midnight buffet starts at 11pm and runs all the way upto 3am in the morning. The buffet is priced at Rs 555/-.

Main Street is located inside Residency Towers in T-Nagar.

Food:
What do you remember about your College Canteen Food? Seven years of college in Chennai and I can safely say that I have not had 3 Dosas for Rs 18/- in my college canteen. I can vaguely remember having Ghee Roast Rs 10/- in my first year of college which was back in 2005. One thing which I like about Bangalore, which I am sure some may not like-the sweet Sambhar. Next up Ghee Roast at Rs 14/- crispy and neat. Accompanied with Sambhar and Coconut Chutney. Worth every buck. Chow Chow Bath at Rs 18/-. For some who do not know about Chow Chow Bath, it is a sweet Kesari and Upma served separately on the same plate. Wonderful combination of sweet and spicy, served along with Chutney and Korma - absolute must have. Worth every buck.

Ambiance:
Its a college canteen, so how do I write this.

Service:
Self service

Price:
6  Dosas, 1 Chow Chow Bath and 2 vada - grand total Rs 100. Perfect meal on a budget. Next step dine at Amma's Canteen.

Food - 7/10
Ambiance - NA
Service - NA
Price - 8/10

The Canteen is located inside MS Ramaiah College, Bangalore.

My last visit to Pasta Bar Veneto was way before my blog happened and my source for new joints in Chennai was Mr.Chennai Foodie. I had visited their Egmore outlet and the food save the Mud Pie was a total disappointment. But this visit to Pasta Bar Veneto, T-Nagar as a part of CFG Showcase was a class apart. I think it is enough of me doing small talk and get down to the food.



The Veggies started their innings with Bruschetta topped of with diced tomato and cheese. It was crispy and fresh. There was another Bruschetta for the veggies topped with Mushroom and loaded to the brim with cheese. This was one cheesy delight


Next up, it was a round for the non-veggies. We were served with Panko Fried Chicken Wings. I have always loved Panko fried stuff and this too did not disappoint me. So far all the dishes were fabulous. No disappoints unlike my previous visit.




Next up came the Chicken Sausages in Spicy Masala. Seemed a little Indianized. I am not a big fan of Sausages, but this one was awesome. It was well marinated and was juicy with none of the side effects of cold storage. The next round went for the veggies. They had a Cheese Fritters. Cheese at its best.


Guess an Italian restaurant cannot be Italian without serving the Pizza. Please do not compare these with the one you get at Tuscana. But these were great in their own right. We were served two veg and two non-veg pizzas. I personally like the veg pizzas. They seemed to have the right balance between the juiciness and cheesiness. The non-veg pizzas were a little overloaded. At this point we were all beginning to feel a little stuffed.


Out came the Lasagnas! With two veg and two non-veg. Non-veggies had Roasted Chicken Lasagna and a Fish Lasagna. My personal fav was the Roasted Chicken. It brought back memories of dining at Red-E. At this point I was so stuffed I could eat no further.




Just when I started thinking I had, had enough of food, we were served with Grilled Chicken and Grilled Fish. Both Seemed to have the same marinate in them. I took a bite into the fish while it was fresh out of the kitchen. This turned out to be a serious mistake, it burnt my tongue. The marinade did not seem to suite the fish well, while the chicken was better. The grilled chicken and fish were served along with some freshly cut veggies and a piece of bread.




My previous visit to the Pasta Bar Veneto ended with me liking just the desserts.  So I had huge expectations on the desserts. We had Tiramisu, Mud Pie and Chocolate Mousse. Off the lot, I loved the Mud Pie and the Chocolate Mousse. Tiramisu had something a miss. All in all the entire meal was a killer and the meal wiped clean of my memory my previous experience.

Ambiance:
The T-Nagar outlet was swanky looking and in my opinion was way better in ambiance than the Egmore outlet ( one I had visited some time before ).

Price:
A dish here is priced around Rs 200 and thereabouts. A meal for two would roughly cost around Rs 1000/-.

Pasta Bar Veneto is located on Burkit Road. I used the GPS to head here so cant give you any landmarks. They do have outlets in Egmore and Anna Nagar.

On my recent visits to Tirunelveli I got the chance of dinning at the Corriyander housed inside the swanky looking, newly opened hotel called the Applettree. Yes! the name has a double 'T' in it. The hotel is posh and looks apart from the regular crowd in Tirunelveli. On an another note, I got to see Varalaksmi Sarath Kumar there.





For starters we had Tandoori Platter and Honey Pepper Chicken. I just loved the Honey Pepper Chicken, it was a welcome change after the spicy soup. While the tandoori platter had assortment of the major species. The Tandoori chicken was great, prawn was a tad under cooked, fish was soft and tasty,  while I skipped the mutton sheik kebab which my mom said was great.



After the tasty starters we headed to main course with lot of expectations and sure we were not disappointed. We ordered Chicken Tikka, Mutton Rogan Josh, Jumbo Prawn batter fried and assorted Indian Bread. Also a Mutton Biryani just to sample its taste. Since I liked the Honey Pepper Chicken, we asked for another portion of it. I personally loved the Mutton Rogan Josh with the Tandoori Roti. Mutton Rogan Josh was not true to its name, but it tasted great. The Mutton Biryani on the other hand was medium spicy and decent. The jumbo prawns were the best of the lot. They were so fresh, having just arrived from Tuticorin that very day. We hogged to our hearts content. We were so full, that we had to skip dessert.

Ambiance:
The restaurant had an upmarket feel, something which I did not expect in my native town.

Service:
Service needs a little bit of tweaking. The waiters need a bit of training, guess they will reach there soon .
Price:
The meal for the group of nine cost us Rs 2500/- which is really cheap considering the amount of food we had.

Food - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Price - 8/10

Corriyander is present inside Hotel AppleTtree which is located on North-By pass road in Vannarpettai

Roaming around in Phoenix Market City can definitely get you tired. After spending solid 5 hours in the mall and finally deciding to pick up only one pair of sandals can most definitely irritate people who accompany me. Given the wide options available in the complex we chose to dine at ID, since we were in the mood for some crispy dosas. The restaurant was crowded but we found seats without much difficulty.

Food:
Food was served in typical ID fashion on stainless steel metal plates with a selection of chutney. I chose to go with the Onion Rava Dosa, my favorite and apparently the fav of my dad as well. While my friend chose to have a Plain Dosa and just incase we were not full after the dosa we ordered a Podi Dosa. As usual, I added Sweet Pongal. I have this habit of having something sweet while having a dosa or idly.

All three dosas were crispy-soft not super crispy types. Guess there was a time gap between making the dosa and service. The sambar was a little off, it just did not add much taste when dipped in it. The chutney seemed alright. Loved the coconut chutney and the tomato chutney. They had the right spiciness. The Sweet Pongal was medium-sweet not the rich types that I was expecting.

Finally I had a nice filter coffee to wash down the taste. The coffee was served in traditional dabora set. The coffee was spot on, loved it!

Ambiance:
ID had the typical ambiance which one might be used to at Satyam Cinemas. A high counter around the kitchen and dining area all around.

Service:
The service was perfect, with waiters all around waiting to help you.

Price:
The total damage for this meal was Rs 400/- Price seems just about right.

Food - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Service - 8/10
Price - 7.5/10

ID is located on the First Floor of Phoenix Market City, Velachery

The name Taj Mount Road, brings back a lot memories of the lip-smacking desert buffet which I have had at the club house restaurant. This desert buffet was once part of our night retreats when I was doing my undergrad. But this time, I was here at Taj Mount Road for a CFG Diners Club at Kefi. Kefi is a mediterranean restaurant which is located on the top floor of Taj Mount Road. The recent addition to Kefi is the outdoor dining around the pool, called Levantine Lounge. I have my reservations against this outdoor dining ambiance during hot summer but that night was just cooler and it was fine by me.







Food was great up until this point, The Charcoal Grill Lamb and Chicken were decent, with chicken tasting better than the lamb. Then the food seemed just about average.The Prawn Tagine, was a little off, not sure if this is the way it had to taste. Then we were also served with a Grilled Fish with small portion of Stuffed Ravioli. The Ravioli was decent while the grilled fish was salty. We were also served a sample portion of Chicken Shawarma, which had the same stuffing from the charcoal grill.

Then the desserts picked us up! The best parts of the buffet were the desserts. Chosen selections of dessert samplers were served to us. There was crispy yummy Baklava, cheesy Kunafa and absolutely tantalizing pudding called the Muhaladia. Loved them all. In fact I went on to ask extra portions of the indulgent desserts.

Ambiance:
The ambiance is here is absolutely brilliant, worth every penny you spend. Save this place for your romantic retreats.

Service:
Taj is know for their courteous service, and this dinner was no less.

Price:
Priced at Rs 999/- this buffet is a mixed bag of goodies. But the ambiance alone trumps over the other pitfalls.

Food - 6.5/10 (only starters and deserts 8/10)
Ambiance - 8/10
Service - 8/10
Price - 7/10

Kefi is located inside Taj Mount Road on the rooftop.