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.

Having a good chinese meal had been on my mind for quite sometime, even during my exams. I was waiting and longing for it. So once my exams were done I could wait no more. So after loads of planning we headed to China Town on Cathedral Road along with my family.









For the main course we had ordered Chicken Chop Suey and Schezwan Chicken Fried Rice along with Chicken in Bean Sauce. The Chop Suey noodles was crispy fried and the combination with its topping was flavorsome. The best was Fried Rice with Chicken in Bean Sauce. The chicken was deep in flavors and the combination was heavenly. We were stuffed by the end of the meal, we skipped the deserts. Overall the food was decent chinese food suitable for Indian palette.

Ambiance:
Fairly decent.The restaurant had dim lighting, with a few TVs running the news. Don't expect too great  an atmosphere here.

Service:
The waiters here are really attentive and they give valuable suggestions which makes placing the order a pleasure.

Price:
The meal for three caused a damage of Rs 2250/-

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

China Town is located on Cathedral Road in the same building as Copper Chimney.

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I wast here at Kettle, Anna Nagar along with the CFG gang for a Chennai Food Guide (CFG) Showcase. I must say, it was great to meet the gang after a very long time. Since my last CFG showcase, there has been many changes in the way we need to put up a review after a showcase. So I shall be abiding by the rules and try to incorporate changes to the method of presentation in the coming posts.





Next there was a serving of Scones. I have never had scone before, so my experience is very limited. It was served along with Butter and Jam. Must say loved it! Then came the Mushroom on a Toast and it was decent.


After that came Tomato and Basil Soup. Many found it a tad salty, but not  me. I loved the creamy nature of the soup. It was predominantly tomato with a slight hint of Basil.






Lamb Burger, which came next was a real surprise as I did not expect a near perfect burger from a tea shop such as this. Worth it!


Next we were given Mediterranean Egg White Ciabatta Sandwich which lacked flavor. I am not sure if it was supposed to taste like this. But I have had better sandwiches else where. The veggies on the other hand were served with Veg. Lasagnae. It was fantastic. Perfect filling and proper flavor were the bottom-line of the dish.


There was also a pesto paneer sandwich which I had skipped and Roasted Chicken Mayo Sandwich & Curried Pasta which were not to my liking.






There was a variety of deserts too. Of all the deserts served, I found Love for Strawberry Ice Cream, White Chocolate Raspberry Cheese Cake and Tiramisu to be great. Last but not the least the teas, Black Current Iced Tea was fabulous.  In fact I had another glass of the same tea towards the end of the meal. While the White Tea served to me was just okay. It lacked flavor.

Dishes to have:

Panko Chicken Nuggets
Tomato and Basil Soup
Hawaiian Chicken Salad
Lamb Burger
Veg. Lasagnae
Love for Strawberry Ice Cream
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheese Cake

Ambiance:
The tea joint is very up market, with contemporary interiors

Price:
Pricing is in par with most upmarket tea joints. A small snack for two would cost Rs 500/-

Kettle is located in 10th Main Road in Anna Nagar.

I was out for dinner, with a couple of friends to the newly opened joint Door No 27. This has been a place of great interest to me, since it is located very close to my house and they had also mentioned on there facebook page that they serve biryani. The preview about this restaurant in the Indian Express newspaper was the tipping point. With the review rating the biryani 8/10, I just had to have it.





The next dish was the Crumb Fried Stuffed Mushroom. As you can see from the picture the company with me was ready to gobble down the food in no time. This was another great dish, with full marks from the gang.



After the delicious starters we headed to the main course with positive thoughts. We were blown away by the Tawa Roti and the Paneer Butter Masala. The roti was so soft that it just melted in our mouth. The Paneer was really spongy. The combination of both Paneer and Roti is the best I have ever had from a stand alone restaurant. It was a delight. Hearing us rave about the Paneer and Roti the waiter suggested to us to try the Daal Makhani. The daal was decent and it did not meet the hype given by the waiter.



Now coming to the Biryani - the dish which was raved about by the reviewer in Indian Express. We had ordered both Chicken and Mutton Biryani. So got to sample both. Neither of the Biryanis met the high marks given. It was a total disappointment after all the hype we had heard about it. It was more like colored ghee rice. It lacked both aroma and flavor. Brinjal served along with it also did not help to improve things.


Finally we had ordered a Chicken Chasseur. This was rolls of chicken with stuffed veggie served with a helping of gravy. The gravy reminded me of Pav Baji. It was served along with Potato wedges and diced carrot - Yummy!

Apart from the totally disastrous biryani every other dish, ticked the right boxes.

Ambiance:
Door No27 is present in the place which used to house Cool Nature, ice cream joint. The interiors was mostly unchanged apart from the new decor.

Service:
Since we were the only ones in the restaurant, I am not going to vote on this.

Price:
The entire meal for six people including the water bottles and tax, made a grand total of Rs 1935/-. This is one of the cheapest joints I have binged in. If you do know any other joint which beats this joint in price please do let me know in the comments.

Food 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Service - NA
Price - 8/10

Door No 27, is located in Vasu street opposite to Ega Theater.

Since my exams are over, I going to be very much active on the blogging scene. I have had this post pending for a while now. Just found the time to share it with you.I was at Phoneix Market City, Velacherry a few ago along with a friend. After a bit of shopping we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and head home. We saw this small joint tucked behind an escalator. Since none of the restaurants in the food court interested us, we set our hearts on Mammo Deli.

Food:
Mammo Deli services mainly wraps and a pastas apart from the deserts. After much thinking I chose the Crumb Fried Chicken Wrap. The friend who was with me, on seeing the limited options on the menu decided to skip eating, which was a mistake because he kept taking bites out of mine.The wrap was very much similar to a KFC Wrap but only a little bigger and two rows of chicken stuffed into it with little amount of veggies and sauce along with it. The taste was slightly on the bland side, but the chicken was really crispy. All in all the wrap was decent. Hoping to head here some other time and have the pasta.

Ambiance:
It is a small and neat joint which will seat around 20 people at ease.

Service:
Service was pretty quick, it more of a self service joint.

Price:
The wrap is priced slightly on the expensive side. A wrap plus a small bottle of water cost Rs 280/-

Food - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Service - Self service
Price - 6/10

Mammo Deli is located on the ground floor of Phoenix Market City, Velacherry.

Wow! it's been a whole month already, since my last post. My exams are finally over and I am back to what I love the most - Food Blogging! What better way to start again than by  posting about something sweet and delicious.

Food:
We had ordered a 2kg Strawberry Fresh Cream cake from Cake Square which is located in St. Thomas Mount for one of my batch-mates who was celebrating her birthday today. This was not the first time we had ordered from Cake Square. My previous ingestions had gone undocumented. So it was great to have my camera with me on this occasion.

The cake looked slightly different from regular shaped cakes - with a half M&M shape.  And the icing on the cake! A yummy glaze of strawberry covering. Taste top notch. If only we could eat our cake and have it too. Sigh!

With very few cake makers delivering in Ramapuram, its nice to know we have a great cake maker delivering quality stuff on this side of town for the cake aficionados.

Price:
The cake was modestly priced for a 2Kg at Rs 1150/- which includes the cost for delivery.

Cake -  9/10
Presentation - 9/10
Price - 8/10

Cake Square is located on Butt Road near St. Thomas Mount Church.