30/12/2011

New Year 2012

13:51:00


    New Year is around the corner. We have our own ways of celebrating the New Year, either  with Friends or Family. Who ever you choose to be with, try to have a safe New Year. Thane Cyclone (Puyal) is also bringing loads of rain to Tamil Nadu. So my advice is drink responsibly and drive in a non-hooligan like manner.I cant say dont drink. No ones is going to listen to that.





There are so various places in the city where you can have an awesome New Year's Eve. I am just listing down a few places which are on my priority list.

1st up will be 5 Senses. I have been wowed by the quality of food served here.Yup i have not posted a review here about the place yet. Its a great place which has excellent ambiance and awesome food. Its a nice example of fine dining. The Pizza's served here are excellent and so are the lazagna. Lazagna i think i would order two. Not because it was amazing (it was amazing) the portions was bloody small for me.Leaving that aside this place has the best Mediterranean Food. 5 Senses is located on Khader Nawaz Khan Road. They charge you Rs2500 for a couple this New Year

2nd location which caught my fancy was the Burgundy's. I had tried this place in August when it had not opened up completely. The buffet spread was large with 7 non-veg and 8 veg main courses. Apart from which they had a Pizza's on the starter. Owned by the same people who own the Tuscana Pizzeria, you can expect awesome lip smacking food. The thing which caught my eye about the New Year plan was the buffet was priced at Rs 1600/- per person and the late night buffet at Rs 650/- between 12:30am - 2:00am. This would be my personal choice if i am jobless at this time.Burgundy's is located inside the Somerset in MRC nagar.

Finally the location I will be in  is Hotel Blue Diamond - Jewel Box Restaurant. Good family place where you could be in, for those who are not looking in for a Hip-Hop feel and not willing to blow a hole in your pocket. They serve amazing Turkey Biriyani, Turkey Roast and Turkey Masala.My personal favorite is Turkey Roast. I remember eating 3 of these apart from the biriyani last year and my cousins where like holy shiiizzzzzz!!!!!!They do have other things which you can try like the Sizzlers which  are really nice. Its a nice Indianized Sizzler which would suite our palates. Blue Diamond is located in E.V.R Periyaar Salai. 

There are many other places in town which have awesome ways to welcoming 2012, which ever place you head to have safe and awesome New Year.

Happy New Year to everyone who's reading this...... :))))))

26/12/2011

Tuscana Pizzeria,KNK Road

02:22:00







I have been wanting to go for  Christmas Lunch / Brunch for quite sometime and this time too I missed it., because i had to work today. I was really feeling bad that I could not have Lunch buffet in anyone of the numerous places which Chennai had to offer. I ended up eating my regular Sunday work lunch i.e. Subway.  I decided I will have a proper Dinner and went about checking the paper. One place which caught my eye was Fusion 9s Christmas Brunch. I called them up right away to find out if they had anything special in store for dinner. I was disappointed to know they had no plans. So i spoke to my friends and we made a call on going to Tuscana.

Tuscana...... I have been here a couple of times. Infact I came here only 4 days ago. I am loosing track of how many times I have been here. I just love the Pizzas here.The way they are made, the taste and everything is just amazing.

Now to the Food.... We went as a set of FOUR people. All of us equally capable of competing in ManVs Food. So we decided on ordering separate Main Courses for us.  For starters we ordered Focaccia al Pollo. This has been my regular starter for quite some time now. I just love the way its prepared. The bread with cheese and chicken and also the mushroom makes for a amazing dish. As if it was not a cold day... Yup Chennai was 20*C, we guys went on to order some cold drinks. I went in with my usual Boston Ice Tea.. My buddies went in with Pepsi (Nothing  to write about it ) Blushing the Pina Coloda and Creamy Banana Smoothie. All the drinks tasted fine except for the Banana Smoothie which was way short on Sugar....

Our Food arrives exactly 20mins after ordering. All of us looked starved. The wheels began to churn in our Tummy... I had not tasted this particular Pasta before Polo e Pesto... My friend had gone in with this one. It tasted good, but the Pesto sauce was not too my liking. Me being a white & red sauce lover dint seem to enjoy the Pesto Sauce.... The pasta tasted different. Then we went on the rampage with the Pizzas. The order was Americana , Ruspantae and Pollo all Orientale all in 12". I would rate the Pizzas as the best in town of all the places in town. If you are used to Indianised Pizza's Please forget this place and head to your nearest Pizza Hut or Dominos enjoy your pizza. If you are  still determined to try  it out and want only a chicken pizza and not a Ham or Beef or any other meat, pick the Ruspante. Its one pizza you will definitely love. The meats on the pizza's here are generous and the cheese is really fresh. Pollo all Orientale is a hot and sweet pizza. Not many people will like it... The chicken is spicy and the sauce on the pizza being really sweet. I like this pizza as well, I have tried this pizza on one other occasion.The pizza still tasted the same. I like sweet and spicy taste...Not many will be able to accept to that kind of taste... My favorite pizza has to be the Americana. I just love the taste of it... This pizza tastes the best of all the chicken pizza's available here. The ingredients mix really well in this pizza and to top it off the Pizza base is the best party trick in Tuscana's Pizzas. The quantity here is pretty large and the quality is also top notch. I have been visiting Tuscana and will also continue visiting Tuscana again when in need of having awesome pizza's and the best Italian Authentic Food!!!!!!

Food - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Service - 9/10
Price - 8/10

Tuscana Pizzeria is located on KNK Road in Nungumbakkam. 

18/12/2011

The Farm, OMR

23:56:00




Today was a fun day for me. Right after eating at Shiraz Cafe we headed to The Farm situated in OMR. My mom had also come along with us and wanted to see the Mela held at The Farm. Once we entered The Farm we where asked to purchase coupons which we would be using over the various counter.

Then we where taken on a brief tour of The Farm, the restaurant. How it functions and all the blah blah was explained to us. To me the tour was like going back to my Dad's Native village. For Chennai grown children and people this place might be a heaven. To me it was no more than a small area in my village. The tour consisted of a visit to the dairy farm, vegetable farm and the horse stable. The Mela area as such had many attractions which should appeal to the children.

After a short tour of The Farm, we all wanted some food in our tummy. All the walking had caused digestion of the food which was stashed in our stomach.  We walked upto the Pizza stall seeing the giant wood fire oven. There are other stalls which are by shops which are located else where in Chennai.

The pizza was priced Rs60/- per piece which works out to Rs360 for 6 pieces of pizza or a full size pizza. The taste of the pizza was average. I guess i was expecting Tuscana kind of pizza for half the price. After that reached my head the taste seemed better.

There are various other counters present as well like the Chaat Counter, Burger Counter, Grill Counter, Cup Cake Counter and various other counters as well.

A word of Note about the Mela. The Mela is a good crowd puller that to with most schools winding to a close for winter vacations, parents looking for a good place to unwind and also help the kids get a 1st hand view of the village life and smell. I would love to get back to the place on a proper day and try to spend more time on the food.

Food - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Service - 10/10 (Self Service )
Price - 7/10

The Farm Restaurant is located inside a by lane opposite to Times of India Office on OMR.

Shiraz Cafe, ECR - Round 2!!!!

22:16:00










Yes!!!! you saw it right its Round 2 at Shiraz Cafe!!!.... I went there only 2 weeks ago and i went back  to Shiraz Cafe. When i went there the first time, i was not able to get the  full feel of the Food nor the Ambiance. So thought i would head over there again. Anyways my bro wanted to try the food so we went.

This time i had lot more time to eat, not like I had to run for a movie. Clicked  a bit more of pics, enjoyed the food in peace.

Coming to the Food

The menu remained mostly unchanged, except for a few dishes . The welcome drink was again the same Guava Drink which was little less sweeter. Had a sip or two of it, still loved it. Then the soup was not changed. But this time I know the ingredients of the soup. Its basically rice with lentils and oats with a bit of curd. The taste of the soup remained practically unchanged so thats a score for the soup.

Next  I went on to the starters. The Hummus and Pita bread also remained the same. I loved the place mainly because of the Hummus which I love. Then the rest of the starters where the same.
They had Lentils, Eggplant fry in gravy and Egg plant in Yogurt. These dishes tasted really good. Another set of Starters such as French Fries, Cheese Balls, Cheese Rolls and also Stuffed Veg rolls seemed like out of the box, which you can buy from your super market. That is not the only bad issue. the food was quite cold

Then the main course remained similar to my last visit, but had a few surprise additions instead of changes to the menu. The BBQ Chicken was Top notch today. None of the Saltiness which was present the last time. The rice with Chicken Kebabs was the same top notch preparation. The Mutton with eggplant and ladysfinger remained the same in taste so also was the Fish with spinach. The crumb fried lolly pop chicken was new addition, but sadly it was too cold and too hard. Another addition to the Menu was Chicken in apricot, it  was way too sweet. It deserves a place in  the Desert Section... Seesshhh!!!!! It was just too sweet for a main course. None of the people who came with me, liked it.

Now the desserts remained relatively simple Rose Ice Cream with Yogurt and a variety of cakes. The taste remained top notch. Last but not the least the TEA!!!!!! i loved it....It was a lemon tea which was simply superb.

The Buffet is still priced Rs500/- per head.

I am revising what I had said in the previous review.

Food - 7/10 ( Since most of the dishes where cold )
Ambiance - 7/10 ( Liked it. No rains today but it remained cloudy with a cool breeze)
Service - 7/10
Price - 7/10

The revisions are mainly because of cold food and some out of the box dishes.

I would call the food as a family food in a Middle Eastern Family Home.

Shiraz Cafe is located inside Cholamandal Artist Village at Injambakkam.

27/11/2011

Shiraz Cafe, ECR

20:54:00






I have been wanting to start my own food blog for quite sometime. I have been a proper foodie since birth. My Mom's never had trouble with me eating less, only more. I just love food, any cuisine i love it. Food is like music only to the taste buds. I must thank Mr.ChennaiFoodie for motivating me to go ahead with my own blog. The other bit is i am his cousin so we both share the same passion for food. I think its enough about me here.

I was told about Shiraz Cafe a couple of times by Mr.Chennai Foodie himself as i love Middle-eastern cuisine. I tried hunting this place a couple of times in the East Coast Road(ECR). But to my bad luck and i could not find it and also i was surrounded by people who love seafood so we ended up going to MoonRakers. So this time i sat down made a big plan that i will eat in Shiraz Cafe and will also hunt it down.

So I set out with a couple of my friends this Sunday for the Lunch Buffet. We reached the place quite early and they informed us that they open at only 1pm but the time was only 12pm. We had a solid 1hr to kill so we drove down ECR a couple of times and reached there at 12:50pm. By this time I was really hungry with breakfast in my stomach.

It was rainy day and Shiraz Cafe is purely a outdoor cafe with every few seats indoor.  So there was a bit of a trouble seating the people. Since we reached there early we got a seat. The owners had a tough time seating the crowd of 50 with rains spoiling the outdoor environment. Ambiance hmmmm I cant rate that today maybe another time.

Now coming to the food.

The spread was quite lavish for a all middle eastern cuisine especially Iranian. The welcome drink cum starter thats what i would call was just nothing sort of amazing. You better love fruits because it was fruit in crushed ice. I really dont have a clue to what fruit it was, but it was more guava like. The Soup was a veg soup and again there was no name placed underneath it so i have no clue again to what it was. But it was like a Porridge which is served during the months of Ramzan only a 100times creamier and it tasted fabulous for a veg soup. A word of caution I am a full and proper Non-veggie, veggie foods are not palatable. So its a complement when I say a Veg-Soup was good. The Hummus and pita bread is just too good and is a must have for hummus lovers. BBQ Chicken was good but found it a little salty. The Rice and Chicken Kebab along with Fish gravy was superb as well.
For deserts there was a variety of cakes and also Choco-orange souffle. Friends who had come along being pure veg did enjoy the placeas well. Me dint try all the dishes. After eating all this I was stuffed and my stomach was super happy.

The buffet is priced at Rs500/- which is a steal for proper Middle Eastern Food and again you can eat to your hearts content.

Food - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10 - Looked really pleasant too bad we could not sit out there.
Service -  7/10
Price - 8/10

Shiraz Cafe is located inside Cholamandalam Artist Village in ECR.