29/08/2013

The Residency, Park Sheraton, T.T.K Road - The Buffet

18:24:00

The same bunch of undergrad batchmates who dined at 601, decided to catch up once again for dinner. Basically we wanted to gossip and catch up on news.  So under the pretext of a get-together we met  for dinner. As usual none of us settled on a particular place. We even entered a star hotel and then decided against it and escaped to Park Sheraton to finally dine at The Residency.

Its been a while since I dined at The Residency say maybe in 2003. So after a 10 year hiatus, I was here for a dinner.




Food:
Since Park Sheraton is known for the best service and amazing food, I had high hopes. I sure was not disappointed. The meal at Residency is more towards Indian cuisine. The restaurant was practically empty with few tables occupied. We chose a nice corner seat and settled in.




The meal started with Fish Fry, Vegetable Stir Fry and Dahi Poori being served at the table. The fish fry was decent, a very Indianized fish fry. No complaints! While the Vegetables Stir Fry and the Dahi Poori were kick-@$$. Inspite of being a through breed of non-veggies we liked the Vegetable Stir Fry. Dahi Poori was rich and fantastic. Since we liked all three we asked for another round of the same. This time around, the Fish fry turned up in another avatar as Grilled Fish with Tartar sauce. This was even better than the Indianized version.



While the others were binging on the starters on the table. I moved over to check out the Salads and Soup. I tried the Roast Chicken Salad, Tuna and the Chicken Salami. A big thumbs up to all the three. For the soup I opted for Chicken Clear Soup, since it was the only non-veg soup while the veggies had the Sweet Corn Soup. The Chicken Clear Soup was fabulous, neat soup, very much reminded me of the soup my mom makes.


In-between the soup my friend had asked for the Dhal and Rajma to be served with Lacha Parotta at the table. The Parotta was crispy and was fabulous with the Dhal. The Rajma was not to my liking, but the company seemed to like the Rajma.


I was feeling a little full at this point, so I stuck only to the non-veg portion of the main course while the others tried a few veg dishes such as the Paneer. The main course was a non-veggies paradise. It had all the common suspects as part of the menu. Of the lot I loved the Beef Tenderloin, Murgh Makani and the Chili Prawns. We chose to have them with the Butter Naan. Butter Naan and the Beef Tenderloin was the best. Amazing combo. If the beef is not up your alley, then the Murgh Makani was supremely rich. A big thumbs!


After stuffing myself with the main course, I had hardly any space to have the desserts. I restricted myself to trying a few of them. There was atleast 30 different desserts with 6 different types of Ice Cream plus the toppings. I loved the Ice Creams and the Warm Chocolate Pudding plus the Mango Cake. We were also served with Hot Jelabi on the table. All very top notch. There were some dishes which were not upto the mark. But seeing the entire spread as one, I bet you would love it all.This must be one the best buffet I have had in a while. Worth every buck spent.

Ambiance:
Inspite of the hotel being well over a decades. Every little piece of the restaurant has been maintained spic and span. Another big plus is the live music which is part of the restaurant, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Service:
Top Notch!

Price:
A buffet is priced at Rs 1610/- for a person after taxes. Worth every buck.

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

The Residency is located inside the Park Sheraton on T.T.K Road, Alwarpet.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

26/08/2013

Pinkberry, Phoenix Market City, Velachery

18:39:00


Another day in Phoenix Market City. Walking around the mall will definitely make you thirsty. Since I have had at Ci Gusta, this time I wanted to have something at the renowned Pinkberry.

Food:
Since my friend and myself were not in any mood to have anything solid or have the yogurt ice cream, we decided to have the Mango yogurt shake. What I was hoping for was a truly yummlicious fresh mango shake turned to be a Mango flavoring. It was definitely thick and heavy but it lacked sweetness. A proper mango shake deserves to have that extra bit of sweetness which was sorely missed.

Ambiance:
Its a really small joint which can hardly accommodate 15 people at a time.

Service;
We were the only people to be present at that time so I would not go judging the service just yet.

Price:
The two drinks at Rs 250/- put a small hole in our pockets.

Food- 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Service - NA
Price - 7/10

Pinkberry is located in the Upper Ground Floor of Phoenix Market City, Velacherry.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

25/08/2013

Chao, Thiyagaraya Nagar, T-Nagar - A CFG Showcase

17:04:00

I am not a big fan of Thai cuisine and quite frankly, I have never had anything Vietnamese. So this CFG Showcase was more of a learning curve for me at the Chao, Thiyagaraya Nagar.

Chao is a spanky looking fine dine restaurant which dishes out Thai, Vietnamese and Singaporean Cuisine. If one of you guys out there are looking to surprise your GF, this place does have the oomph factor to wow her.





Food:
This session was more like a Chef's table, and we were knocked out by the food dished to us. The dinner started with a round of Soup, Sup Ayam for the Non-veggies and Sup Sayur for the veggies. Both are technically the same except for the addition of Chicken to Sup Ayam. The soup hit the spot! 




This was followed by Crispy Corn with Spinach, the combo of the Spinach with the Corn was fabulous, crispy at its best. Next came the Namprik Gai which is stir-fried Chicken with chilli, garlic, onion. A very zingy dish, I would sure make a note of it and order the next time I am here.


Next dish which was served was the Poached Bok Choy with Garlic. Bok Choy is essentially a Cabbage which is much smaller in size than the ones which we are used to. Bok Choy was perfectly poached to maintain the juiciness with a load of garlic sauce. I have heard of the Non-veg version with the Chicken as a part of the ingredient on TLC Channel. But this was the first time I had tasted it. Must say it was full of flavors, rich in every possible way.






Next up was the Braised Broccoli with Tofu. This is one vegetarian dish which I would not mind having again. The Tofu had a texture which was almost similar to that of the Chicken. The flavorful sauce went well with the Nasi Kunning. Nasi Kunning quite literally in Indian cooking is Thenga Soru ( Coconut Rice) with a Malaysian name to it. It tasted just the way my Grandmom makes.

While the veggies relished the load of veg dishes, we were served with Choo Chee Goong. This is a proper Thai dish. The dish acquires its name due to the noise it makes while cooking which is sounds like Chooooo Cheeeee!!! A proper prawn lovers delight. Small size prawns cooked in red curry and coconut milk with loads of ginger and pepper. This turned out to be a fabulous combo with Drunken Noodles with Bang Bang Salad. The Drunken Noodles is a Thai twist to Chinese noodles with loads of soy sauce, garlic and stir fired. Finally there was the T.Shanghai Chicken. The 'T' is silent. Its like "Tsunami ". Just like the Tsunami it did pack the punch. Heavenly chicken with garlic and ginger masala.

After having a course of meal which was fit for the royal. We finished off the meal with Chocolate Mousse with Orange Chantalay & Strawberry in Red Wine. This was one hell of a rich, divine chocolate overload. What a way to end a killer dinner.

Ambiance:
As I had mentioned earlier this place packs the oomph factor to blow you away.

Price:
A meal for two should cost around Rs 1500- 2000/- odd. But it is definitely worth the price.

Chao is located in Thiyagaraya Nagar off North Borg Road.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

23/08/2013

Kettle, Anna Nagar - The Comfort Food

18:13:00

Suffering from  depression or just feeling irritated?  It can only be cured by comfort food. 

Take this slightly depressed friend for example. It was the job of his/her best-friend to cheer him/her up. If his/her best-friend was a foodie? Yeahhhhhhh! Comfort food at Kettle Anna Nagar!



Food:
Since the four us who ventured into Kettle had already had our lunches, this was more of meal just to cheer this depressed I mentioned earlier.

Our order was a Chicken Noodle Soup because one among the group was suffering from cold. BBQ Chicken Fingers for starters, a Philly Chicken Sandwich and Creamy Fusili with Mushroom. Instead of the Fusili we swapped it with Penne and added Chicken to the Veg dish. Since I did not want to catch a cold from my friend, I skipped on the soup. Thing to note : the soup was the last dish to arrive. Anyways we did not mind  it.





Philly Chicken Sandwich was the first to arrive. Simple answer to the dish - I loved it. Flavors, closest to Sparkys! Next came the BBQ Chicken Fingers which was a mix of various sweet BBQ sauces with chili flakes to counter  the sweetness. Point to note, the salad served along with it was just way too dry. Finally the Creamy Penne with Mushroom and Chicken, was creamy tangy and definitely the comfort food to cure any persons depression.

Ambiance:
As I had said earlier, a contemporary tea joint.

Service:
The person who served us was really friendly and she kept a wide smile all through the service. Nothing beats that!

Price:
This comfort food cost us Rs 950/- for the lot. But nothing beats the fact that your best-friend is all happy in the end.

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

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

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

15/08/2013

Peaches, Velachery - A CFG Showcase

00:01:00

For a thoroughbred non-veg such as me, there is no bigger let down than dining at a vegetarian restaurant. So this dinner should have fallen in that category. But it did not.

I was here at Peaches for a CFG showcase dinner. I was the last one to reach the place as I took a small break for Iftar before reaching the venue. After I arrived, the Chef Kausik gave a small intro, about what the meal was all about and also informed us about the ElMacho Burrito Challenge which had been added to the restaurant. During his intro he made a mention that we would be served with 22 dishes and I had a clear picture that this was going to be an ginormous dinner.




Food:
We kick started the proceeding with Cream of Bell Pepper Soup which had a slice of bread with cheese. The bread was similar to the bread crumbs in a Tomato soup, this soup was liked by many, but I had a feeling it missed something. 





Just as I was reaching my hand out for a glass of water, out-came Florida Sunrise which was a mocktail based on Orange Juice. Sweet Tangy and Zingy! After the drink there was no let up, we were served with Onion Rings cooked in Soda, Aloo Tiki and Breaded Mozzarella Sticks. Onion Rings were crispy with a small dip of the Thousand Island Dressing it was fab.The Aloo Tiki on the other hand was just okay, Guess I am not a big fan of potato in this form. While the Breaded Mozzarella Sticks is a sure cure for cheese lovers appetite.




Just as I was done finishing what was served on my plate came Aatish-e-Aloo, guess the name is down to numerology, alphabetology... hehe! e-Aloo is something like e-Mail LOL! This to was a variant of Aloo- tiki cooked on a Tandoor with herbed stuffing and slit horizontally. I felt this version fared a little better as my taste buds seemed to like them. Following this came Tapas Mushroom, Subz Tandoori and Corn & Cheese Balls. Off the three I loved the Subz Tandoori which was Tandoori style roasted vegetables marinated in yogurt and spices. I was really surprised how different veggies tasted. It was a mixture of different vegetables and I am pretty sure there was a carrot, a broccoli, a zucchini, a capsicum. In-spite of the variety they tasted similar and fabulous. If decided to trick someone into trying a new vegetable or trick your child into eating a Broccoli this is the dish which you should order.




A small break before the speciality dish was just what the doctor had ordered for. We were served with Bovonto topped with a dollop of ice cream. I just drank down it in one gulp. It was absolute nirvana. Finally the last starter arrived, which was the Phuket Paneer. I have heard of Phuket Fish, but this was something of a surprise. The same concept applied on Paneer. Thick outer coating with awesome juicy sauce and medium soft paneer made an absolute specialty.


A small breather and a round of Deep Blue Sea. A must have drink. Do not miss this.




After so many starters I was totally stuffed to even try a little of the main course. Inspite of the difficulty which I was facing, I had a few mouthfuls of the different Roti with the some gravy. Of the lot in rotis my pick would be the Garlic Laccha Paratha and the Herb & Olive Naan. The gravies which formed a great combo with these rotis was the Rajasthani Bhindi Khadi and Bhurwan Mirch Kolhapuri. At this point I was too stuffed to try anything further. I saved a little space for the desserts.



There is nothing more satisfying than having a nice dessert after a rich meal. So was the case here. For desserts we had a Strawberry Pannacotta and the Harleem Brownie Wonton. I loved the Harleem Brownie Wonton. It was a testament to creativity. The Pannacotta on the other had was okay, there was something a miss with the base.

Ambiance:
The ambiance can be a little confusing. The restaurant wishes to be a fine dine. But it seems to be caught in between.

Price:
A meal for two should cost around Rs 1400/- With so many delicious veg dishes to have, I think it is bound to go higher.

Peaches is located on 100 Feet Road in Velacherry, around 1Km away from Phoenix Market City.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places

08/08/2013

Dessert Safari, Alwarpet

17:47:00

Dining at Dessert Safari has been my dream for a long time. I kept hearing from almost everyone about the Strawberry Soup. I was also informed about the number of spoons they spread for our use at the table. This was dessert joint I wished I would visit soon. Lucky it happened some time back.


Food:
I was here with a vegetarian friend, which meant I had to stick to getting veg items on the menu and no other go. So we ordered a Veg Strawberry Soup and a Mexican Sandwich. I know that is a small order, ( we had eaten already) and for desserts I had a Mango Mascarpone Panna Cotta  and a Chocolate Trifle Cake.

The Strawberry Soup by itself can be a dessert. It's a cold soup with blend of rich strawberry. I was not able get strawberry pieces so I am guessing a syrup was used in making it. Nevertheless we liked it. It was something new to me. It did remind of the Alblanco at Fresca. The Mexican Sandwich was juicy, crispy and proper yummy sandwich. It had Tomato with Salsa and a heavy dose of cheese, onion and pepper. All the ingredients which I love.




The Desserts on the other hand was little mixed. The Chocolate Trifle cake was really bad. I have had better cakes elsewhere. It tasted as though it was a day old. The Mango Mascarpone Panna Cotta was just brilliant. Fresh mango blended in it, what more could one want?

They do have a dessert buffet priced at Rs 550. Should be worth a try

Ambiance:
The ambiance is actually great, with contemporary mix of modern with English architecture.

Service:
Service is quite fast and they are really great at explaining the dishes.

Price:
This short snack cost us Rs 545/-

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

Dessert Safari is located in Teynampet

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places