While my Berrilicious was nice, (more like a tonic) I just loved the Wildbery Smoothie which was rich mix of banana and pina coloda. This was all we had, but it gave me a picture of the great food here.

I have always felt that the food scene in Bangalore is better than Chennai. Loads happening, new concepts tried out and people are ready to aceept the new concepts. Chennai is far conservative but is slowly beginning to open its doors to new culinary ideas. On one of my visits to Bangalore I got to dine at the Alila Tiffin Bar for a lovely live BBQ dinner.






I just could not decide which spread I liked the most. My favorite of the lot was the Lamb Ribs and Beef Grilled from the Western section. From the Arabic board, the pita bread was just divine. Add it with a little of the grilled chicken and Hummus it was a an absolute decadance. The Indian delicacies had the usual subjects such as the Chicken Tikka, Hariyali Kebab....

The last time I was here at BBQ Chicken, during the month of Ramzan, I had sampled a few of the dishes and loved the food. One month down the line I am back at the same place to see if they had been able to maintain the quality and standard. This time around I was here with a bunch of hungry souls, which meant more dishes to try out.


Myself and one other friend reached early. While we waited for the other two to join us, we placed our order. Since some of the dishes which we had ordered were the same as the ones explained in the older post, I will be skipping them. I ordered  a Garlic Bread, Chicken Satay and Buffalo Chicken Wings for starters. The Chicken Satay was a little dry but nevertheless tasty.








Coming to the main course we had asked for Luxury Olive Chicken Platter, BBQ Chicken Platter, Burger Platter and the Chicken Waffle.

The Luxury Olive Chicken Platter had fries, and pasta salad as accompaniments. Coming to the Burger Platter. I think this dish will satisfy most people. It had a Chicken, Fish, Beef and a Vegetable Burger. I think that solves the problem if you have people who want different things and its all there. Since I was busy clicking the food, I was stuck with the veg burger. The veg burger was more like a simplified chicken burger with crispy outer covering for the patty. The thing to note is, the buns remained soft and did not break down, thus giving the burger a very good feel. I did not get to try the other burgers as the company was busy munching them. Chicken Waffle was something totally different and also something which I would have done if I had had a waffle maker at home. It was a nice beautifully made waffle with chicken. The chicken had a tuna salad like consistency. The waffle closed into  half to make a waffle sandwich. The waffle was a bit cold by the time it reached me. I am guessing this was down to the slower service.

Service began to slow down as the place became packed. Hope they could improve on this a  bit. The food held on to the same standard as was served on my earlier visit. All in all we had a great meal. The meal cost us Rs 3200/-.

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

BBQ Chicken is located in Shafee Mohammed Road, next to Texas Fiesta.

I have been waiting for a while to tryout the food at  Zaitoon. It was never possible for me to convince anyone to have food in Zaitoon. Whenever I suggested that we go to Zaitoon, everyone would say its far so, much traffic to go to Adyar and so on. When I saw that Zaitoon  was opening a branch in Anna Nagar I was super happy. Its very close to my place. I love Arabian Food. I can now convince people to go there, and thats what I did. I convinced my Brother to give us his Birthday Treat in Zaitoon.

Zaitoon at Anna Nagar is built on a little smaller space compared to the Adyar Branch. It is smaller than the Sea Shells, Anna Nagar. The parking lot is also small. But good thing is that they have a Valet parking facility and there are loads of small streets around it where we can park our vehicles. We went in early as a matter of fact the 4th customers to be seated. So we had no trouble getting a parking slot. Also I had booked over phone for a table. So getting a seat for eight was also not so difficult.Ambiance is the same which we get over at Sea Shells. Guess they got the same interior designer.

Our family is a bunch of Meat freaks. We like meat more than rice. So we went about ordering the starters. First up we ordered Arabian Chicken Lollypop. Yes!!! I am back to eating chicken. The chicken lollypop was brilliant, well done and tasted awesome. Would love to have it one more time. Next up we ordered Chicken Shawarma Roll. If you are in an Arabian Restaurant you have got to tryout there Shawarmas. Shawarmas give you an idea of how good the restaurant actually is. The Shawarma was perfect. The Kuboos which was holding the stuffing inside was soft and warm. It did not crumble into pieces. So thats a top notch Shawarma. Then we ordered a Mutton Sheek Kebab, Shamak- al-Faham and a Effa Dejaj. Mutton Sheek Kebab was awesome as well. It was well done and the mutton melted in your mouth along with the Pudina Chutney. Shamak -al -Faham was not the best. The fish had a fishy smell to it. Guessing it was a day old fish which was prepared for us and not the days catch. The center of the fish was fresh and it tasted better than the sides of the fish. The fish was a bit spicy. But when mixed with Hummus and Garlic paste and taken along with the Kuboos it was perfect and not as spicy as before. Coming to the Effa Dejaj. Its my favorite dish. Every time we head over to Sea Shells there is a Effa Dejaj on our table. So when I saw it on the Menu we just had to order it. The Effa Dejaj was little less spicy than what you get in Sea Shells. The dish was perfectly executed. It tasted brilliant with the side ons.

After having a heavy dose of the starters we dint have much space in our stomach. But still we wanted to tryout the KP (Kerala Parotta). So we ordered a Kerala Parotta each and a Chicken Sakoti and a mutton dish which the waiter suggested. The KP was perfect. Soft, slim, tender, crisp, and melt in your mouth types. The chicken Sakoti too tasted good along with the KP.The mutton gravy as such was too good. But the mutton was little bit on the harder side. Nevertheless it tasted good along with KP.

So if you happen to go to Zaitoon do tryout their KP and the Shawarma. Since the place has been opened up recently they have been facing with some teething problems in the Kitchen. The Juice Counter and the Falooda Counter are yet to be opened. Nevertheless the food was awesome and we had a fun night.The prices are a around 20 to 40 Rupees more than what you have pay at Sea Shells. Our bill was Rs 2200/,  which is really good,  considering we were 8 people with big stomachs, gorging there.

Food - 8.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Price - 8/10

Zaitoon is located in Chintamani next to U.K. Hospital.

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