Food:
We started with Charcoal Roasted Twin Pepper Soup served with super light toasted bread which was simply awesome. Light and at the same time full of flavor and also a delight to look at. Following which we were served with a nice Berry Mock-tail.



Next came the deconstructed Chicken / Paneer Carolina Salad which I would rate as a must have. The honey mustard sauce with sensationally marinated Chicken/Paneer and the Cheddar and Parmesan cheese was a delight. This is nothing like the salads from Subway and I would highly recommend it.


Next a dish from the veg part of the menu, Cottage Cheese & Green Peas Kebab. This dish was served on a park-bench kind of a plate with charcoal underneath it to create a smoke kind of theatrics. The taste definitely matched the antics with which it was served.




Banjara Kebab was served next. It was chefs take on Chicken Tikka which was mouthwatering. Next up were the Mini Falafel Wrap ( Arabian Platter ) and the Mango Cheese Fingers. Both brilliant. I would recommend having the fingers while they are hot unlike me, who went about wasting time to click the right picture.



In between all this I was given a different mock-tail based on Guava & Litchi to relish on! After munching such delicious starters we were served with Bento Box kind of Mains and Polenta.


The Bento box contained Mini Butter Naan, Steamed Rice, Mutton Roganjosh, Dal Makani and Vegetable Kohlapuri with assorted condiments. The kicker was the mutton and naan. Mutton was so soft without any of the smell which we associate with it. Polenta is a the Italian take on Indian Upma which was neat.



We finished off  dinner with Country Fair Apple Rasamalai Pie and Rabri Angoor which was definitely the icing on the cake.

Also we got to have a friendly chat with Chef Pawan Kumar about his experiences and his connection with Chennai.

Ambiance:
The restaurant is located on the top floor of Ramada Plaza with 360 Degree view of the Guindy Skyline. With weather being pleasant in the month of February is the right time to visit.

Service:
NA

Price:
A meal for two should cost an upwards of Rs 3000/- depending on the number of courses and items beings ordered.

Roof Top Lounge is located on the top floor at Ramada Plaza in Guindy.

Disclaimer - I was invited for the meal

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Chennai bar food scene is finally warming up to a lot of new players. More choices, better for the consumer. Newest entrant into the scene is Hoppipola - A bar which wants to put the fun back into your life. A table which doubles up as a blackboard. Super sized Jenga for the Jenga fans. Mini golf, Taboo and various other games, plus a collection of Comics. Yes definitely this does put some recreation back into the life. Maybe they should instate no phones rule, like the no stags rule :P A place which looks like a garden with some fine sounding audio setup playing tracks to groove to. This is the scene at Hoppipola.
Food:
As always I picked my magic portion, Peachy Mangifera, a spicy mock-tail and a Virgin Pina Colada. While my friend had a Orange Passion Frappe & Virgin Pina Colada and the sole drinker had the Watermelon - Basil Caprioshkas. The Peachy Mangifera had a nice spicy zing to it and the Pina Colada was out of the world. Finally a proper Pina Colada with good coconut juice.




The meal kicked off with Jah Man's Chicken, which was breaded chicken with Jamaican spices. Crispy and tasty but a little dry for my liking. Next up was the sole veg dish, which was the Cheesienos, which was essentially a crisp fried cheese stick.




For mains we had a Chicken Blasta Pasta, 4 ways Pizza and a Lamburgini Burger. The Blasta Pasta had quiet a chilly hit to it. Kind of oil soaked as well. But still pretty decent.



Pizza 4 ways was two veg pizzas and two non-veg pizzas put-together. The veg pizzas were Margarita and Cheesie Pizznezz while the carnivore part had the Lambretta and Jerkin Around. Getting to sample so many different kinds of pizzas on a single base was a first for us. Nice thin crust worked in the toppings favour.


Finally we had the Lamburgini Burger which kind was a let down. Thin patty which was on the drier side and the bun to patty ratio also did not help the cause. But presentation wise it looked brilliant. French fries served Jenga style was quite nice.



For desserts we had the Banana Cinnamon Ice Cream Cake and Molten Chocolate Lava Cake served along with a Vanilla Ice Cream. Both pretty decent desserts to finish up a meal.

Ambiance:
This was something which I enjoyed the most. Had crazy fun playing Jenga and mini golf.

Price:
A meal for two should cost around Rs 1500 - 2000 including a round of drinks.

Disclaimer : Invited review.

Hoppipola is located inside Hotel Spring at Nungumbakkam.

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The bar scene in Chennai is quite different to the other states in India. To have a bar in Chennai, you had only two options. One had to go down the route of TASMAC. If not, it had to be tied up with a hotel which had a minimum of 20 odd rooms. Finding a good 2nd option was really tuff. Thankfully the bar scene is improving along with it the bar-food scene as well. The recent entrant into the bar food scene was the Big Bang Theory - Bar & Kitchen.

Food:
I was here with a small group of friends for lunch. Since we were all TEETOTALLERS we had our fun with Mock-tails. They had a enticing package of 3 course meal combo for Rs 395/- nett including  choice beverages which runs between 12pm and 3pm. We were all interested in the lunch combo which seemed pocket friendly and had quite a few nice dishes on the choice menu. We decided to get different dishes so we could sample each others dishes.




For starters we chose the Buffalo Soldier, which was essentially a crumb fried chicken, Tommy Yummy - crisp fried chicken in Tom Yum sauce  and Gosht Rider - minced lamb kebab. Of the lot I liked the Gosht Rider, but the portions were really small, just two pieces, definitely not meant for sharing. The mocktails were decent. I had a cranberry based mocktail while the rest had Virgin Pina Colada and Pineapple based drink.




For mains we had Moscow Love - basically Chicken Stroganoff, Italian Job - Penne with beef Bolognese  with garlic toast and Mughals - a Chicken Tikka Masala Biryani. Of the lot my pick would rest on the Chicken Tikka Masala Biryani which was quite nice. Tikka complemented the biryani and was yum. The Pasta was nice, but had a severe buttery taste to it, while the Stroganoff was bland. It was quite apparent, the kitchens strong point rests in Indian dishes.


For desserts they had a choice of ice cream or a BBT Sundae. We chose the latter - Vanilla ice cream with small pieces of Brownie and Jello which was decent. Overall the food was decent if you knew what should be chosen. The portion size is kind of minuscule but the price paid was decent. I vaguely remember having bigger portion sizes at similar outlets, but just not sure.

Ambiance:
The resto-bars decor seems to be straight lift out of the sitcom Big Bang Theory which I feel looks funky. For the people who follow the sitcom it would look really cool.

Service:
This seemed to be their biggest minus. Our starters were served a good 1hour after we had ordered. Seemed like they had forgotten our order, which definitely killed our appetite.

Price:
Lunch combo priced at Rs 395 /- nett which includes a choice beverage was well worth it.

Food - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 8.5/10
Service - 4/10
Price - 7/10

PS: Pictures shot using Samsung S6

Disclaimer : I paid for the meal.

Big Bang Theory is located inside the Brown Star Hotel on Dr. Ambedkar Road, Kodambakkam.

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Looks like my blog had become a Pondicherry food guide after my visit there. Stepping back to the hometown, this is about my venture into dining at the DINE  in Express Avenue, after doing a couple of hours of window shopping.

Food:
It was just me and my mum, and my mum wanted to try the soup of the day. The soup of the day was Sweet Corn Chicken Soup which we had as 1 by 2 portion which was quite decent. Good quantity of morsels of chicken in clear soup. For the main course I had chosen the combo which comprised of Chicken Fried Rice, Dragon Chicken and a glass of Coke, while my mom had the Roast Chicken Lasagne.




The fried rice and chicken were quite good and punched much higher than my expectations. Decent quantity and delicious. The Chicken Lasagne was exquisite. If one is looking for a very tasty lasagne in a place which has a very good ambiance without blowing a big hole in the pocket, look no further. Lasagne was loaded with chicken pieces and the sauce was creamy. Craving for a lasagne look no further. Even my mom was quite impressed with the lasagne.

Ambiance:
Quite contemporary and you do get the feeling of dinning in a fine dine restaurant.

Service:
This was simply superb. Only one man manning the restaurant. But the way he conducted himself really sets the standards. Helping my mom to get seated first then, poring the water 1st to my mom and in so many other ways he impressed me. Something which you only see 5star restaurants and also in some other fine dine standalone restaurants. Totally impressed.

Price:
This meal for two cost us Rs 770/- No service charge was present so we decided to tip him.

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

Disclaimer : I paid for the meal.

PS: Photos clicked using Samsung A5 and not my DSLR.

Dine is located inside the Movie Theater Escape at Express Avenue, Royapettah.

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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.

Food:
Mom and I have almost similar tastes in food. Thanks to that it gives me great versatility in ordering food. We had a quick glance at the menu and we chose to have the Chefs special Seafood Platter for starter and since Mango is the flavour of the season we decided to try the Cajun Spiced Chicken with Mango Puree and served on a bed of Mashed Potatoes.

Before our delicious starter could arrive, we were served with Focaccia with Olive oil and Salt in the color pink. The Focaccia was a bit hard and it gave a good workout to our muscles of mastication. Inspite of the hard nature, we chowed it down as we were really hungry and the taste was quite nice if only it were a little soft.


After a little while came in our Chefs Special Seafood Platter. They had informed us that they were out of Calamari, and asked if we wanted it to be replaced with Fish or Prawns. We chose to have the prawns. Firstly the platter consisted of Grilled Lobster, Prawns and Fish minus the Calamari and also Bruschetta. Positives first, the Grilled Lobster Prawns and the Fish were just divine. A dash of the garlic sauce made it spectacular. The negative it again comes down to the bread which was really really hard.


Chowing down the starters we served our main course which was just spectacular to look at. Amazing plating work. Cajun was mildly infused into the chicken. The king of the dish was the mango puree and the way it complimented the chicken was just fantastic. The mashed potatoes were nice, but I did find them a little clumpy.


Finally we had a Tiramisu to finish off the meal. The ladyfingers were just fantastic, great infusion in them and the mascarpone was just WoW!

All in all I, loved the entire meal despite the minor hiccups.

Ambiance:
The outdoor ambiance looked fantastic, but we chose to dine indoors as it was a bit sultry. Indoor is nice mix of contemporary with elegant Indian wood work. Big marks for this mix

Service:
They were attentive. But they did inform us before hand that they would a little longer than regular restaurants to serve. As all the time goes into wiping us a mind blowing meal.

Price:
This meal for two cost Rs 1800/-

Food - 8/10
Ambiance - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Price - 7.5/10

Disclaimer : I paid for the meal.

Le Dupleix is located Caserne Street in Pondicherry.

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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.