There is lot of chat about eating healthy and living healthy.  I  believe eating just salads for one meal a day everyday, should help our body detox and also give the necessary fibre content.

Since I love salads, I joined Mr. Food in Chennai for a Salads only lunch at The Dining Room at Park Hyatt. They have priced these innovative healthy salads deal at Rs 450 + taxes for each salads. To accompany the salads, they do have a selection of healthy drinks as well.

Food:
Without further ado, I ll talk about the food. The salads are normally put into single bowl and served. Here they decided to give it a twist by deconstructing it. Yes this was my 1st deconstructed salad. Also my first experience on the different preparation styles of a salad.

The Dining room wipes out the deconstructed salad in


- Roasted
which was made of baby beetroot, fennel, apple, celery, walnut, orange, arugula and goat cheese




- Blanched
asparagus, mango, snow peas, shaved carrot, scallions and toasted hazelnuts



- Tossed
made of quinoa, avocado, cherry tomatoes, parsley mint, toasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower cress



- Smashed
which contains edamame and broccoli spread, roasted garlic lemon, ricotta and pumpernickel toast


- Grilled
which was made of eggplant, chickpeas, dates, honey, chilli, feta, pomegranate, pine nut and fresh herbs.

One can top them of with the addition of non-veggies

- Smoked Salmon
- Seared Tuna
- Poached Egg
- Chicken Breast

To accompany these and wash them down, a selection of healthy drinks.



- Watermelon Smoothie
Fresh watermelon, yoghurt and honey

- Skin Tonic
Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro, Lime and Pineapple

- Spark
Almond, milk, avocado, vanilla bean and banana

- Energiser
Apple, Kiwi, Lime, Spinach, Celery and honey

&

- Bello
Banana, spinach, coconut, cashew and coconut cream

I had bit of all the salads and the drinks. Personally I have never had a blanched salad. I was pleasantly surprised about the flavours. A small amount of mango also does wonders. My personal favourite of the lot was the Grilled Salad. It had a heavy mediterranean influence. Something like the hummus. Loved it. Between the Smoked Salmon and the Grilled Chicken, I somehow ended up liking the chicken, in spite of me being a Salmon lover. Plenty of drinks to combine with the salads and my personal pick was the Bello - you cant even feel the spinach in it, which is the best part.

These amazing selection of salads are available between 21st April to 28th April for both lunch and dinner at The Dinning Room and for dinner at Flying Elephant - Park Hyatt.

Ambiance:
Lovely ambiance with a fantastic view. Great place to unwind after a hard days work

Price:
A lovely healthy meal for two should cost Rs 1800/- odd.

Disclaimer : Invited review

Park Hyatt is located on the entrance of Velachery High Road on Guindy.

If you like what you are reading, Please share it with others.

*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.

Looks like Burgers have become the HoT!! commodity in Chennai. Every new joint which pops up wants to fill this lacunae. Thanks to this thought,  we have loads of Burger Joints. One of the latest entrant to the scene is Double Roti. After establishing a strong base in Guragon, they have moved to the best city in India, Yes!! Namma Singara Chennai!!!

Food:
I had a small meet-up with a bunch of foodies after days work, my first outing in months. I must thank Fazil (Mr. Food in Chennai) for waiting patiently till the time I was available to try this joint. Since I am a burger lover. Even known in some food circles as Shadir " The Burger" Bughari, this joint which people have been raving about was on my must have list.


Our order for the evening was a Single Patty Illegal Burger / Barely Legal Burger, then a double patty of the same, a 4th of July Burger and finally the drinks which were Oreo O Oreo Shake, Killer Chocolate Shake and two other shakes whose names, I am unable to recollect. In between all this there was Beef Chilli Fries

Firstly let me get the Fries part done. I have been waiting to see if someone does this concept of topping a meat onto fries in India. Thank heavens it has finally happened. I must say they have got it right. Beef is based on steak sauce with kidney beans and small amount of chilli flakes. People who love HEAT, please you will be like, what, where and stuffs. The BEST fries I have had in a long while. I was simply mind blown. The beef gravy was similar in taste to Turkey Roast ( New Year ) special at Hotel Blue Diamond.


Now coming to the drinks. It was humongous. Freakishly Large jars!! I bet you I did not expect em to be served in  such a big jar for that price. Taste - Devine! Very much up the alley of Sandys and Mocha. I only happened to taste the chocolate shakes, but WoW! will be a understatement.


Finally coming to Burgers. I ll start by dissecting the burger into parts. Buns - Perfect, held together, until the last bite. Soft at the same time fresh. Cheese, Mayo and the Meat - Tick, tick, tick. Right proportions, quantity and color. Now comes the time to test. Firstly the Illegal Burger / Barely Legal Burger. One bite instant FOODGASAM! you are transported to new realm. Best Beef burger. This tops my list as the best burger in town. The 4th of July Burger on the other hand a lamb burger, was similar to the ones I have had at Gallopin Gooseberries many decades ago. I did notice some kidney beans in the burger as well. Maybe its Double Roti's way of serving veggies to pure blooded CARNIVORES!



While having these burgers I could only think of one thing over and over again. The episode in " How I met your Mother" where Marshall hunts for the best burger in New York. I feel I had the similar happiness in the end.

To sum up - Best Burger Joint in the city. One cannot call himself a BURGER lover if he misses this joint.

Ambiance:
It is a small 30 seater restaurant, with loud music, very much like pub minus the alcohol. The major minus is that the place lacks parking space and you have to park on the road. Also now that this place has a huge fan following, getting a seat is really difficult.

Service:
Is fast and courteous. They make sure you do not leave the restaurant hungry.

Price:
This meal for the four of us was Rs 1850/- which I felt was quite reasonable in this day and age, also we were like really stuffed when we left.

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

Disclaimer - I paid for the meal

Double Roti is located in Cenotaph Road, Teynampet .

If you like what you are reading, Please share it with others.

*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.

Auroville, is a place were people come in search of peace and well being.But this was not the case for my bunch of friends. The first word which came out of my BF's mouth was Pasikuthu ( I am Hungry). This was inspite of us having a heavy lunch at Promenade. So we walked into the Dreamers Cafe. This is located inside Auroville visitors center.





Food:
 Since my friend and I are coffee lovers, we ordered a Cafe Latte, while the others ordered a Watermelon Juice. Then we saw Chocolate Mint Brownie and Biscotti we had one of each.

The Latte was decent, a little Indianzied for taste. The Chocolate Mint Brownies are to die for. Super gooey, very rich and has a minty effervescence. WOW!!! I would not mind driving all the way for these delights. The watermelon juice was neat. But I am pretty sure nothing beats the brownie.

Ambiance:
The cafe is more like a shack with a few seating around it.

Service:
NA

Price:
In total for the various portions of coffee and juices it brought a total of Rs 430/-

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

Dreamers Cafe is located inside Auroville which is a few kilometers away from Pondicherry.

A sweet tooth craving and a need to hangout with friends, led to us to Hajjiali's outlet at North Boag Road. It was quarter past 11pm and the place was still buzzing with activity. Small children screaming and love birds cuddling, the place was alive. We walked up the winding staircase and sat in the corner and waited to place our orders.



Food:
After a brief browse of the menu, we settled for Kesar Falooda and a Strawberry with Cream. Service was quick, with both the deserts arriving well under ten minutes. Cream & Strawberry was my clear favorite. The strawberry was fresh, cream was thick and sweet, combination blissful. I really would not mind having one more of these. The falooda which was served in a tall glass, with generous helping of tapioca, vermicelli, jelly and kesar ice cream. Looked fabulous, tasted great, but after having the strawberry with cream I just could not fall in love with the falooda.

Ambiance:
The ambiance is neat and pleasant. They should work to put out new cards, they look abused.

Service:
The waiters are really patient and helpful. They answer our queries with a big smile even at 11pm.

Price:
The overall bill for the two deserts was Rs 235/-, though slightly expensive, a very good experience and a good place to hangout.

Food - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Service - 8/10
Price - 7/10

Hajjiali's is located on North Boag Road next to Cafe Coffee Day.