Sangeetha Desi Destination - Adyar

Chettinad Treat

If you are a veggie and u miss chettinad food, which generally consists of a lota meat, forget karaikudi! there is sangeetha adyar with veg chettinad tiffun items, made classically and served unconventionally. The place is always crowded so be ready to wait for sometime, nothing good comes for free, does it? and one more thing is chettinad items are available only after 4 30 as those are snack items. So as such the place is good for dinner than lunch, since they also have some specials for each day.

The most mouth-watering dishes here are paniyaram (salt) and the cauliflower masal dosa (the best i've ever had). There is also palpaniyaram on somedays and chettinad idli is great too. The unavailability of certain items everyday creates the whole craving i guess. I dono why, maybe they are holding supply to increase demand. But i think the demand is great already and i hope they serve everything everyday.

The ambiance is much more sophisticated than any other sangeetha in chennai. Other than the chettinad items, the usual pulao, chenna batura, ghee dosa, quick lunch, poori, you name it and its yummmmmmmy. There is an unbelievable list of desserts from icecreams to sundaes to juices to what not!

The service is quick and efficient. The price, is just right for the quality, i mean you can taste the quality literally!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 4/5

Price - around 250 to 300 for a couple if u wanna go for desserts

Will i ever go bak? - i go there all the time for their paniyaram!

Sangeetha Desi Destination
1st Main Road, Gandhi Nagar,
Adyar, Chennai- 600020
Phone 24426554, 24426792

I usually make a note of the special item for each day from the menu card and drop in the day i want to!

Ecstasy - Royapettah

Little Ecstasy

I blindly decided to venture this place based on two facts, 1. its inside sathyam cinemas and 2. the reviews i read about it! Maybe I expected a lot too much but the place didnt stay up to a 5 star rating on burrp! The ambiance is elegant and chic definitely, but the place is too small and so is the items on the menu and so is the quantity served.

The waiters/waitresses are too sweet, much sweeter than the apricot ice cream that almost tasted sour! She asked me to try the ginger or vinegar(balsamic) ice cream, wondering how it would've been if apricot was so. All in the name of 'exotic'! The milk ice cream is awesome, a bite of ecstasy finally. The complimentary chocolates were a nice try, it got me in the beginning. But the banana crepe tasted half cooked, and the orange juice was so bitter.

Now, there was no blueberry cheesecake or olive icecream???? as described in other reviews, big disappointment and one more following it was that there was neither ice tea nor cold coffee.. twas all 'hot hot'! Anyways, i think the only positive thing about this place is 'Sathyam'! Its nice to get a cozy place to chill out inside sathyam for a change when you are waiting or out of a movie with a bunch of friends or your date. That explains the cost, they can afford to charge us! The word is Exorbitant! The Darjeeling white tea costs just 220 bucks.. wondering if its a pack of tea? YES me too!

Ecstasy
Sathyam Cinemas
8, Thiru Vi - Ka road,
Royapettah, Chennai - 600014
Phone 43920444

There is a bunch of papers hanging from the lamp where you can post WHATEVER u want.. so we DID!

Any time, GRT Grand - T.Nagar

Duh! Heartbreaker!!
Bad luck befalls good restaurants sometimes; maybe it’s just a day. I wish I could write a review with such generosity, since I had a soft corner for this place. The GRT Grand Days’ lobby buffet ‘Anytime’ has been my ‘Alltime’ favorite. Since 2002 I guess, I’ve been there ‘n’ number of times and it has never let me down. Now what better ‘tried and tasted’ place to recommend to fellow burrpers from all around the country for a meet? How frustrating it is, when you are let down so badly and it involves the ‘food honor’ of the city by itself!

Burrpers from every metro in India graced the GRT Grand Days that weekend, and it was all fun except for the food at ‘Anytime’! I mean, what’s got into these guys? It was probably the best buffet in terms of quality and quantity even until a few months back that I visited. The crowd is still the same as it used to be, lot of family esp. on the weekends. The ambiance is typical, nothing innovative. There is an attempt to sophistication though. The food used to cover up for any other inadequacies here. But it seems the other way now. The service is quick and we were actually offered complimentary ice cream brought right to our room, for providing melted milkshaky ice cream in the buffet.

To be precise, there is nothing left to remember, nothing finger licking.. oh well nothing edible! No wait, I need better words! The starters were ok, weird names and weird tastes, the main course was nothing weird for a change, it was absofreakinlutely boring set of side dishes, some paneer, some okra, some brinjal, some gourd. The gobi pulao had not a single piece of gobi in it and I guess no salt in it either! What I found funny was the ‘Grand’ rice, tasted like a road-side brinji or whatever. Whoever decided to give that rice the signature name! The desserts were not bad, but definitely not the variety there used to be. Only good mention I can give here, is that the Bengali sweets viz. rasagolla, rasamalai, gulab jamun, etc. were awesome.

I didn’t make the mistake of reviewing this place few months back! Shame on you guys, even if it’s for a day, even if you’ve not satisfied a single customer, you are a loser already. But as a genuine patron, am still wondering where has it gone wrong? Has the chef changed? Or has he become really really old?? Whatever! Mainstreet is right next door and serves their buffet hundred bucks less than GRT. I hear the breakfast buffet is good though (continental/south Indian), no reason to be forgiven for letting me down!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 2.5 /5 ( i would ve given a 5 few months ago :( )

Service - 4/5

Price - 1100 and above for a couple

Will i ever go back? - hmm.. tough one! actually yes, i wud like to chek it out again hopin not to be disappointed...ahhh naaa...ahhh..mmmm...

Any time
Hotel GRT Grand,
106 Sir Thyagaraya Road,
T.Nagar, Chennai
Phone 28150500, 28150793

Adios, my old friend!

Cornucopia - Teynampet

Continental cruise needs some housekeeping

The ambiance is getting worse with each time i go. Its dusty and the AC never seems to work. You almost wanna go away but then the food arrives too quickly for you to change your mind. Fast and good service. The starters: Cajun fries (its wedges not fries) but has a nice Cajun flavor to it, the tofu and vegetable roll is average, the steamed veggie roll tastes too good in contrast to how it looks and the hummus is as bland as it should be. The garlic sauce that comes with the starters is great.

The place looks lonely and haunted but before you know there is a big crowd. The main course is not that attractive, very small menu. The only recommendable one is the mixed veg cutlets and the sauce that comes with it. Shashlik is just shashlik and the spinach crepes are inedible. Chuck the main course and go for the desserts as its a chocolate lovers treat (nutty brownies with icecream) and i personally loved the mudpie. By the way, the place is not really as expensive as it seems. Hope they do something about the ambiance soon so i can wholeheartedly recommend the place.

Ambiance - 2/5

Food - 4/5

Service 4/5

Price - Less than a grand for a couple.. with desserts..

Will i go back? - Hmm yea sure... will b happier and content if the ambiance is improved tho...

Cornucopia
30, Cenotaph Road,
Teynampet, Chennai - 600018
Phone: 42059495

Oh yea... meat-eaters will love the main course too i hear.. i mean ... i read :)

Opal Inn, Hotel Ranjith - Nungambakkam

A little more promotion will do the job!

The hotel ranjith has been there right in the centre of the city for years now but somehow it has never been the centre of attraction for the public. It maybe cos of the unattractive looks from the outside and the uninviting sidey look of the Opal Inn restaurant although its well accessible from outside the hotel through a small lane that goes from Nungambakkam high road. But for the real foodies at heart, this place is one of the best in the city...

As I entered, the restaurant did look a little dark and anyone but a patron wud hesitate a moment before they step in. The ambiance is fine-dining, very dim-lit, more for the silent diners. The menu is vast with stuff from regular cauliflower manchurian to veg au gratin. There is a lot for meat-eaters though vegetarians do have options too. The starters sound yummy. Though I was so tempted to order the egg fried rice and some tandoori gravy, the sizzlers caught my attention. There is also a section that says 'meal in itself' where there is shashlik and some continental stuff.

The veg classical steak sizzler was awesome, though it seemed like just aloo pattie in the inside. You mite wanna call it a cutlet except for the sauce on top of it n the sizzling hot tray in comes in with veggies and (soggy) fries. Its huge, yummy and very filling. My friend who had the fish sizzler also thought its awesome and filling. The dessert section is not very wide but the caramel custard managed to attract a person like me who doesnt have a sweet tooth. It was worth it. But the speed in which the food was delivered made me wonder if there is just a microwave in the kitchen, so much for fast service!

Last, the place is a bit expensive, say 200 to 300 for each dish, a meal for two mite reach upto 1000 bucks. But I guess its worth it considering the food and service.

Ambiance - 3/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 4/5

Price - around 800 bucks for a couple

Will i go back? - Definitely need to try everything in the menu, which cant be done in one visit.

Opal Inn
Hotel ranjit,
15 nungambkkam high road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
Phone - 28270521

The ambiance might need a makeover if they wanna grab customers, unless they intentionally want it this way.