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!

ID (Idly & Dosa) - Royapettah

Absolutely loved the ghee roast

The menu card looks like a piece of paper, don get disappointed cos there is so much to taste here! the vada being offered as starters without being ordered for is a very good way to service, tempt at the same time sell! so it was plain vada - yummy!, keera vada - crispy, masal vada - ok!

The ambiance is just breathtakingly classy and chic and u wudnt want to touch ur idli and dosa with ur hands at sucha place! but wat to do, some food are meant to be eaten the way they should be to taste good... so quitting the helpless efforts to eat idli and dosa with a spoon they offer, and without being able to resist the ghee dripping yummy crispy dosa,.. we had to jump in! give a short at everything .. idli - ok, rava idli - not bad, ghee roast - nothing less of heaven, rava roast - heaven again if u like rava, aapam, with coconut milk, stew and theeyal - all yummy... they shud definitely increase their menu soon so people don get bored of havin the same items, considering the fact that most ppl who come here are movie freaks and will return often for sure! there are some south-indian sweets available (i dono y they are called pastries!), weren't that inviting, so let go since we were already greedily stuffin ourselves with the dosas! Also there is of course the mandatory filter coffee, some juice, masala tea and buttermilk, the last one was what i tried and liked it a lot!

Oh yea they definitely need to give finger bowls! m sure they learn that soon, cos their dosa's are so drippin and greasy, and one wudnt want to run to the wash area at other corner in sucha place, fine-dining it seems to be, but fast food is what south indian is known for, a lil confusion here!

as such, the place is perfect!, yummy food, great ambiance, wonderful service and the best of all u wud think this kinda place wud charge u a 100 bux a dosa... but surprise no! everything included for 4 people came up to jus 330 and its a lot lesser than even HSB m sure! so its totally affordable! i think they have clearly seen the need for sucha place in Chennai and has hit the spot rite on!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 4/5

Price - You eat ur stomach full for at the max 200 per couple trust me

Will i ever go bak? - all the time from now on just for the dosas!

ID (Idly & Dosa)
Sathyam cinemas,
1st floor, 8, Thiru-vi-ka Road,
Royapettah, Chennai - 600014

Tho ambiance looks fine-dining, its absolutely typical south-indian experience! Come, eat, relish, get out!

Little Italy Ristorante - Nungambakkam

Got the dough? go ahead!

Little Italy, the leader in the league of vegetarian Italian restaurants cropping up in the city, is situated in the basement of a building u wud never wanna think of having lunch/dinner at. The ambiance is nice fine dining. The waiters are professional. Be warned! Its a freakin expensive place! But for the money we pay, they can atleast buy a generator, the entire basement went dark wen the power went out and all they wud do to help the customers digging into their plates happily, were to hold out ancient outdated emergency lamps..

The food is awesome, i tried the 4 cheese risotto - yummy and heavy, and the mexican starters viz the quesadilla was actually tasting better than the Mexican restaurant in the city, but yea it wasnt realy really authentic tho, but lip-smacking. The drink zig-zag (pronounced chig-chag by the waiter :P) had watermelon n lychee mix and was not good! All items are priced at 300 to 400 in main course, 250 to 300 in the starters and the drinks (non-alcoholic) cost around 100 bucks or more. But yes, you can walk out tummy-filled heavy and content!

It's good to have great Italian food (and Mexican too) after long time, but the power-cut and the HUGE-bill makes me feel not so great about the place, mayb i ll try Osteria next time.

Ambiance - 3.5/5

Food 4.5/5

Service - 4/5

Price - Around 1000 bucks for a couple...

Will i go back? - Yea i will, wen i am really really hungry and have loads of cash!

Little Italy Ristorante
1/2 Eldorado Building,
Nungambakkam High Road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
Phone 42601234

But the eerie memory of a dark basement restaurant mite freak me out nuff to change my mind!

Ahaar, The Residency - T.Nagar

Weirdo

i'm having mixed opinions on this place .. i really dono if i shud recommend it or not..if ur a foodie, as in just bothered bout the food, u can def hit this place, but for me i'm not goin bak here again. But yes the food is awesome and the service is a good attempt too.

My problem is with the ambiance. I expected a three star hotel like The Residency to have a class. There was no lobby, u had to walk-in to a scary sidey looking elevator to reach the first floor or u can climb up the stairs that smells of booze from the bar in there. You enter the restaurant which looks like a plain flat long banquet hall with no interiors made into a restaurant with wooden furnitures and the buffet placed in one corner, there was this carnatic music playing live there, which was more irritating than pleasant. So this 'booth'ish place sure wasnt welcoming nor was the crowd there that looked like middle-aged men who came to drink in the bar and walked in here by mistake. Somehow the atmosphere smelt rusty and antique, not in a good way. We wouldve walked out but for the cake we had ordered already for a friends bday.

The service is good, they gave a quarter kg cake on the house. The manager was very attentive. But somehow the waiters were acting weird, funny and were too eager to serve you well, which was kinda cute n fortunately not disgusting since we were in celebration mood. To sum it up, it wasnt professional, but the food was great.

The buffet has the usual north, south indian and chinese stuff. There was a live aapam counter with awesome coconut milk as side dish. YUMMY. The starters were GR8, the mysore bonda was incredible and the pasta with both white and red sauce were very good too. They had freshly fried potato and banana chips which were mouth watering. The chapathi was bad tho, rubbery. But the tandoori paratta compensated for it. The gravies were paneer, aloo, gobi made very well and some radish peanut innovative thingie which i din like much.

South indian was good too with tangy kozhambu and veggie, curd rice and curd vada both tasted sexy. There was a residency rice, which din deserve the signature name, actually the pineapple rice was diferent and better. Chinese was noodles and a ladies finger in soy sauce. The problem was that the food were arranged in random order, so u cant really get the rite comby to eat. Desserts were the best part, from anything like payasam to custard tasted yummy. The icecreams were very richly flavored too ...

Ambiance - 1/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 3.5/5

Price - 700 per couple

Will i give back again? - If i hear about a renovation, will definitely walk-in without fear!

Ahaar
The Residency
No. 49, G.N.Chetty Road,
T.Nagar,
Chennai - 600 017.
Phone: 044 28253434
http://www.theresidency.com/residency-chennai/chn-ahaar.asp

Dont miss the strawberry icecream...that u jus cant stop eating...

Eden - Besant Nagar

Nothing Special Just Overrated

Good food... Good service... they actually let us cut a cake for a friends bday, make all the noise we want in the center of the restaurant and neatly served us the cake with dessert plates and spoons.. impressive... but the place is very small and always crowded just another restaurant hyped up a lot. Could do better located in a better place and with more space.

I really have nothin else to write about this restaurant thats reviewed the most in Chennai as far as I see... hmm.. yea its good veggie place for family in Bessie.. People keep recommending it for some reason.. Can try once for being in Chennai and for going to Bessie, my fav place in the city, of course!

Ambiance - 3/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 4/5

Price - Probably 500 for a couple? Depends on ur choice of food

Will i go back? - Hmm... if i don need to wait yea.. else there are many places nearby!

Eden
E37, 2nd Avenue,
Besant Nagar,
Chennai - 600090
Phone 24460777

Yay! Dont miss the white-forest cake at Calk Walk downstairs... Yummy!

Olive Garden Vegetarian Eat Out - R. A. Puram

Awesome is the word

Where? It is behind cafe carnival in RA puram.

Find your way through the the small street near by. It is in the 2nd floor of the first building on the left . It is a weird place to get into, you almost want to come back when you are climbing the stairs, but trust me and go ahead its worth it!

When? Go for the sunday lunch buffet around 1 o'clock to get the best dishes they serve in the restaurant.

The ambiance is awesome and very family friendly. The food tastes great, even on any other day of the week but buffet is available only on sunday.

What? One of the very few restaurants in Chennai that does justice to the word 'muticuisine' in my opinion. Whatever you choose is sure to be nice.

My recommendation is the 'quesadillas' (which is available in the lunch buffet) i did not really expect it to be so yumm in a place where Indian food is the main attraction. It is much better than the ones they serve in the so-called authentic Mexican restaurants in the city.

How much? The buffet is actually unbelievably inexpensive. (somewhere around 100 bucks!)

You will want to go back over and over again when you receive your check. The sweet and icecream that comes to your table in the end delights you like you were a 5-year old! Probably the 'a la carte' is a bit expensive but the mouth watering taste overshadows the damages to your wallet.

Who? The applause for the 5 stars i have given goes to the waiters/managers.

The service is too good, even when you take the buffet, you dont feel neglected cos anything you want comes to your table prepared 'hot hot'!

Overall a pleasant dining experience for vegetarians with great food to go with family on a weekend.

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 5/5

Price - Around 400/500 for a couple (Sunday-buffet costs just around 100 bucks/plate!)

Will i go again? - Yes and i will take you too!

Olive Garden Vegetarian Eat Out (Formerly Carnival),
68 CP Ramaswami Road,
Abhiramapuram, (off RA Puram)
Chennai - 600028
Phone 24996839, 24980349

You get to see some local celebs here sometimes :)

Rangoli - Pondy Bazaar

Death by Thali!

I definitely want to start this review quoting that this is by far the best food i have had in the city of chennai. Well no wonder it is from THE Saravana Bhavan, but surprisingly it aint authentic south indian food but tis authentic rajasthani/gujarati food!
Precaution: DO NOT EAT the entire day or if possible the day b4 too, so u have enough space to eat the entire thali. It is unbelievable that sucha high quality tasty fine dining experience at sucha restaurant is available at 170 bucks per thali which is UNLIMITED!

Coming to the food, dont hog on the starters. Beware! There is hella lota stuff comin from the kitchen served hot and yummy by the waiter with so much care as you would treat a guest at a wedding. But yes the starters are the yummiest of all especially the Veg roll and the Dhokla (irresisable)! The jal jeera with boondi is gr8 too.

The Thali has chapathi, poli, some 4 to 5 variety of side dishes like paneer butter masala, mixed dal gravy, a special sweet rajasthani gravy(which is too good). kesari, srikand, pickles(not the usual boring ones), and a lot more i cant remember now! Then comes hot hot puris, the dal kichdi and biriyani. After all this the waiter asks you if you need white rice for your curd (btw curd is too good dont miss it). Finally you get a pan too. But trust me, it is too hard to stop eating.
Nobody can not be stuffed with this meal not just because of the quantity but also the quality. Man! I can keep on writing let me stop here!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 5/5 (can i give a 6/5?)

Price - around 350 per couple and its freaking inexpensive considering the thali!

Service - 5/5 (feel like a princess!)

Will i go back again? - Yes i have already many times!

Rangoli
Hotel Saravana Bhavan
102, Sir Thyagaraya Toad,
Pondy Bazaar, T.Nagar,
Chennai - 600017

Go for dinner so you can have the poli and dal kichdi too!

Cholayil Sanjeevanam - Nungambakkam

For all you health conscious ppl out there...

I was just riding through Nungambakkam looking for a NEW place to have my lunch. Suddenly i c a board popping outa nowhere saying sanjeevanam HEALTH restaurant! Now wat is that? Novelty! That is one good thing bout this place. A must try atleast once for everyone. Mind you, it is a health conscious restaurant dont expect a treat for your tongue here. and all you dieters NO NO this is not a reduce-belly-fat-in-10-days way of eating, its just a balanced diet.

Ok so i enter and the ambience is kewl fine dining with a lot of 'oldies' eating in banana leaf (i love it) but the atmosphere is completely sophisticated. The lunch they suggest for you is called the Rajakeeyam meals. First they serve you with banana and coconut and some 5 variety of juices which has to be taken in the order you are told to! i guess it included a nut milk, veg clear soup, bran milk, etc. everything except the nut milk was tasty.

Only after this the banana leaf is brought and served. One row of uncooked veggies (salad, raitha, puttu, etc.), one row of semi-cooked veggies (okra, olan, theeyal, etc.) and one row of cooked veggies (avial, thogayal, kootu, etc.). Now i dono what the puttu was doing in the veggies but that was the first thing i was asked to eat. The theeyal and thogayal were awesome. Everything else was typical Kerala style almost tasted home made. Things i skipped are keerai, banana stem kari, etc. Then comes rice (red and white) with sambhar, rasam, morkozhambu and buttermilk (not curd). I couldnt handle the red rice and since i already ate the veggies alone dint have much space to eat the white rice either.

In the end you need to drink payasam and a spoon of honey. Since i am not a very 'sweet' person I decided not to have it and the waiter called the manager. For a minute i freaked out thinking he was gonna force me to have it. For foodies like us who dont like to be told what to eat, this is not the place!

Anyways, this place is really nice, the meal costs 123 bucks including tax and the service is very good. If you dont want to go for this meal, you do have other options like a normal Indian restaurant in the menu too

Ambiance - 5/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 5/5

Price - 250 to 300 for a meal for two

My favourites - Rajakeeyam meals, evening snacks, health drinks

Will i go back? - Hit the place often for lunch, wen i urge a healthy meal..

Cholayil Sanjeevanam
97, Old No.45, Nungambakkam High Road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
Phone 64508427, 64508428

Pamper yourself with an ayurvedic massage if you please!