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!

Saravana Bhavan - K.K. Nagar

Can close my eyes and say, its HSB!

I guess this is the first of the saravana bhavans in the city or atleast one of the first ones that started cos the class is apparent in it! The downstairs as in any south indian restaurant is non ac and u can have juices and fast food items here. I've tried the cakes and the juices, perfect quality as expected. They even have sweets and a bakery here. The a/c dining in the first floor is very nice with a class of service and ambiance.

The food is yummy, no doubts its HSB! My favorites are paneer biryani (must try), poori, the 5-idlis (so soft, cant find it newhere else except hsb), chilli parata, ofcourse the fresh juices and rose milk. The icecreams and esp the kulfi is great here! To experience class in south indian food, vast menu and food so tasty u ll wanna try it all, anytime hsb in the best and this is one of the best ambiances u can find in all the hsb's in the city!

i dono y ratna cafe and murugan idli shop are even compared! They are so dirty and horrible in service, the taste of food depends on ur luck, no consistency that is! Mayb namma veedu vasanth bhavan or sangeetha can come close in quality, but havent seen any place beat HSB yet...

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 5/5

Service 4/5

Price - you can snack at 100 to 150 per couple or hog urself away to close to 500 bucks...

Will i ever go back? - Yea to all the branches, always!

Saravana Bhavan
B-55, Ashok Pillar Road,
K.K. Nagar, Chennai - 600078
Phone 24745577

HSB sweeps the number one spot in south-indian food anytime without doubts....

MMMafia - R. A. Puram

Do you know sign language?

Well.. we actually stopped to get into grains of paradise (peppers) but since the crowd there scared us of the waiting time that mite follow, we unanimously decided to try italian on the next floor since indian seemed boring now! Spotless white decor kinda looked elegant but the curtains and the wall cushions almost made it look like a hospital?..

The worst is yet to come.. the service! what the hell is rong with the management? cant they find someone who can .. for god's sake atleast.. speak? u don need to kno italian but atleast english? it is impossible to communicate to the waiters, seriously there were some 20 of 'em and not one cud speak loudly leave alone speak english. Noone knew anything bout the menu, neither could they understand wat we were tryin to say/ask! We lost all the energy that we gained by eatin trying to get some service! I can find u ppl in chennai who are lookin for jobs!

Comin to the food, i was almost ready to tick it off, pissed with the service. They brought the chili flakes in oil (which btw was not olive oil) and never gave bread on the house. When i asked a waiter, he shaked his head insensibly and walked away! But hey the food was actally great, as much as i wish it wasnt! The soup was too damn yummy to even let go of the last sip. The pizza (fantasia) where we removed coriander and added red pepper and pineapple was crispy and yummy! But it took us 30 mins to explain the toppings to the waiter.. no m not exaggerating! The MMafia pasta (spaghetti) was yummy too! Finally we found the manager who could comprehend the Queen's language a little and asked if we cud get bread but that person marketed a stuffed-bread starter which we were not very happy to have after the main course and so returned without eating. But hell we were charged on the bill and then removed after 30 to 40 mins of notice! If you dont have a lota time (and energy) in hand, don even consider this place...

Oh yea, all of a sudden the manager rushes with napkins and runs across our table laying it on our laps without an 'excuse me' or 'sorry'. Oh i forgot they don speak here! and this was just before desserts. After a good laugh, we asked for the desserts menu but it was cruly denied to us since we returned the stuffed garlic bread. We had to order caramel pudding as they said tiramisu wasnt available. But the geloto that was also not available to us was available to the next table! Well, its ok to lose yummy food but am not going here again! Ah btw, for the quantity served, the prices are ridiculous, even Osteria (which i heard is awesome) is cheaper it seems!

Ambiance - Frankly am confused :D so lets be safe and fair and say 3/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 2/5

Price - Definitely more than 1000 bucks with desserts (if available) for a couple

Will i go back again? - Not really, too many options are there now for veggie yummy italian.. there is still Osteria to try!

MMMafia
105, Chamiers Road,
2nd floor, R.A.Puram,
Chennai - 600028
Phone 64587777

But on second thoughts, its the ambiance and service that puts me off.. any chances of door delivery of the yummy food?

Balaji Sandwich Stall - Egmore

Egg n cheese go good together

well if u did ur schooling or college in chennai, m sure u kno this place that sells the best sandwich in the city. I would go to the extent of saying that alsa mall gains crowd jus cos ppl come to to this road side stall that now has a big menu with increased prices.. hmm who doesnt fall for fame.. n yea y not? CCD inside alsa mall shud stop sellin those namesake sandwiches atleast in this outlet.

The ambiance is ofcourse roadside, maybe in your bike/car. So make urself comfortable. The price is obviously cheap, though its increased now still its the saviour of college kids and teenagers. There is complementary cucumber with chaat masala which is sooo yummy u wud long to get somemore. The sandwiches are the tastiest in town, literally makes ur mouth water and the green chutney is the culprit i think. My fav is the egg and cheese with the chutney, but also like masala sandwich, veg and cheese, boiled egg sandwich, egg and cheese again without the chutney.

Ambiance - You talkin to me?

Food - 5/5

Service - 4/5

Price - Less than 50 bucks for a couple :D if u dare to stop there!

Will i go back there? - Well i do all the time...

Balaji Sandwich Stall
Next to Alsa mall,
149, Montieth road,
Egmore, Chennai - 600008

Oh did i mention the egg and cheese? oh man egg and cheese sandwich it is...

Kumarakom - Velachery

Keralicious and more!

Great food Less expensive! A good place for the localites of Velachery to grab a quick and easy dinner while shopping in the so-many new outlets opened lately. Typical Kerala food. The appam is great. Try the egg fry and biryani and ofcourse the puttu and kadla curry or the stew. I prefer it with sugar tho! Yummy Yummy!

Dont miss the paratta that comes at 10 bucks, it's the softest i've known and i can eat a dozen of it! The place is definitely a delight for the fish eaters tho it does serve a variety to the veg/eggaterian tongues! Best thing about the restaurant is that it doesn't just serve kerala food but stuff like rotis, naan and the north indian gravies are awesome. I usually prefer only the specialities in a place but this one is an exception! I make sure to order some north indian items on the menu too. My only regret is that avial and some other mallu specialities are available only with the meal in lunch time and i mostly get to go only for dinner!

Service is very friendly and ambiance is pleasant too. The waiters do offer music to the ears quite literally. But some people say that its a CD player thats doin the work actually. I am not really sure about this. As for me, everything is yummy here and i jus love to hog and don really care bout nething else!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 4/5

Service - 4/5

Price - 200 to 300 for a couple for yummy tummy-filling food!

Kumarakom
Velachery Tambaram Road,
Vijayanagar Extn,
Velachery, Chennai - 600042
Phone 42022277, 43036570,
9840738200, 9840081852

I always have an ice-cream and walk out with a smile whenever i dine here :)

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!

Subway - Nungambakkam

Lipsmacking lettuce!

I know what you are thinking! How can something as boring as lettuce be lipsmacking? trust me i have never had such fresh crunchy yummy lettuce (dripping is an awesome honeymustard/sweet onion sauce) in my life. The salad at the subway in nungambakkam is to die for, though am not a big fan of their 'Indianised' version of subs which is nothing like the actual ones. You find it funny to see words like 'tikka' in an American fast food.

They let you add any sub pattie to your salad which adds to the taste. Btw, the sweet onion sauce is fat-free which is so not believable cos it tastes really good. I have always wondered why health food never taste good and tasty food never seem healthy. Guess I found a solution, this place is hidden somewhere in wallace street (road parallel to Khader Nawaz Khan road) in Nungambakkam but its worth searching for and payin 145 bucks for a veggie salad if not everyday atleast once in a while. Of course, the ice tea at subway is the best u can get in India. It also gives a good mood uplift cos of its ambiance which seems fresh too. I would not recommend the subway counter at the citi centre food court, it definitely is not so impressive.

Ambiance - 4.5/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 4/5

Price - 300 bucks for a couple

Will i go back - Definitely wish i cud go everyday but beware they almost charge us in dollars!

Subway
2, Crystal Lawn,
Wallace Garden 2nd street,
Nungambakkam,
Chennai - 600034
Phone : 42038800, 28111177

There is a fat-free Italian gelato counter inside ... have a healthy and yummy feast all-together!

Benjarong - Alwarpet

It IS simply WOW!

This place is just awesome in every way. Its probably the best restaurant i been to in chennai. First of all it has a different cuisine - Thai, which is getting popular only in recent times in Chennai. The ambiance is great and the service is just so wonderful you feel like a queen! The place is a bit expensive, but that comes for the premium quality food, service and ambiance i guess, its fair.

As for the food, its so yummy you can never get enough. Forgive my ignornace but the Thai names are too much to rem after so long and i don think its of any use unless i explain the ingredients in it. So lemme say in simple english, the beetle leaf thing they give in the beginning complimentary is awesome I loved it.

The pineapple fried rice is sweet but it is a must try here. I've been longing to have one like it since i had it and havent food an equal yet. I heard Lotus at The Park has awesome Thai food, shud try once. The noodles i had was a thick flat one and wasnt too impressive. The Thai red curry was perfect too. Wish I had space for some desserts cos they really sounded unique and yumm on the menu card but then i was too greedy about the food and had no choice but let go of the desserts. Went there again with a huge group of friends and had the same problem wen we reached desserts!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 4.5/5

Service - 4.5/5

Price - 500 for a couple (definitely more with desserts)

Will i ever go back? - Yes i will .. wen i itch for some yummy thai food (and cant afford the park)

Benjarong
146, TTK Road,
Alwarpet,
Chennai - 600018
Phone 24322640, 42110061

If you ever get to taste the desserts, do lemme kno how it is....

JC Cafe - Nungambakkam

Surprise to the taste buds!

To be honest, I was a little skeptical when i entered this new cafe named 'Jesus Christ' with religious affiliation written all over it. The place looks like a house, calm and empty from the outside, you'll never know there's a cafe unless through word of mouth.

So I walk in reluctantly into this 'house', through the couches and tables, with bibles and missionary books lying around and a tv with gospel music playing ofcourse. Talk about feelin at home, you can just laze around in the couches here, don expect the 'remote' to be urs tho. The menu seemed unexpectedly vast with sandwiches, pastas, lasagna, desserts, juices, and combos of these.

The service is very good, with the waiter even remembering your name, its next to eating at a friend's. But I am not convinced until i taste the bread! and u wud never think that 'food' would be the usp of such a place. But hell it is! The first bite of french fries changed my entire perception. It's the best fries i ve had in years, esp. in India. The veggie sandwich had perfect mayanoise in it to gratify my tongue. The cheese on the lasagna has a lingering taste to it that tickles your tongue for more.

The combo offer was a little confusing tho. It could be more lunch-friendly. Anyways, it has a soup/juice, an entree, fries/bread, juice/icecream. Although, we were a little filled by then already, we made a good decision to order for the speghetti! It was simply perfect! No kidding, but even the strawberry icecream had an extra flavor to it! The juice glasses could've been a bit bigger. As for the price, its not too expensive, totally worth whatever it is.

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 5/5

Service - 4.5/5

Price - Say 200 to 250 per couple? its a good deal if u take the combo..

Will i go back? - Sure wen i want to grab a bite and have some lone time

JC Cafe
No.10, Jagannathan street,
Nungambakkam,
Chennai - 600034
Phone - 64610767

Only wish they play something else on TV.. i wud go more often to hang-out!

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...

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!