Friday, January 9, 2009

New Yorker - Nungambakkam

okie dokie

Wats with american n all? i don understand y this place is called the new yorker.. this is a restaurant in the lines of creme centre and bombay blue and for that matter i dono y these restaurants r called so either! So lets forget the name.. the ambiance is nice.. service is ok..

i ve been to this place couplea yrs bak with a mood for something american and was disappointed havin a panneer sandwich or something.. So i decided to skim thro the menu this time .. labanese mexican italian indian and chinese.. they ve got a combo of typical fried rice and gobi too! Obv i decided to try the american platter for starters, which had onion rings, mexican tikka (rofl) and yummy cheese corn balls. To be honest, it was actually satisfying than i thought, tasty! But hell i made the mistake of ordering quesidilla (i remember eating a good baritto here once). But this so-called quesidilla was hard and crisp indian roti stuffed with capsicum. All the love i ever had for quesdilla jus vanished and decided never to come bak.

Somehow the baritto was almost authentic and the russian salad was pretty good too. Last but not the least the Very strawberry soda was so sexy i burrped it in till the last drop. So m totally confused... if ur lucky u cud have a good meal here, if not curse ur luck and the cook!

Ambiance - 4/5

Food - 3.5/5?

Service - 3.5/5 (one of those place with waiters that look north-eastern (to be politically corect!) and don speak a word to u nor reply bak wen u ask for something as tho ur speakin latin)

Price - A sure 500 for a couple with drinks (non-alcoholic)

Will i ever go back? - if m outa choices and m in nungambakkam area... yea mayb

New Yorker
146, Nungmbakkam high road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
Phone 42049300, 42061929


If you'd like to taste how indianised international food tastes, u can have a variety from around the world here!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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....

Sunday, January 4, 2009

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!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Vasanth Dhaba - Velachery

Worth a try

You will not believe how crowded this place is, u will have to wait atleast 15 minutes for a table. The few tables in front of vasanth super market might make you think that its just a fast food in front of the shop where ppl grab a bite wen they visit. But no! this place seems to be a centre for bachelors and northies in the area who miss dhaba food. Vasanth seems too south indian a name to be named for a dhaba tho, i guess its jus cos its in Vasanth apts!

The gr8 smell that grabs you into the place, even if u have to wait and the fast service by the few waiters there make it all worth, sitting in the open-air eating food from dirty tables. Now even dhabba express has dirty tables and plates/spoons, so i guess it has to be there to bring in the authentic dhaba atmosphere! The food is good and the starters viz chilli gobi, paneer pakoda, etc. are typical and tasty. The aloo parata is good too, lassi was not anything unique. The roti chawal plate is not worth it since its not the best place to eat rice. Try just the roti plate with 5 soft rotis, one dal and one aloo gravy, really filling. They also have fruit juices and chaat items.

The price is ok, cheap as expected. The service is good for such crowd, cud be faster with more wait staff. Its worth visiting if u dont want to go beyond velachery and don wanna spend on 'The Dhaba' either!

Ambiance - 2/5

Service - 3.5/5

Food - 3.5/5

Price - 150 bucks max a couple for a complete tummy fill

Will i ever go back? - Mayb wen m that side on work, and the smell makes me hungry!

Vasanth Dhaba
G" - Block, Vasanth Apartments,

Tharamani Link Road,
Velachery, Chennai - 600042

I need to try out the chaat items here soon, lookin inviting :)

Monday, December 29, 2008

Bosottos Bros - Nungambakkam

3-in-1 fun ...

If u just have a few minutes to grab lunch or not as hungry to go to a restaurant or jus in the mood for some quick bites.. this is the place to b in nungambakkam. Its best when ur all alone n not comfy to go sit in a restaurant n look at blank faces staring at u.

There are three things bout the place. One: the bakery which used to be better before, i am not really sure wen it was moved to the basement. I remember eating one of the best egg puffs in the city in here years ago. I guess now its majorly for cake orders, somehow its not very inviting to go to the half-empty lookin bakery in the basement. The road-stall juice shop has stolen the show now, tho u've to sit on stools in the pavement, it is always crowded mostly with college kids. They have a good variety of juices broght to you nice and chill in a min, they also serve sandwiches, soups and filter coffee. I like the soup here a lot.

The best part is the chaatwala next door. Since he doesnt have an address, he is famous as the chaat stall next to bosotto bros and mostly ppl eat here n have a drink in the juice shop. The pani puri here is gr8 i wudnt rate it as the best in chennai tho.

The prices are exactly what u can expect in a bakery and juice shop unlike 'cakes and bakes' located a few buildings away, worse in ambiance n food n price than this simple road-side place. So we have a very clear choice here, as we can see...

Ambiance - 3/5 ... Seriously not bad for a road side stall, wudve given 4 if not for the bakery at the basement now!

Food - 3.75/5 m gettin miser by the day eh!

Service - 4/5 for Instant service! Don expect 4 star treatment :P

Price - 100 to 150 for a couple... more if you wanna hog on a lota chaat

Will i ever go back? - the juices are my regular but the chaat... no i don think i ll do that part again!

Bosottos Bros
61/28A, Nungambakkam High Road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 28276797, 28275547


I should warn you the chaats are damn too spicy, so yea ppl do rush to the juice shop immediately!

Monday, December 15, 2008

10 Downing Street - T.Nagar

Now that's what i call a pub!

What a relief to Chennai's dying nightlife! Something with class is here on offer, right from the entry where they make sure to check your ID, to real-time bouncers, to the dark typical classic-pub ambiance with secluded booths. I rem many places that opened up with class but went down the drain soon, losing sophistication. Somehow 10D seems promising enough to keep it going.

Perfect, is the word wen u look at the menu. An awesome lot to drink and eat. The cocktails don stop with the regular bloody mary, screwdriver and long island iced tea like many other pubs in the city. They have innovative drinks and the cosmopolitan is to die for. They have specials everyday and looks like ladies drink most drinks on the house on Wednesdays. But i heard there is some restrictions on that one.. not sure yet...

The service is not bad, but definitely doesn't reflect the standards of the pub. The waiter was a lil weird n non-professional, also we never received an item we almost asked for 10 times. Oh that is the masala peanut which would've been served on the house if its another place. That reminds me, there is absolutely no snacks on the house! yea, nothing at all. But for the food, the potato wedges and the cheese omelete are yummmmmm! Heard the non-veg is great too. They have a pub lunch and my guess is it shud b equally good, if the same chef is gonan do it for u.

Ambiance - 5/5

Food - 4.5/5

Service - 3/5

Price - How much do u drink? Anyways the food is expensive... be sure to hand out atleast 2000 bucks for a couple... if u wanna eat too...

Will i go back again? - a very good choice to take your guest whose new to the city i wud say...

10 Downing Street
#50, Kences Inn Boutique Hotel,
North Boag Road, T Nagar,
Chennai - 600017
Phone 28152152, 28113004, 43546565

Oh mind you, its a perfect pub is what i said, so dont be disappointed looking a great dance floor!

Friday, December 12, 2008

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?
 
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