Mundane Musings

There have been quite a few restaurants I had visited these few months that have so thoroughly satisfied my food cravings. "Quite a few" is pretty big for me as against the ordinary number which stands pretty much at one or zero a month. First on my list of visit-again restaurants is Fromage. Not just for their great mango mojito and beef lasagna, but also to re-order a few other items which were a blur on my taste buds leaving just a tantalizing promise of flavours I could have enjoyed if not for the boisterous company. A visit to Fromage materialized when the darling husband read about it on a friend's FB post and shared it with me. I don't need much incentive to check out a restaurant...especially one serving Continental food. So up I jumped and planned a Sunday lunch with two other friends before S could get cold feet. Off we went from Kilpauk, all the way to MRC Nagar, a good 15 kms away to try a restaurant that had 'cheese' in its name. I h...

S and I, who have had helped improve business of many establishments during our dating days, are finding it very difficult to ease into the dining scene after the brief hiatus brought in by our little Anakutti. Eating out has yielded pretty unsatisfactory results with very few restaurants deeming a second visit. I can't help but wonder if it has become the norm for restaurants to dish out mediocre stuff and make the diner feel privileged to part with his hard earned money that may have not been worth the dining experience. Take the case of Double Roti in Anna Nagar East. This restaurant chain has been touted as the best sandwich/burger joint to have happened to Chennaiites and we were expected to feel happy that they had graced us with their presence. (Oh how I miss good ol Mash, this side of town).This Delhi based restaurant has earned rave reviews on Zomato, which is soon proving to be a not so trustworthy review site for a 40 year old foodie. People have been raving abou...

The new cafe on the block (Anna Nagar East), Tea Trails is un-apologetically tea-centric. I don't think I have come across a menu book just for tea in a long while. Though it is a boon to tea drinkers, this may put off quite a few of the non-tea drinkers or the non-tea aficionados, but only until they come to the 'chai' page. What a selection! Rubbing shoulders with the delicate green teas and black tea choices was this intriguing list of milky tea (chai). I don't enjoy tea if it doesn't have proper milk and masala in it, as I can't for the life of me deduce the delicate differences in the aroma/ flavour of these brewed beverages. And since I can make a mean chai myself, I make do with the various hot and cold coffee options offered across cafes in the city. There are very few joints however that do serve the obsequious milk tea with masala, but that is about the one option. Here, there is a whole page dedicated to 'chai' - a whole page. There is adhra...

This is my second visit to this much talked about, gone so-many-times-that-people-don't-even-want-to- talk-about-it place :-D. But what has given me the confidence to write about it is the relative ignorance of my friends living abroad to good eating joints in Chennai when they come down for a visit. Perhaps this post will help them narrow down their eating options. Bombay Brasserie (BB) is a part of M Mahadevan's long list of restaurants. He is the man behind Hot Breads and subsequently of other successful restaurants which he partnered with others in order to diversify and thereby create job opportunities to people. Oriental cuisines will resonate with people as it has all fabulous eateries under its umbrella - Zara, Benjarong, Ente Keralam, French Loaf, Wang's Kitchen, Teppan, Planet Yumm. His latest endeavour, The Writer's Cafe which I have not yet got the opportunity to visit, employs burn victims. The man is known for his Midas touch, and not all of it seems ...

One could probably stumble over Al Maza restaurant on a chance browsing of Zomato for restaurants in Anna Nagar (E) to satisfy a weekend high calorie crave or while walking through or driving through the shady roads of the quiet colony where it resides and even then would find it difficult to complete their intention as the entry to the restaurant is very ambiguous. Not until recently, when the husband made a visit to pick up a large order, did he demystify it for me. The restaurant sits on the first floor of a building and the entrance is from the side through a flight of steps. Ok, go ahead and judge me, but wait till you find yourself there and cast about for those very stairs. Since Ana's entry into our lives, we have really not gone out to eat much and that meant missing out on a lot of good places to eat...I mean it, a lot of restaurants that would otherwise had been ticked off with serious diligence have gone unnoticed. And before you ask? We find it comfortable and ea...

Did the chicken come first or the egg? Similar existential questions were asked in our Food Service Management class back in college. Will you patronize a restaurant regularly , because the food is good or because the service is good? There was always a possibility of a good debate when this question was thrown to us. Since we were in college and since budgets were virtually non-existent, our arguments had to be largely based on our experience of the college canteen food or of one of the affordable eateries dotting the road. It’s anyone’s guess that these places are notorious for repeat visits mainly due to lack of other options better suited to the pocket and…let’s face it… the rather unique experience. In other words, the ambiance and the ‘superlative’ service we were accorded.   I can’t forget the number of times we have sat in the sweltering heat of our college canteen, sharing one Pepsi and soggy bhelpuri among half a dozen of us. Our taste buds had not yet progressed fr...

I'm presently reading Vir Sanghvi's Rude Food (2004) and I am thoroughly enjoying his sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes blunt account of the food he has eaten in India and around the world. He is a bit of a kill joy though, for people who aspire to write about food, as he includes so many minute details about hotels and their chefs, food served in higher end hotels, the staffs' service, the kind of wine to drink, the foods to stay clear off for the weak-hearted in other countries, they best way to cook a truffle, truth about caviar and whew...what not. And all this, in his inimitable style that very clearly defines the title of the book. Sample this: I've never eaten a raw durian. Believe me, I've tried. But the smell (like a dead rat decomposing in a pool of vomit on your dinner plate) has been too strong for my delicate sensibilities. ....I've eaten durian preserves. I've tried durian pastries. And I've struggled with a cup of durian ice-cream...

Beautiful rain soaked Pondicherry. Sigh. The French quarter is so lovely! The streets are wet but clean. Walking under the green canopy, feeling the fat droplets of rain, telling myself not to think about getting back to Chennai - rather sums up my holiday here. I can never tire of walking here. It seems to be the most natural thing to do. Every time I come here I find something new to do. This time too after driving down the scenic ECR, we checked into Executive Inn, a hotel conveniently placed in the French quarter and close to the promenade and the famous Manakula Vinayagar Temple. We were hungry and we were familiar with the menu at Executive Inn. So after a decent meal of butter parathas and paneer matar, we were ready to walk. I never have any particular destination in mind when in the French quarter of Pondi. I was sure I’d chance upon some charming shop that I’d missed out the previous time. And that’s what happened. We walked about the promenade taking in the co...

1. Read info about a certain hill station written by a travel enthusiast. Take particular note of a eatery that you would like to visit. 2. During the stay at the hill station keep hopping about and going on and on about the restaurant to unsuspecting friends. 3. Make a plan to finish site seeing and lunch at the said restaurant. 4. Spend the morning taking in the scenary on foot and decide to take cycles to commute to the restaurant (thank god for that) 5. Clumsily handle the bicycle which shows no signs of breaks along the first road going down hill. 6. Huff and puff, literally, and give up attempts at self mortification by simply walking uphill towing bicycle along. 7. Hurriedly sit on the seat and try not to grin as speed picks up due to sheer gravitational force of the road sliding down. 8. After initial excitement, think of real purpose of the journey. The restaurant and its whereabouts. 9. Meet with blank stares from people on the road when asked directions. 10. Try ...

I had the opportunity to eat at Bella Ciao the roof top Italian restaurant on Nungambakkam road. I have been meaning to visit the place for long but never got around to it, predominantly because of the harsh summer Chennai has been experiencing. Short of getting baked like one of their lovely pizzas there seemed no other option than to visit the place in a more pleasant weather. Two weeks ago my friend S and I were off shopping in Nungambakkam and suddenly hit upon the idea of having dinner at Bella Ciao. We had not booked earlier and were worried that we’d probably encounter a Sunday-Italian-loving-crowd there. But we needn’t have had to bother for; the place was pleasantly filled with an odd couple here and a subdued group of people there. The ambience of the place filled my eyes as soon as I stepped on to the terrace. It had a non fussy décor with non fussy arrangements. The décor was in blue and whites with gauzy maroon curtains. What I really liked about the place was the priva...

"A 300 Rs ticket".. Oh yeah you would think it would be for any one of those myriad programmes we seem to be having in chennai.. like posters pasted on the roads tell us about the P Suseela and S Janaki concert, of course the Swingers or some other dance school advertising their dance performances or; the very recently held dance by a Bulgarian troupe which got some rave reviews.. but no, I didnt mean any of those... this I should say was a ticket to a dining experience in a prestigious hotel in Chennai. My dad being a share holder got some coupons which could be used in this particular hotel. As is the case with any coupon, we read thoroughly what is written in it for fear of missing some hidden clause which could lead to a nasty eating experience... you dont need me to tell you that right? So I very methodically went through the coupon and then told my friends S and P about it. They shared my enthusiasm.. no doubt due to the coupons belonging to the hotel in question. On ...