E Hotels is a luxury Boutique hotel attached to the EA mall with its USP being that its entirely 'Vegetarian'. I have a few friends who are vegetarian and for a family outing most of them do prefer to go to a 'Purely Vegetarian Restaurant' as a first choice.

Entree is the  Multi Cruisine  restaurant at the E Hotel which has buffet and Al carte service for all three meal. 

They do conduct specific region specific food festivals, though on the day we visited, it was standard fare Lunch buffet.

Soups : Spicy Veg corn soup in a tomato base

Starters :

• Paneer Tikka 
• Cheese Croquettes 

Both the starters were pretty Good

Salads : There was a whole variety of salads 

• Fruit Salad
• Corn and Cheese Salad
• Grilled Vegetable salad
• Aloo Chat
• Thenga Manga Salad
• Pesto Tomato Salad

I liked the Grilled Vegetable Salad and the Thenga Manga salad (No Prizes for guessing the ingredients :)

Main Course : 
Consisted of the Following dishes 

• Baby Corn tempura
• Sapo Veg Dumplings
• Golden Onion Fried Rice
• Veg hakka Noodles
• Country vegetables
• Pasta in Alfredo Sauce
• Satrangi Sabji
• Paneer Butter masala
• Baingan Simla Mirchi
• Dal Bukahra
• Papad ki Subji
• Veg Biryani
• Beans Poriyal
• Drum Stick Sambar
• Rasam
• Steamed Rice
• Curd Rice

The Dishes i though which stood out were the Papad ki Subji, Baingan Simla Mirchi, The Dal Bukhara (though the name isn't really original :-D ) and The Pasta was excellent

Desserts
There were many options of Desserts and were the definite 'Show stoppers' of the afternoon :)

• Strawberry Mousse
• Mocha Panna Cotta
• Kiwi Pastry
• Lava Cake
• Mango pastry
• Gulab Jamun
• Kesari Bath
• Ice creams

My favourites were the Mocha panna Cotta and the Kesari bath

Verdict

Though I walked in with a fair bit of scepticism about a vegetarian Buffet , I was pleasantly surprised by the food, ambience and the service.

At 625+ this is definitely a Value proposition that I would strongly recommend.

P.S : I found their slanting Cups very charming :)

A decade and a half back I remember, buffets used to be the exclusivity of the five star and the four star hotels. When we did save enough money to go to a buffet, we would first attack the ‘dry non veg’ items on the table, be it chicken, mutton or fish. We’d have multiple helpings of the starters and then when we were ready to explode, we’d wait for 5 minutes and then ‘attack’ the dessert section till we could barely move. The concept of ‘Paisa Vasool’ was this then.
Hence it is refreshing to notice that barbecue restaurants these days have refined the old buffet concept, putting most of their attention on the two most popular sections, the starters and the desserts; in terms of the presentation, novelty factor and taste.

400 degree F Barbecue is the newest entrant in this space. It is situated in one of the lanes of T Nagar and has just moved on to the roof top of an old existing hotel (If you are wondering why they all choose an old existing hotel: SIMPLE! They come with the ever-elusive ‘Liquor License’
I liked the ambience. It has both an indoor and outdoor seating area. Although I wanted to try the outdoor area, a drizzle put paid to that plan. Lovely peppy music in the background was the accompaniment for the evening.

After the initial welcome drink, where I also ordered a cocktail, the grills were placed on the table and the starters started marching in.
Soups were available but I opted out.

The non-vegetarian starters:
Mutton Shikampuri, Mutton Sheek Kebab
Tangri Kebab, Murgh Banjar a Kebab, Bhatti ka Murgh & Afghani Murgh
Pudina Fish Tikka and Prawns
 
Vegetarian Starters
Vegetable Shikampuri, Paneer Tikka, Malai Corn
Dahi Kebab (which was the most outstanding dish of the evening)
Tandoori Pineapple, Tandoori Mushroom, Aloo Murraba and Vegetable Lucknowi Sheekh
 
Salads
3 varieties of salads
 
Main Course
Non Vegetarian
Mutton Rogan Josh, Chicken Butter Masal, Prawn Chettinad, Omlette Masala Curry, South Indian Fish Curry
Vegetarian
Paneer Labardar, Mixed Vegetable Curry, Palak Kofta, Dal Palak, Bhindi Masal
​Choices of Breads and Rotis
Rice:
Chicken Dum Biryani
Plain Rice
Navratan Pulao
Desserts
Gulab Jamun, Gajjar Halva, Rice Kheer, Assorted Mousse, Souffle, 3 pastries, 4 flavours of Ice cream, Fruit Platter.
 
The menu was definitely exhaustive. The manager Mr. Prashanth Nair, was extremely attentive and knowledgeable about the food and did his best to make us comfortable. The service was also excellent barring minor hiccups here and there.
 
I liked this place. It was definitely value for money. It is ideal to take your family along, especially if there is someone who would like to have a drink or two with his meal. There is certainly no Tatkal type booking of appointments and one can vouch for value for money. It’s new and they seem earnest about ironing out a few flaws in the service area.
This would be a place I’d visit again
 
P.S : We did see a couple of movie celebrities dining here, who were very relaxed and actually obliged a few patrons by posing for photographs!

Location : 21, Periyar Salai, T. Nagar, Chennai 600017
Phone : 044 30853551

The Flying Elephant is showcasing a special menu as a part of the 'Diabetic Food trail'.
The Diabetic Food Trail is conceptualised by Semora Entertainment Works; supported by Britannia NutriChoice, along with Biocon and Zomato.

The Menu is a well balanced exercise which is predominantly, high Fibre , Low Carbohydrates, Low calorie offering.

The Menu has been designed by the chefs at Park Hyat along with the inputs of my fellow blogger Dr. Waseem, a wellness specialist.

The Special Diabetic Trails menu, consists of healthy options for starters, Main course and Desserts and the mocktails

The starters​

1. Turkish Lentil and Burgil soup, with Chick peas, Dried mint and coriander. (131 calories)
2. Chicken Wanton soup, spring onions, pak chop and sesame oil (184 calories)
3. Quinoa and Pomegranate salad, orange , spinach, zucchini, celery, with a passion fruit dressing. (92 calories)
4. Chargrilled Marinated Vegetables salad, pear radish, with a miso dressing with roasted oat crumbs. (130 calories)
5. Tandoori Lassoni Jhinga: which is a garlic flavoured prawn, cooked in a tandoor served with a mint sauce (194 calories )

The Mains

1. Brown Rice Congee, stir fried asian greens, with shiitake mushrooms, ginger and spring onions (232 Calories)
2. Braised lentils,poached egg, steamed swiss char, onion escabeche, parsley pesto (252 calories)
3. Whole wheat pizza, ricotta, parsley, sumac, quinoa, apple said (294 calories )
4. Steamed Chilean Sea Bass in a tomato fennel broth, damage, carrots and cress (282 calories)
5. Dahi Methi Murg: Chicken with yoghurt, fenugreek leaf, steamed brown rice and salad ( 332 calories )

The Desserts

1. Lemon Cheesecake mousse, berry Compote and papaya (342 calories )
2. Peanut butter frozen yoghurt cups , oats, granola and pomegranate

Mocktails​

They have orange of mocktails: I tried the Bello, which was a celery and cucumber blend (45 calories)

For me the dish of the day was definitely the Steamed Chilean Sea Bass !

This is an excellent opportunity for foodies who are Diabetic or Borderline, to enjoy some exquisitely designed Gourmet food without any guilt.​

This special menu is available at the Flying Elephant at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chennai and is available till 30th of November,

The Barbeque Nation chain has been my favourite  ‘DIY’ grill type restaurant for quite some time, They were the pioneers of the concept of live on-the-table grill. They also offer a  pre-fixed menu drawn from Mediterranean, American, Oriental, Asian and Indian subcontinent along with the starter ‘on table grills’

Barbeque Nation is currently running a ‘Mohammed Ali’ Road  festival at its outlet which aims to recreate the flavours and delicacies of Mohammad Ali Road and Khao Gali at its Barbeque Nation outlets from the Mumbai’s famous food streets. This food apparently  typifies Iftaar street food in Mumbai.

I was invited to the launch of the festival in Chennai and it gave me the opportunity to sample the cuisine from MA road.
The signature dishes  for the festival  included Bhuna Chicken– slightly saucy spicy chicken, served live from a tawa Tuck into plate of ZamZamPulao– a rice dish that consists of chicken, mixed vegetables and nuts,

There was a live-counter on a rehri-cart, where dishes like Mutton Shammi Kabab, Gurda Kaleji:  Chicken Shikampuri Kabab. Another Dish from the live counter which was really tasty was the Chicken Baida Paratha- another signature dish of Mohammad Ali Road.

Other than this there was the usual selection of DIY grill on the table which consisted of :
·         Tandoori Tangri
·         Taitali Fish
·         Mutton Sheekh Kebab
·         Chutney marinated Prawns
·         Cajun Fried Potato
·         Crispy Corn

Main Course

• Zam Zam Pulao
• Nihari Ghosht
• Chicken Angara
• Mutton Khihda
• Bangda Fish Curry

Desserts

​Whole lots of pastries and cut fruits
The Kulfi Counter was innovative with all its topping selections

The Festival is on for a limited duration and is an excellent opportunity to taste the 'Street food' of MA Road In Mumbai.

California Pizza Kitchen, known within the food industry as CPK, is a polished casual dining chain that specializes in California style pizzas. The restaurant was started in 1985 by two lawyers Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly hills , California USA. The chain is widely known for its innovative and nontraditional pizzas

They are currently running a special menu called 'World on your plate' 'Pizza trails' with the premise that every country has its own versions that are tailor-made to please thelocal palate. Foodies can now indulge in a variety of lip-smacking pizzas from 10 countries at CPK

I sampled some of them a few days ago.

I started with a Kiwi Mojito drink and then sampled a few appetizers.

Appetizers
​
Mexican veg wrap : this is Mexican inspired wrap with fajita spiced vegetables,  accompanied with a green chilli sauce 

Harissa fried cottage cheese :Paneer marinated in Harissa,  fried and served with salad and Ranchito dip

Charmula Fried Fish : Basa fish marinated in Charmula,  deep fried and served with lime cream sauce 

Lebanese grilled chicken : .Grilled chicken,  soaked in chilli marinade in Lebanese style seven with Ranchito dip and salad

​

Pizzas 

I tried a couple of Pizzaz form the pizza trail menu 
Rustica indiano:  The Indian Themed Pizza, It is a Thin crust pizza with a spiced sauce which tasted like achari sauce fresh cut onions,  tomatoes,  and capsicum,  finished with tangy spicy paneer.
Sauerbraten pizza,:  The German themed Pizza, which has a topping of traditional German Sauerkraut (Which is Fermented sour cabbage),  shredded chicken,  sliced onion,  with mozzarella cheese topped with German style potato salad . I have tasted Saurkraut earlier and liked the taste, some people may find this a little too sour, but worth a try.

Desserts
​I sampled a couple of their desserts which were highly reccomended by my friends and they definitely did not disappoint
Enigma : which consisted of Multiple layers of mascarpone cream,  sour cherries,  dark chocolate mousse and crispy granola served in a jar 
Epiphany : which is a Moist cake made with California almonds,  topped with dates,  served with whipped cream and chocolate fudge sauce.

The Pizza trails runs till the 15th of November, even if you miss it CPK does have a wonderful choice of pizzas and desserts with very good service.

​Hard Rock Café has always been a stress buster. Good food and my kind of music. I had just been there with family 4 days back. When I had an invite to sample their October Special menu (which will be available till the 8th of November ) I thought it worthwhile to have a look in…
 
The October special menu at Hard Rock Café is basically an attempt at recreating the ‘Oktoberfest’ menu minus the beer, though the HRC Chennai does have a large array of mouthwatering mocktails that are worth a try.

​The Dishes that are special for the October special menu are the.
 
Carnival Fiesta Fries which consists of Cajun spice dusted crispy tangy chilli garlic crust fries topped with BBQ sauce rubbed hand pulled chicken and smoked chicken frank slices, served with tangy salsa and cheddar cheese sauce. 

​Mexican Mafia Vegetarian Submarine : Which consists of crispy vegetable fingers stuffed submarine roll, cocktail mayo, topped with tangy Mexican beans, melted cheese and served with smoky salsa and crisp chili fries,
 
L.A. Confidential – Which is a Double DeckerVeg Burger of crispy vegetable patty, crusty potato patty layered with tangy spiced Chipotle Mayo
 
Italian Submarine which consists of tangy Arrabbiatta stuffed char grilled smoked chicken frank, Chimi Churi spiced onion peppers and topped with tangy Pesto mayo which was served with spicy chili fries
 
Mexi Cali Burger: Which consists of Tangy smokey chicken patty with honey citrus mayo, topped with smoky relish, served with spicy chili fries.

​Jamaican Hotty Submarine: Char grilled smoked Chicken Frank stuffed Submarine roll, tangy Cajun Barbeque mayo, served with spicy chilly fries

Plus of Course their regular Menu is available, Their Legendary Burger, The Spare ribs and The Hummus Platter which I tried.

Also News You could use : DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN MAKE REQUESTS FOR SONGS YOU WANT PLAYED...They bring an ipad with the song and video list from their HUGE inventory of songs!!! So next time you are longing for a particular song at the HRC ask them for that IPAD :)

​Other Dessert Recommendations include, the Chocolate Mousse, The red Velvet Cheesecake and the baked cheese cake. 

Visited the Alwarpet branch of Jonah's Bristo last night to celebrate my Daughter’s birthday. We took a detour from our usual hangouts to try this place on account of a lot of buzz on the social media.

The location on Kasturi Rangan Road.Poes garden I easy to find. There is Valet parking. The restaurant is located on  the first floor and there is an option to take either the lift or the stairs (though the approach to the elevator is pretty shabby)

The décor on entry looks rather grand and pleasing with the velvet lined sofas and the wood finish, but as you are shown to the table, the distinct lack of space and the cramped feeling strikes you. It gets worse when you are seated especially if your group of six or more. We were given a corner table and it was extremely uncomfortable to slide into the farthest seat. There are just too many tables cramped into the limited space and no amount of luxury trims can counteract that unfortunately.

We ordered the following starters

French Fries with Masala spice sprinkles: was good

Nacho chips: served with cheese sauce, tomato Salsa and sour cream:  Was decent

Buffalo Chicken wings: Served with a spicy sauce and coleslaw: was good

Main Course

Sizzling Siciliana Pizza: Vegetarian pizza with mozzarella 9 inch: wasn’t too impressive

Chicken meatball Spaghetti Pasta with buffalo mozzarella: We ordered the Mains portion. The quantity was huge and the dish tasted good.

Moroccan Tarragon Chicken: with herb based creamy sauce, served with mashed potatoes: This was definitely the best dish of the Evening

Spiced Beef tenderloin: served with a phyllo pastry topped with roasted beetroot and cream cheese and served with paprika layered potatoes: The steak was an absolute DISASTER..in spite of explicit instruction of medium rare and medium: one of the portions was more ‘Well done’ than a well-done. Either they do not have steak knives or they were out of it that evening. In spite of a reminder and a request for a steak knife we were brought the same dinner knifes. This is the first time in a decade that either I or my daughter have both left half the steak unfinished.

We ordered some Lime Soda, Iced teas and a milkshake.

Service: Though initially was warm and hospitable, descended to being atrocious. They had difficulty grasping instructions and showed distinct lacunae in training. The cramped seating made it worse. Where we were being handed plates and heavy main courses to pass it on to the patron on one end of the table and one of us actually did manage to spill a dish.

Pricing: the bill was a little less than Rs.5000 for the seven of us (Though we did not order desserts)

Bottom Line

Positives: The starters, the Pastas, Desserts (we have ordered earlier and liked them)

Negatives: The steak, Abysmal quality of service, extremely cramped and impractical seating especially for a larger group.

Unforgivable: Screwing up my Steak :-/

I had been invited to the Inauguration of the #SALTCO531 restaurant at Radisson Blu, GST road, Chennai. This Restaobar’s USP is the salt block cooking that is used for the cooking and the 15 curated gourmet salts, organically harvested from different regions of the world which are used in the dishes.

One dish however caught my attention among all the salt block grills and the gourmet desserts that were on offer. It was the humongous vessel of Biryani labeled ‘Nalli Pasliyan Biryani’

Since I hadn’t heard this term before, I ventured to ask the Chef about the Dish.

This Biryani is a Mutton Biryani which consists of ‘Nalli’ which refers to the juicy Marrow pieces of Mutton and ‘Pasliyan’ which refers to lamb chops or the Lamb Rack pieces. This was a ‘Dum’ birani made with long grained rice and mild spices. Needless to say it was delicious.


Do Check it out at #SALTCO531 , Radisson Blu , GST road, Chennai .

Food they say nourishes the soul.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  A whiff is enough to transport you to a time you felt cocooned in.  There are always beautiful memories attached to things we are sentimental about, passionate about and food is always something that evokes those.

For me it has to be Pani puri that tugs at those and it is as simple as that.  
Things in the past are safely where they are now, but I remember a time I felt lost as a child, like a cut kite, floundering up in the sky! And it was Pani puri from a local chaatwala that sustained me. It was something that I looked forward to and gave me joy!
   
The memory apart, pani puri is simple and tasty and ushers in a whole lot of zest at one go.  It is a crisp ball-sized puri, into which go fresh fillings of boiled and mashed potatoes and whole black gram dal, seasoned with chilli powder, salt, chat masala, finely chopped coriander, garam masala and a dash of raw mango powder.  For flavour, green-chilli/mint chutney and dates/ tamarind chutney vie for attention.   To unite all this, the filled puri is dipped in jaljira or panipuri water and just popped into the mouth whole. The trick lies in effectively combining all the flavours to get that one perfectly filled puri.

As the puri crumbles in your mouth, I swear one tends to close one’s eyes to savour.  One is overwhelmed not just by an assortment of taste, all blending beautifully but also texture! The crispiness of the puri is a perfect foil for all its contents.  The tangy water combines and brings out all its flavours; the sweetness of the dates chutney and the spiciness of the green chutney which gives the kick. 
 
Happiness in that one moment, however fleeting it might be is enough to forget everything else! So when I pop one into my mouth now I am not just savouring but reliving!

I have always found the humble puri to be compliant holder for experiment.  Whether it is for vodka with crushed ice, a dash of sugar syrup, a sliced green chilli and sprig of mint or just plain corn, with raw mango shreds, finely chopped onions, coriander, chilli and chat  powder. 

So pick up one and pop!

Spice 29! Yes that was the name of the restaurant where I had the opportunity to sample few dishes last weekend.  It is located in the same compound as Dewberry (Off Radhakrishna Salai).

Though the approach from Radhakrishna Salai was a tad bumpy on account of some road work, the moment one enters this compound, where restaurant is located, the first thing that strikes you is the surprising lush greenery all around. Like a quiet oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of the city!

Spice 29 is an attempt at providing diners with a predominantly Indian Menu. Incidentally 29 refers to the door number of the property and the number of states in India (though I suspect both numbers are likely to change :-D )

I have listed out the dishes along with a description caption, along with the Photographs.

The Starters

1.    Mushroom cappuccino soup ( this is from Dewberry's menu)
2. Kozhi rasam
3. Mumbai style onion bhajia
4. Malai Broccoli
5. Nut stuffed paneer
6. Tandoori chicken
7. Uslampatti ghee roast Chicken
8. Karaikudi  spiced winglet popons with cheese
9. Chennai Meen varuval 

Main course
  1.  Appam
  2. Bread basket- Roti/ Naan/ Malabar Paratha
  3. Vegetable  stew
  4. Dal baneras - Black Dal
  5. Chicken chettinad
  6. Lamb shank roganjosh

My Picks

1.      Cappuccino of Mushroom soup - This particular soup is served in a cup like cappuccino and served with a garlic flavoured Crosstini .
2.     Malai Brocolli - was succulent and looked inviting
3.     Uslampatti Ghee Roast Chicken served  with masala fries was truly relish worthy
4.     Chennai Meen Varuval – home style and really appetizing
5.     Nut Stuffed paneer - was unusual but delicious

Bottom Line

The tasty food combined with an extremely pleasant ambience makes Spice 29 a very good proposition. A meal for two would roughly cost around Rs. 1000 exclusive of the taxes. Spice 29 is located at 29 Rajasekaran street, Off Radhakrishna Salai (next to the Van Heusen Showroom)