Dynasty, Nungambakkam, Chennai

This is an all time favourite, or used to be. Part of the Harrisons Hotel, has been in existence for a better part of my life. The old style hotel has now been torn down, and rebuilt into a multi-storey building hosting the same restaurants as before, Meenam and Dynasty. There was a time when the Harrisons Hotel opened smaller Dynasty outlets around Chennai. There were about 2 or 3 around chennai, not including another bakery called Harrisons (i think).

I have been here a few times. I specially loved the older version, because of the sprawling setup. But then, those kind of places are rare these days inside chennai. If i remember correctly, i was introduced to the 'manchurian', thanks to Dynasty. Good chinese food, meant Dynasty once upon a time. Unfortunately, while they have not gone bad, they seem to have lost their edge. The quality of the food is surely not in line with times.

The services was mixed. I must thank Mr. Jeffery (forget his last name), who seemed to care, but boys in the red suit were not as friendly or careful. Mr. Jeffery with his black coat and all, is the head waiter (if you can use that title here), and obviously was required to override decisions or rules. The lower boys were quick to say 'no' to anything, but the moment you bring it to Mr. Jeffery's attention, the issue is resolved amicably. We were a group of ten, and were at first squeezed into a table for 8, in an empty restaurant, in anticipation of a crowd coming later or because the extra table will come in the way!! The next thing that required Jeffery's attention was approval to change the channel on the TV.

We ordered starters, main course all too quickly, hungry as we were. Crispy lamb, dry chilli chicken, veg balls manchurian, and crispy chicken and fuyong. The crispy chicken leg is a chicken bone, all covered with chicken meat, dipped in a special batter and deep fried. It is unique here, most other places, offer a version of this called chicken lolipop. The fuyong was also good, as expected. However, after eating, i wish we had ordered the fuyong without chicken in it.

For main course, it was two kinds of fried rice, and soft noodles, both of which were just about good. But of the dishes we ordered, Lemon Chicken, made with sliced chicken, deserve a very good rating. The other dishes were just about ok, and not worth calling out or remembering. The fried rice or noodles in India, is different from what i have eaten in the US. There is very little oil used in the cooking of both these food, that it could qualify for a health food. I specially love egg fried rice here or in most chinese places, adding meat (chicken or other), seem to introduce a different flavour, making it less desirable.

We finished with some deserts, mostly ice cream, because the menu had nothing special to offer here. The date pancake was just ordinary, compared to ones we get at Mainland China, nearby. People dont seem to care about competition, they believe that crowds will come because of some old glory. One should only look at the Buhari's on Mount Rd for some lessons.

Vrindavan, New Woodlands, Chennai

This is not new, its been there for ages. This is one of the restaurants inside the New Woodlands Hotel, on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai. This is their attempt to 'up the scale', i guess more on the monetary side, than on the service side. The restaurant is a multi-cusine vegetarian restaurant, and is also 'Jain food' friendly. I have been to this hotel a million times, but 99 times of a hundred it is to the faster 'south indian restaurant' now called Krishna Restaurant. The visit to the Vrindavan side is only when there are special 'guests' in the party, or if the other side is packed.

Food is not a problem here. It was never a problem with this or the other restaurant in New Woodlands. In fact, the name 'woodlands' has become quite generic, and i have not been disappointed visiting one of these copies or originals or branches (i dont think they are branches, but more like within the family or something like that !!, i dont know and so no judgement regarding that). It appears that if you name something woodlands, the food is decent to good.

The service on the other side is somewhere between indifferent to decent. It appears to be a common trait with all restaurants in India. It is difficult to get good quality service. This place wasnt so bad, but, i am sure there is scope to improve. We ordered Idly, Dosa (couple of different varities) and then later coffee. Well, if you go to a Woodlands, get the Idly and Dosa, not the noodles and roti/naan etc. Straying from this mantra is asking for unnecessary trouble. Not that it will suck, but hey, if you wanted roti/naan, go to a dabha. Yeah, except its difficult to find a vegetarian dabha.

I am sure they share kitchens at this hotel, because i couldnt find any spectacular difference in taste. They all tasted just as good. One thing that stands out, and caught my fancy, while sitting and eating, is the decor. There are some beautiful painting or pictures, primarily based on Krishna, but also mainly keeping with the theme of Vrindavan. I snapped the picture on the right, a long while ago using a camera phone. The reddish tinge, was because of the limited lighting inside.

One other comment about the Woodlands place, is the bathrooms. It is common to all the restaurants, and it is kept quite clean. There is a guy also standing there, watching like a hawk for split water etc., and cleaning it up fast and regularly. For that purpose alone, it is worth repeat visits. While this is great, the parking can be crazy when the marriage halls are full. So good to avoid the place when the marriage season is in full swing.

Duchess, Alwarpet, Chennai

Duchess, is an interesting name for a restaurant. Am not sure of the inspiration for the name, but the cuisine or food offered is all over the place. You can order chinese, continental, some bit of indian, and also order from Kabul, the restaurant next door. Duchess are Kabul are part of the Shyam Group, which runs Savera, Amaravathi, Malgudi on ECR and a bunch of other restaurants in and around the city. If this not clear from the menu or other specific statements, just look at the water that is served, bottled water that is.

While i am writing about Duchess, now, i have been to this place often. And it is one of the more common stops for the family in the city. And that brings up the problem of what to order everytime you go there. After a lot of soul searching, you usually end up ordering the same thing again and again. On the positive side though, if the whole family likes the place, then usually different people do have different tastes, and so the table will be assured of some choices and sometimes new ones too.

The recent visit to the place was yesterday and one last week too. It was coincindence that two visits happened so close to each other, on second thoughts it was more of a happenstance, specially if it is on the way home. The favourite starter was chilly chicken (dry), and our experience has proven that this dish is going to come fast to your table. We also ordered fried baby corn, not my favourite. How the hell do you eat this veggie? The chilly chicken dish is served hot and is spicy too. It is safe to have water around before you get started on this. We do order soups, usually chicken corn, but that is only for more elaborate meals. They do serve some fresh roasted pappad and mint chutney, which are usually good to keep you occupied till your order is ready to be served.

The order during first of the two recent trips, was egg fried rice and veggie hakka noodles. I prefer egg over chicken fried rice, becuase i think there is some wierd smell associated with the latter. Both these dishes are also quickly served. We also ordered a lemon chicken gravy dish, which was a disaster. I have no clue what concoction was used, but it was a mess to look at, and tasted even lousy to the palette.

The second time, it was sizzler time. The desi version of steaks sizzlers. Well, you can get all kind of sizzlers. We got the chicken pepper steak, which was decent, but for some saucy stuff that was poured on the chicken. I guess it was done to hide the poor quality of meat (as in the fat and other uneatable parts). I would think that they would take extra care to choose the piece of flesh or meat. We also got the chilly chicken starter. Seafood came in the form of Phuket fish, which was sear fish all nicely cooked in some spicy sause. Was decent, but i think the spice used for many of these are all the same.

The place is about ok, in terms of ambience and also in terms of service. But their restroom (bathroom) simply sucks. They are not any different from most other restuarants here in chennai, all of whom ensure that the bathroom is the most smelliest and unclean place. This is true even sometimes with restaurants located in 3 and 4 star hotels.

I would go back again, simply because its a fave amongst the family, its also on the way between the center of the city and home in adyar. Although i will have to hold my nose and search for any hidden toilet paper and paper towels when i use the bathroom to wash hands etc.

Thattukada, Spencer Plaza, Chennai

This eating place had opened a while back in the Spencer Plaza food court. I also helped some of my colleagues and friends not so aware of the mallu (malayalee, as in person from kerala) ways, understand what these dishes meant. But, i didnt quite enjoy the ambience in the food court and so had avoided the opportunity to eat from this place. Well, finally i was presented with another one, that allowed seating in their reserved area and i took it.

There was a lot to offer. My other rationale for not lunching here was that, the portions (biriyani etc) could be huge and i didnt want to sleep after lunch. So it took a while to read and re-read the menu to choose something appropriate. I finally settled for 'poricha kozhi and parotta', thats mostly dry fried chicken, with kerala style parotta. My friend accompanying me ordered fish curry and rice. The food arrived soon, 'cause i think there is very little cooking done at the site. Meals come prepared.

I got two parottas, and two fairly sized pieces of chicken meat (with bones) and some nice thick gravy stuck to it. The first taste was awesome, just the way i liked it - spicy and hot - mallu style. The gravy was thick enough, but had managed to seem inside the flesh and was marinated nicely, cooked to perfection. I also got to taste the fish curry, typical mallu curry, coconut based gravy, rich with the sour tasting pulli (tamarind), and spiced up to give you a kick. The parottas and chicken quickly disappeared. I was tempted to ask for more, but this was filling and decided the greed had to wait for another day.

Just as i was leaving, i confirmed, if they were open late and provided parcel/pickup. An obvious question, to a mallu would have warranted a retort, but i was answered with a exuberant yes and confirmation that they are open late till 9pm in the evening. I guess thats when the mall also bring their shutters down. By the way, in the evening, around 4, you could also stop by for a 'meter chaya' and masala vada. All done kerala style.

Delhi Dhaba, ECR, Chennai

Delhi Dhaba, on the ECR close to the toll gate (just before, if travelling from thiruvanmiyur) and is part of the same group that runs Amaravathi and Savera Hotels in Chennai. We had been here before, but the last time we ate at Malgudi, which was the same food (taste and concept) as the Malgudi inside the Savera Hotel. The Delhi Dhaba is the north-indian (read punjabi) version of food.

The restaurant is inside a nice complex, that includes Malgudi and a chinese restaurant, a shop selling some 'desi' stuff etc. We had stopped at Malgudi here previously after visiting the ISKCON temple still being constructed off the ECR. Lot of space, made parking a breeze, but it shouldnt have been a concern, because they also had a valet service. The decision was made to eat biryani etc., so the choice became Delhi Dhaba. We were quickly disappointed, by a very nonchalant host, or should i say ghost, who was more interested in staring at space. This ghost clearly couldnt see people, even though his curse and black coat, allowed him to be clearly visible to everyone. After a little thought, we helped ourselves to a table available in the closed room (airconditioned), even though the weather was perfect to sit out.

We sat and waited for what seemed a good ten minutes before patience ran out, and we attempted to seek attention to our table. The waiter (i am not sure what the professional terms used), soon arrived with 1 menu for the entire table. Meanwhile, the ghost, actually managed to collect a lot of menus lying on a table nearby, and calmly walked out. I think i am certain, he couldnt have seen us, sitting almost right in front of him. I wonder if the table was in different position, if he would walked thru' to get to the door.

The order placed, included murgh and panneer kabob, chicken biriyani, veg pulao, makki roti, sarson ka saag and some raitha and pappad. The waiter after his initial embarassment was quick on his feet and turned very helpful and fast. We were hungry and he indicated he can deliver everything (or anything) we order fast enough (we of course didnt quite ask him how fast is fast). But true to his statement, the kabobs reached our table in about 5 minutes. And it turned out to be good. I dont know, i guess the expectation were low, so we were amazed at the quality. But that didnt last long.

The biriyani and chicken were just about average. The veg pulao was very mediocre. But the makki roti and saag were really good. Well, i enjoyed them. It had been a while since i had treated to myself to these, and so comparision to original or regional preparation aside, i think it tasted good, just as it melted in the mouth.  The food service was quite fast. But i think we paid a price for speed, in terms of quality of food. They also seemed to be stingy in dishing out portions, because they hardly filled the vessels they were served in. All of this also, came at a nice price ( a tad bit expenisve total i thought).

A mixed experience, in all. I think i will visit Malgudi again, but not this Dhaba. And on ECR, i think there are a lot of choices, for me to pick Malgudi, specially thinking we may have to see the ghost again. Altho' i must say the hosts at Malgudi (previously) were quite friendly. And oh ya, only one other reason to choose this clump of restaurants is the killi jyotsyam and kai jyotsyam offered at the location.

Benjarong, Alwarpet, Chennai

This is not from a recent visit. But i have been here a few times. It is favourite among some members in the family, but i dont necessarily love the experience or the food.

First things first. The decor, the ambience is great. There is a 'thai' lady, usually sitting in the front as you enter carving flowers from carrots and other vegetables. It is an interesting side-show for kids. Once you are seated and the first order has been taken, you are treated to some leaves. It tastes like nothing i have eaten before. My first time, i thought this was basil leaves. But no. I havent dared to ask, lest i find out it came from the Bougainvillea plant from the garden. Jus kidding. So this lil pleasure of eating green leaves with peanuts, chopped onions, sweet nectar, dried fish. Hmm, some chewing stuff this. Keeps you occupied for sometime.

But not enough, cause you soon are done or bored with this. And then the wait begins. The service has always been slow. I wonder what the deal with "expensive" places and slow service. Slow service doesnt necessarily mean great food and good service.

The food is ok. Better than ... (well there is no other thai alternative in Chennai). But i have eaten in several Thai places in the US and the food here doesnt compare. Not even close. So maybe it is tweaked to the local taste !! Wonder why, because in the US we ventured to Thai restaurants, because it was the closest to Indian food !!

My main problem is the rice served with curry dishes. They use basmati or some equivalent. And it is probably been washed after cooking, 'cause it is devoid of any stick stary. This rice just floats in any curry. Just imagine eating briyani rice with some curry! The whole point of Thai food, i think is mixing and eating the rice with the dish. So that the rice also soaks up the curry. Again since i have been aclimatized to eating chewy and thicker rice (with some guey starch) that blends nicely with the curry, soaks it all up and gives you a wonderful experience. Well, so much for all this watery saliva that builds up in your mouth. Try the noodle dishes, 'cause you may not then share this disappointment so much.

Try it. You wont be disappointed, if you have eaten Thai food before. But if you have, you will be sure to compare.

Ratna Cafe, T Nagar, Chennai

This is not the first visit to Ratna Cafe. I have been to original in Triplicane, as well as to this one in T Nagar before. While i did rave about the sambar-idly combo before, this time around, we were served a watered down version. It was clear, just as the clear liquid floating, when the sambar was presented in a sitting cup.

The ambience has deteriorated since my last visit a few years ago, when it was fairly new. The service too seems have become poorer since then. There wasnt any exceptional crowd in the A/C dining room upstairs, to warrant this bad service. The food was decent, if you were to excuse the sambar. The server did bring in some fresh can of sambar (this is the trademark dispensing dish), but it was not a major improvement. I think the sambar of the day was a disaster.

We may not visit this place again. Rather try the location in Velachery or probably brave the visit to original.

Osteria, Deccan Plaza, Royapettah, Chennai

This is vegetarian season, that is because of the Sabarimala mandalam time. And so there is frantic effort to constrain ourselves to Veggie places in the city. This in itself might throw people off. What looking for a veggie place in Chennai ? Well, yes, but it should not be a dosa idly place !!

Anyway back to Osteria. A recent article in The Hindu about a dosa festival let us to the Deccan Plaza Hotel. Only to find out that the Dosa buffet actually closes at 6:30 !! So not wanting to hit the streets, we walked across the lobby to Osteria, a vegetarian Italian dinning experience.

We were welcomed very warmly, considering that there was only one other patron seated inside. Jokes apart, the people were very friendly and even brought some popcorn to the table, because my kid had seen it inside. It is normally only served as sides when you order a drink. Hunger in the stomach, lead us to order fast. An appetizer, a salad and main courses.

Hummus was our choice. Dont ask me why. When i saw it, i felt like it. The salad was regular salad with ceaser dressing. The pasta was penne pasta with red sauce and a lazagna (with a request to hold zucchini). Soon, they delivered a loaf of hot garlic bread. Soft and succulent, it melted as you chewed on it. The hummus and salad arrived, both decent, but with no major shakes to talk about. I guess that was only because it paled in comparison (from a story view) on what was to follow.

The penne pasta arrived, hot and steaming, done very well and was quickly dished out to all of us. The sauce was well done and had coated the pasta well, making it a very nice and tasty meal. I was pleasantly surprised by this pasta meal. I guess that answers the expensive price tags. Authentic cooking or good chefs can be expensive. But the experience so far was shattered by the lasagna. I guess since we said 'no zucchini', we were to be punished.

The lasagna was filled with stuff, that included peas. But the taste was killing, the cheese (forget the name), was so pungent and sour that it immediately was rejected by all, except me. Well i am a fan of things sour, buttermilk, puliyodharai, sambar etc. Talking about sambar, this lasagna was close to sambar rice, or maybe we can call it sambar pasta with cheese. The veggie filling in between broken strips of pasta felt like you were eating some mashed sambar rice. Inspite of the pungent flavour, i did manage to take a couple of helpings (small tho'). But this would be on our avoid list in the future.

Not wanting to leave with a bad taste, we ordered chocolate cake, over tiramisu. And we were not to be disappointed.

To sum it all, it was a pleasant experience, a tad bit on the expensive side. The expensive part didnt reflect in portions, presentation, decor or otherwise. It however was served with a pleasing smile and friendly people. I must however, caution, that the restaurant was quite empty and not sure if the same experience can be expected under the duress of a full crowd.

Grains of Paradise, RA Puram, Chennai

This is a new place, about 8 months old, as admitted by one of the waiters at the restaurant. I had seen this place a few times, but never grabbed my attention. There is also an Italian restaurant named Mmmafia, just above this place, run by the same management.

First off, parking is a pain everywhere in Chennai, and this place is not different. And so, the thankful service of valet parking solves this frustration quickly. However, when you leave the keys, you are befuddled, as to how they are going to solve the problem.

One flight of stairs, and you are at the entrance of this interesting dining place in Chennai. Well, it is a vegetarian food place !! I was a little surprised, the decor, the menu, and all, you would have thought different. You are just used to this, vegetarian means Saravana Bhavan and Udipi places, and Tandoori/Chinese cuisine means non-veg is included.

The dining experience was mixed. They had a good collection of food (new names, combinations you may not have heard off before). The specialty choices appears mostly from the north (Jaipuri, Rajasthani etc find mention in the menu). One interesting started we tried was Makki Sheekh, a combination of panneer and corn/maize. Panneer in many forms appears all over their menu. Thanks to the large crowd we went with, we had to settle for the tame, malai kofta and panneer butter masala along with some rotis, to ensure that it was acceptable by most. The malai kofta had a distinct taste, while the panneer butter masala was a disappointment. Their rotis and naans had nothing noteworthy to speak about, but were good enough and as expected from a decent tandoor oven.

A few people from our party also ventured into chinese food and were not disappointed. I tasted a lil bit of the american chopsuey, and it was good, but i chose to stick with my pudhina parota (they were out of methi !!) and garlic naan. As is usual, in these group dining efforts, there is roti/naan left at the end of the curry dish, or the roti/naan run out soon. And then the second order takes long enough to kill all appetite. This time was not very different.

Somewhere in the middle i was enthused to try out lassi, considering the food so far looked and tasted decent. And i was thoroughly disappointed with the watery buttermilk mixed in with some dry fruits, which looked more like crap floating. But the people were kind enough to try a second time, with no major improvements. I must now state, that the service was better than par, and people took care to serve and attentive in general.

The dessert was a limited menu. They were also had only vanilla, strawberry, choclate, butterscotch and mango ice-creams !! I mean they should have a problem carrying more flavours, considering they only had about 5 other items on the dessert section. The special of the day was jelebi with ice-cream. The other item ordered was the shahi-tukda. Both of these were awesome. The jelebi fresh and hot, and so a little late, but served with nice cold vanila ice cream. The shahi-tukda was neatly done, small pieces, mixed in with dried fruits and nuts, again the best i have tried of this dish so far.

All in all the experience was very welcoming and pleasureful. The prices were also not exorbitant, but reasonable for the place. I plan to go back, and try some different items on the menu. I will be sticking to the tandoor and Indian cuisine, 'cause if i want chinese, i think there are other options.

Zameendar, Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Chennai

Shanthi Colony, today, bears no resembleance of how it existed 2 decades ago, or even about 10 years ago. And Zameendar restaurant, bang on the main road, built on what used to be HIG flats is only a reflection of the same. I had first heard about this from an office colleague, but didnt get a chance to stop and try until recently. I had passed the place a while back and for some reason the signs outside didnt seem very appealing.

I visited Zameendar last saturday, for a late lunch. It must have been a little after 2. We were greeted by friendly people and seated quickly without a fuss. After some carefull consideration of the state of the stomach and the many different options provided by the menu, the quickest and fastest bet seemed the meals. We ordered meals and few dishes to actually make it a non-vegeterian fare. The meals arrived promptly as expected, may be a tad-bit slow for our growling stomach. Of course while waiting we had all the time to chow down on the vadams that were placed in front of us. They even replaced the dish continously through out the meal.

After 2 rounds of vadams, thali plate covered with a banana leaf and nice small 'katori' of sides including sambar, rasam etc, arrived. The friendly waiters were quick to notice that food was drying up on the plate, be it the chappatis served at the start or the rice served subsequently. There were just enough of them to look after the tables under their domain and were effecient and friendly, a nice welcoming change from a lot of restaurants. When we were stuffed with all the food we could eat, the head waiter did ask us, if we wanted to order any desserts before closing and making the bill. We had to say no, although i intend to go back and try out a less gluttonous fare, to be able to sample the menu better.

The meal was tasty and good. All the side dishes bore some true south-indian flavours. I particularly liked their sambar and another curry (tough to name) that were served in the meals thali. One of the chicken dish we ordered was not up to the mark. I even forget the name of this, because it was the waiter's recommendation for a boneless dry chicken. In any case, i attribute even this unpleastness to our need to stuff ourselves with some real carbs or rice. Again, this happens once in a while, when the palette demands only a particular kind of food and any other accompaniments may not add any flavour and sometimes even turn-off the taste buds in those moments.

A small note of possibilities tho'. The door man and waiters are attired in ethnic clothes. I guess these were first ordered when the restaurant started out. Given that the restaurant is open seven days a week, it is possible that there is little time left to wash and clean these. However, the management can do well to take care of these clothes, if they do feel it is important to the ambience. It was a small mental note made, while waiting for food to arrive. I guess another options is to somehow automatically determine the hunger level of arriving patrons and then keep feed them quickly and appropriately that they fail to notice these small and subtle things.

Another important note, and much appreciated by me in particular. The bathroom was clean, altho' a little smelly. But it was nice to observe that the place was cleaned recently and spacious enough. The bathroom in most indian restaurants used to be a hole in the backyard, with a bucket and a mug nearby. These days it is refershing to note that some resturants in the city and elsewhere seem to pay particular attention to this.