Rhapsody, Marriott Courtyard , Anna Salai, Chennai

We picked this place, because someone said, it was a good italian food place in the city. I love italian food, well mostly the carb rich pasta, but the bread and their sauces too. And so it was worth putting this to a test. I guess every recommendation comes with a catch. Is their good, good enough for you? Or what exactly does good mean?

Chennai always known for its idli, dosai, vadai and sambar is increasingly playing host to a variety of cuisine. The most popular ones, though, are the junk food exported from the US - KFC, Pizza, etc. So a visit to Rhapsody would have been a nice distraction. Situated bang in the middle of what most people would consider the artery of Chennai - Anna Salai, our erstwhile Mount Rd, its located within the Marriott Courtyard hotel. I have been to the hotel a couple of times, a decent place, with a lot of pretense.

The same pretense shows through in their service and food selection at this restaurant too. We walked in, there were three of us, and were greeted politely by a 'lost' host. He was not sure if we were there to drink and be merry or eat and sleep. Well, you see, there is lounge bar, right there within the restaurant. A lounge bar, that played sports on a large screen TV. Thats a first. A fine dining place, that comes with a sports bar, that masquerades like a lounge bar.

Well we there for business. Food. Quickly ordered the main course, since time is always a constraint for many reasons. No soups or starters. It was easy to skip the starters, because we were served an assorted selection of bread. Many were cold. Off different varieties served, the flat bread stood out, in taste. The rest was just baked yeast. Common tea shops serve similar selection of bun. Right there, the italian restaurant failed its test. A fine italian place also serves very, i mean very very, good bread - hot, crisp and hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Or some variant of this. Never dull bread.

I dont know why. I came to eat pasta. But the menu item 'grilled salmon' caught my fancy. The many years living in the US, i had perfected my 'Grilled Salmon' (or similar fish steak) order. I was a fool to visualize the food before it arrived or at the time of the order. One colleague, ordered the pizza, since he wasnt so adventurous. The other picked the pasta dish made with angel hair pasta.

Conversations, if interesting, reduces the wait for the food to be delivered to the table. And apparently we didnt have to wait long. My friend who ordered the pasta is a globe trotter. His pasta dish arrived at the table. We had a knife and fork, the only silverware at the table. No spoon. Another test, failed. How do you eat pasta, the long kind, without a spoon? But a request, delivered an ordinary large spoon to the table. That was good enough, but not ideally suited for the pasta gumbtion. Luckily the waiter saved grace, by asking, if he wanted cheese. He then brought a big lump of cheese, grated it right on to the pasta. They seem to have got one part right. The pizza was good, and better than the fast food variety.

My fish arrived in decent shape, but it was clothed. Yes, they apparently thought it was best to grill the fish with its skin. But they choose to leave the skin only on one side, and removed it from the other. What ever side, they picked they left the skin on the wrong side. Nothing irks me more, than seeing skin on a piece of meat. The fish was cooked well, just as i had asked. But it was devoid of any spice or flavor. Thats fine, in america or europe, where it may be the desired way to consume, not here. I would appreciate a little flavor of salt, and a bit of spice. So i asked for pepper, the fresh kind, so it could be ground right over your food. Instead i was treated to the two regular spice, that is found on any average food table - regular salt, regular factory mass produced devoid of any flavor pepper. Fail again.

So without the soup, and binging on free starters, the main course and drinks set us back, a little more than two grand. It was a decent experience, i wont call the food bad. But i dont think their claim to be a fine italian restaurant is legitimate. While one can always pretend to be something, it takes diligence, and more importantly simple astuteness to mimic something thats foreign to you.

Subway, Spencer Plaza, Anna Salai, Chennai

Subway, the sandwich (shaped in the form of a submarine) chain from the US, has been doing decent business in India. Today they operate out of Chennai, multiple outlets, serving major localities in the city. I am not so sure if these are franchisees. But knowing the US model, where Subway is the most franchised chain, there is no reason why these shouldnt be too.

The reason, i bring that up, is because, this commentary is very much about the Subway experience in India as compared to its chain in the US. I have been to about 5 different locations in Chennai. But a few highlights about this specific store has also been expressed, specially about the 'elli'.

First, things first. Their 6"seems so much smaller, that it appears to be based on a whole new scale. The other is the fad that is supposedly 'american' or 'phoren', blasting english music (and many times playing songs with questionable or vulgar lyrics). I had to point this out to a manager of a store, asking if he was paying attention to the lyrics, and didnt meet much success in getting him to understand.

The food is good, the sandwich here does justice to the name and quality they are famous for. The stores in India seemed to understand the mind here and so have two lanes one for veg and non-veg options. This does create problem when you want to 3 non-veg and 2 veg sandwiches !! Wonder why the non-veg guy cannot just take the veg order ? But then thats how it works. The sandwich artist do a decent job of carving and stuffing the sandwich. The sandwich and other food options are also priced nicely. You can get a 5.386" Veggie Delite for about Rs 78/-. Hmm, on second thought i take that back, that is a lil pricey, but hey, you are buying 'american' food.

The other surprising thing about fast food chains, is how dumb the people behind the counters become. I used to think it was a phenomenon that existed in the US, but i saw this in London, Bangkok, Malaysia and now here in Chennai too. So it is universal, they are all robots that do only what they are told to, and what their machine in front will allow them to.

This store at Spencer Plaza had interesting visitor or resident during my last visit. An Elli, rat, mouse or whatever name you would like to refer it by. The little chap ran from the inside. Luckily there is no kitchen where anything is really cooked, so his impact may have been small. In any case, he ran undistrubed to the dining area. And here is how the dumb phenomenon works best. I had just finished my order, and was not particularly repulsed, because i hardly saw it, except for the vanishing tail behind a chair. But i did change my mind about eating in.

Anyway, another customer had seen the 'elli', and brought it to the attention of the 'sandwich artist'. The artist, of course, knows only how to stuff sandwiches, and so stared back. The gentleman asked 'are you going to do something about it, or just stare?. Obviously this man didnt have a Phd, otherwise he would have known that this was not just an ordinary stare. To this challenge, our local friendly sandwich artist, moved an inch to the right. The manager/cashier, by then, knew he had to do something different, so he came out in front to see if he could interview the 'elli' in person. Of course, our good friend and mascot of Lord Ganesha, knew better, and was no where to be seen. This whole thing soon turned out to be just another myth, obviously. The store was back in business, the Gentleman walked away cancelling his order, the diners a few left, a few stayed, the money was back to being counted, and the artist was back at carving bread and stuffing lettuce.