Peri Peri Decent - Nando's, Phoenix Mall, Velachery, Chennai

Its been a peri long while. Although i have been trying and eating at peri many places, i havent found time to blog about peri one of them. Yesterday was different.

So Nando's is a fast food, i was introduced to in the US. And knowing that now it is available in Chennai, meant it was worth a visit. The food is supposed to be Portuguese - South African mix (as per the web site), but a visit to restaurant, and you would think (atleast i did when i first went to the restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD), that the food is South American, with a chilli-spicy flavor. They do have some peri peri hot sauces !

The restaurant in Chennai, is located in the "Mall of the Americas" version built for Chennai. After spending almost 15-20 mins in the roller coaster ride to find a parking spot, we were happy to find one on the 9th floor level. Luckily the parking level 9 is about equal to floor 2.5 of the Phoenix Mall. After winding our way a bit, we discovered the Nando's food place on the groundest floor. It was by happenstance. I didnt want visit an eating place on the top floors, with a dysfunctional air-conditioning inside the mall. The thought was cold air settles at the bottom, so the ground floor is the best floor.

We were greeted by two cheerful hosts at the entrance of Nando's. The restaurant was stuffy, thanks to the fact that my theory on cold/hot air was being proven wrong. Air inside any restaurant is usually stuffy, far overrides any physics of hot and cold air. All this because the air-conditioning in the mall was not working, and the restaurant doesnt have one of its own. We chose to sit outside, thankfully they had good outdoor seating.

After finding a great spot to sit, we sat down to order from the menu. Santhosh was our host, another friendly fellow. The kids wanted their sodas, and much as i would have loved to dissuade them, i ordered the coke and fanta (bottomless version) for them. They deserved this on a peri hot day. I also challenged my son to finish 3 glasses, and never ask for coke again !!
I took over the ordering, Peri-Peri Hummus and Pita bread from the Appeteaser list, and an order of Strips & Rice - Chicken (boneless) and rice to start with. Quickly realized that this was going to vanish soon, i decided to order more food immediately so, that we could down it all together. Santhosh now back with the drinks, was more than pleased to suggest, Espetada Rustica - tender boneless Chicken on skewers. And was also willing to swap out a veg side that came along with it. We got the Macho Peas, inside of the Grilled Veggies (who the hell eats broccoli). The Strips & Rice was doubled, now two instead of one, and we also got a Chicken Breast Filet Burger.

Food came to the table in quick succession. There was little doubt that food was good, as it was devoured quickly and without fuss. The accompaniment of peri-peri sauces also found good favour at our table. Altho' somehow the same sauce tasted better in America, than in India. On further reflection, i figured, that in a land of spiceless wonder, a simple chilli paste was king. But in the land of spice paradise, same thing, is just that - chilli paste. So, Nando's food was good, but nothing spectacular to write home about. It was worth a blogpost tho'. All of this eating only cost about 2K. We had originally planned for a quite dosa/idli eat-out at Palmgrove. Would have been less exciting, lot cheaper, and less stressful.

If there was a disappointment, it was the location. Good and decent food places located in large tasteless Malls - a big no no. I wouldnt visit this place again. Not because the food or the service sucks. But the location sucks. Remember the roller-coaster ride up, to find a parking spot, well we were offered a similar ride (and it was peri peri peri slow one) on the way out of the lot. It took almost 30+ minutes to get out the lot. Ten floors of parking, with a single exit !!

So Nando's is worth a try. If you are willing to factor the entry/exit circus into and out of the mall, and not to forget the mela that goes inside the mall.

Durga Park, AMS Raj Palace Sundar, Adyar

A last minute decision on sunday evening, caused us to get in the car, and drive to a restaurant for dinner. The day was almost over, getting ready for monday played on our minds, to pick a restaurant close by, but to avoid boredom, it had to be something new preferably. The choice was Kokum, which i had just located inside MRC Nagar that morning or the new Raj Palace Sundar. A quick left turn after crossing the Adyar bridge, brought us inside the erstwhile Andhra Mahila Sabha location, which is now the home for this hotel and its restaurant.

There is only restaurant, Durga Park, and is located in separate building. This was an old building tastefully converted into a restaurant. We entered into a small hall about 10x10, to be greeted by no one, but were able to see a buffet laid out to the left. A lot of men dressed in dark suits (mostly black or blue blazers) were standing in line, leading us to believe that maybe some party or marriage had taken over the place. Soon one of the waiters came up to us and directed us to another room to right, which we had seen earlier, but avoided because it looked like a hastily converted dining area. The table and chairs were not the usual restaurant chairs, but more like the marriage hall types. When questioned he indicated that the restaurant was booked. Ok. My question at this point should have been, why keep it open at all? Why not indicate that today it is closed to casual diners?

Well, not to make a big fuzz, we sat a table in the corner of the room. There were already another family seated at a larger table, with room for one more large family of about 6. Our table of four, seemed placed rather oddly in a corner, but was ok to seat children and two adults. He brought us a buffet menu, priced at Rs. 300 for an adult and 150 for a child, it seemed fair. But we were not in a mood for buffet. We were looking for just a couple of dishes to close out the night. He indicated al-a-carte menu also was available, and brought us the menus, he did bring one menu each (i guess since the rest of the crowd was not using the menu). The buffet, by the way, is regular for weekend dinners. The non-veg buffet, had only 3 non-veg dishes, one each for mutton, chicken and fish. I think based on your preference and liking, the chances of a win-win on the buffet is only 50-50 or less.

The menu was fully of all kinds of cuisine, southern, chinese, tandoor, punjabi etc, all fitted into about 4 pages. I was wondering why a restaurant which supposedly located in AMS would have any cuisine other than Andhra style. I reasoned that the guests at the hotel would probably want more options, and hence the only restaurant offered a mish-mash of everything. I tried specifically to stay away from chinese and north-indian. There are better restaurants for these kind of food.

We quickly ordered a starter chicken chat (i forget the exact title) and pappad, and the main course was kozhi varthathu (chettinad style), meen kozhambu, chicken biryani, pulkha, roti and some curd. The pappad (masala) was on the house. All of this cost us only about Rs. 500, inclusive of bottled water. Well the food arrived rather quickly. I found that a little strange, but who is to argue, and since we were hungry and tired, it was heaven sent. But the reason was apparent soon, the kozhi varthathu and meen kozhambu were based of the same gravy, same taste, same spice, well like i said 'same' gravy. It was good, no complaints there. The biryani was average, and no different from very many chicken biryanis available elsewhere. The roti and pulkha were pretty pathetic, not from a taste perspective, but from shape, form and style of cooking. You would think they would be dry and devoid of oil, well these seemed to be soft (more from wetness of oil or humidity). All in all the meal was not bad, but a big disappointment based on the expectation to eat Andhra sytle food.

When the food from the main course arrived, i asked the waiter about the starter. He said there was nothing on his list. Looking at the food in front of us, i figured this was more than enough, and said fine. As we began eating and made about 1/4th our way into the meal, a chappy came with our starter. I said thanks, but we are already eating our meal, so no thanks, and please take it away. Smart fella, he goes back and arrives about 4-5 minutes later with a small boxed meal indicating our starter was packed. I wanted to smile at his cheeky attitude or his manager disposition. But i said, boss, we are not going to take it, please cancel and take it back. Well, no major shakes, they didnt make a fuzz after this or about this. But we did get a visit from a 'manager' or someone who apparently seemed to have just worn his jacket to visit our dining area. I dont think he was visiting us on accord of this dispute, but must have suddenly realized that we and now two other guests in this room must be missing his warmth. He strode in adjusting and buttoning his jacket, and asked if everything was fine, and soon walked away, never to be seen again.


At two points during the visit, i was considering leaving this place, the first was when they had indicated the main dining area was booked, and the second was when we saw the menu devoid of any andhra specialty. I was seriously considering going to Kokum. In some sense it was good that i stayed on. We may have been tempted to visit this place at a later date, but now, i doubt if we will go back to this place, considering it doesnt have anything unique to offer. A few points to its credit, the place was new, and so had a very clean and fresh smelling bathroom (something that is rare even in larger and better restaurants). The waiters were not discourteous and tried their best to accommodate visitors and our wishes. The food was just better than average, but it may also be based on our choice of dishes. They are also priced modestly. However, i am disposed to not visiting the place, since my expectation was that this restaurant would offer a specific cuisine or atleast specialize in the andhra cuisine. This is a restaurant meant mainly to cater to the guests at the hotel.

Fisherman's Fare, Egmore, Chennai

I have been to this place a couple of times. The names makes it seem like it only serves seafood. Well, it does predominantly serve seafood, but i guess the demand of people who simply want to eat biryani and the likes of panneer butter masala are too much to keep it of the menu.

The place is nothing much to write about. Its not jazzy and it would appear from the name. The road it is situated on is one of the more crowded ones, but there is decent parking (for about 6 cars) right in front of the restaurant. In any case these cant be held against the restaurant. But the inside appearance must surely be something, that they can do a better job off.

The most recent visit was during lunch on a working day. A colleague and i walked into an almost empty restaurant, though it was early for the usual lunch hours, which would have started an hour later at about 1pm. The place did get crowded and almost full, by the time we finished and walked out at about 2pm. Since we were early we had a choice of the entire restaurant to sit, but we were dissuaded from sitting at the one place we sought, because of some electric work possible. The person who seated us was friendly, so one cant take offense to this simple request. But it is still a bit difficult to comprehend how restaurants showcase something, only to deny you later. This happens more when it comes to items on the menu, to hear the all too frequent apology, "sorry sir, this item is not available today"!!

After a protracted view of the menu, we chose to order the combos. I chose the chicken tikka combo (well, i am not a great fan of seafood. I eat only some kinds of fish, and absolutely no shell-fish and other stuff the ocean). My colleague chose a fish tikka combo. We also got some hot pepper chicken soup, only when it arrived, it was made the chinese style, with egg-drop and all. It was good, steaming hot and helped my cold, but would have been rather ridiculous on a hot afternoon in madras. The timing of the soup was right, and we got our food just after the soup bowl was cleaned up. The combo platter was perfect for lunch. Two dishes of chicken, one dry and one with gravy, some rice, one dhal, some rotis, a bit of salad. The other combo had two dishes of fish. But i noticed that one of it was strips of fish, deep fried with batter, something i wouldnt have been too excited about. The food was good, and there was nothing to complain. Although people wanting to know about prawns, crab, squid and other seafood stuff on their menu, will have to search elsewhere.

The combo also came with a drink. Since i had a bit of cold, i asked for something warm. All their bottled softdrinks were stored cold and so not an option. The guy (waiter, server) said they have appy or frooti (both of which come in a tetra-pack). I chose the appy, only to specify that he brings it in a glass and not in the pack itself. Well, he did, only he that he brought the empty glass and tetra-pack to my table and insisted on doing the magic in front of me. I first requested him to go do it somewhere else, since we were in a serious conversation. He did a small walk and came back to the table to do it again. I again, requested but now without the please, and also showed actions, in case he didnt quite understand. He now proceeded to walk around the table, and attempted to do this, on the opposite side. I lost my cool and told him, please take it away from the table, go to the kitchen and do this. I dont think he did that, but he did take it away from my table and bring it back in a glass soon.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. The food was good. The service was friendly to the usual nonchalant (which is pretty much common in any restaurant in the country). I guess its part of the 'it feels like home' mantra, many people try to follow. I must consider this place again, probably with a larger group, so a better choice of orders can be tried.