Review - Delhi Highway, Nungambakkam

The rain didn't stop and it was drizzling still. The Kenyan black coffee we had in the morning at Starbucks couldn't keep us energetic for long. It was after noon and we both started feeling hungry.

As we had ordered sandwiches and muffins earlier in the morning at starbucks, we were not extremely hungry. So we decided to go some place nearby. We started walking under the umbrella and we reached the Delhi Highway.

As we weren't totally hungry we decided to just go for a butter naan and a paneer butter masala.

And my partner went for Laccha, the wheat variant of the regular naan.

The order wasn't seeming to be arriving  soon and we both ended up finishing up the amla and the mango pickle that was kept on the table.

And finally the order was served. Nothing much to comment on the food here, as the naan was like that of the other decent restaurants in Chennai. I will be writing a detailed blog post on the menu some other day in near future.

As I was doubtful whether I would get hungry again, I ordered another butter naan, as I felt it's much economic than ordering a sandwich in the cafes.

But I should say that the paneer butter masala was the best of the things I ever had in Chennai.


So here goes my verdict
Price: 4 / 5
Quantity: 4 / 5
Quality: 5 / 5
Ambience: 4 / 5
Speed: 4 / 5

Read More »

Coffee tasting - Kenya at Starbucks

It was raining so badly and heard that my office is totally surrounded by water like an island. So we decided to work from Starbucks.

I wrapped myself in raincoat and helmet and started riding to starbucks, as I couldn't book a Ola cab.

After reaching the starbucks, Nisha, who works there asked us if we can join them for a coffee tasting session. I learnt that they do the coffee tasting every morning and this time two more staff joined us in our second coffee tasting at Starbucks.

Elam who was supposed to take us through the coffee tasting process, initially seemed to be shy but as he started speaking about the coffee, I found his enthusiasm reach its height.

He started briefing us about the "Kenya" coffee at Starbucks.

I'm not going to bother you people with the coffee tasting process, as I have described it already in my previous blog post on coffee tasting at Star Bucks. You can read the old post here..

The coffee had a citrus taste to it. And it tasted excellent than the Sumatra.

Now back to the details about "Kenya" that was shared by Elam.

The beans are from Africa and they were medium roasted ones. It's a seasonal and aged bean. I came to know that Starbucks uses only Arabica beans.

Now the Gyan about Arabica and Robusta varieties. The arabica beans are cultivated at high altitude whereas the robusta beans are cultivated at low altitude. The beans goes through a stringent quality check by the GCQ team ie., the Green Coffee Quality team.

He also spoke about the different coffee making processes at Starbucks.

• Bun machine
• Espresso Machine
• Filtering process
• French Press method

The Kenya beans are the only Arabica beans that tastes good for a cold coffee too.

 We had a nice second coffee tasting session at Starbucks and we really enjoyed it.

Would love to go through more such sessions and get to upgrade myself both in coffee tasting and to become a knowledged and a master coffee story teller like Elam.

Read More »

Review - Dhaba Express, Nungambakkam

Decided to go again for Little Italy. .But remembered a friend telling me about the lunch buffet costing around just Rs.150 at dhaba express. .since it was in same building..I decided to give it a try 

My partner who initially preferred ala carte later decided to go for the buffet after seeing the array of food kept for the buffet. .

For the 150 bucks I gotta get d following

• Kadi pakoda
• Dhal makani
• Crispy cabbage fry
• Sambar
• Rice
• Boondhi dahi
• Raddish
• Onion vinegar
• Jalebi
• Roti
• Curd rice
• Pasta
• Veg pulao 

Ambience resembles punjabi theme. .I would suggest this place far anyone who would like to have a quick lunch in this busy office days and when not in a mood to wait for the order to be served fast,

Finally, it's Worth the money

Ambience 4 / 5

Price 5 / 5

Quantity 5/5
Quality 4/5

Read More »

Review - The Madaras Kafe

It was raining cats and dogs outside and it was an awesome sunday noon. Was busy discussing business with my partner at Cafe Coffee Day in Ispahani Centre, Nungambakkam.

Around 4 pm, started feeling hungry. We were discussing a wide range of options for 30 minutes, on where to go for eating.

We were in double thoughts as to go out in rain or not.. As we were standing on the corridors and chatting, this place "The Madara Kafe" caught our eyes. I wasn't sure whether they serve food. So i decided to go check out the menu before going there. And the man standing behind the counter said that food is available, I asked for the menu. I was expecting to see just sandwiches and coffees. But when I saw Parottas and Dosas on the menu, I decided to eat there.

We settled for Corn Kichadi, Tomato Ghee Roast and veg Kothu Parotta.

Initially I was disappointed at the quantity of food that was served. man, that was too less for the price.

But to my surprise, when i started eating the served food, my taste palettes were giving a thumbs up. yea, the taste was good and it was more like a home made one.

The spiciness was perfect and I decided to go for another Kothu Parotta, as it was not filling enough.

Though the place is small and houses only 5 to 6 tables, the ambience was quite good. With pictures of Old Madras hanging on the walls, to go with the name of the restaurant.

My verdict:
Price: 3 / 5
Quality: 4 / 5
Quantity: 3 / 5
Service: 4 / 5
Speed: 3.5 / 5

But its worth the money given its location at Ispahani centre and the quality they serve.

Read More »

Date with Vedhalam & Little Italy

Surprised my gal who is a die-hard fan of Thala Ajith with tickets to his new flick “Vedhalam”.  Theatre was jam-packed with Ajith’s fan club. Thala was awesome and we had a great time with audience going gaga over every punch dialogue.

She decided to treat me back with lunch over at Little Italy, Nungambakkam. She’s been telling me great things about pasta served there. . Visiting Litlle Italy has been on our agenda for a long time. As we both are big fans of pasta, she always suggested me to taste pasta in Little Italy.

Though my tummy was already full with popcorns and coke, I decided to go along with her. I have to thank her for the awesome pasta I had. She ordered for both of us.

Zuppa di Pomodoro

Garlic breads

Alla Zingara

Risotto ai Funghi Porcini

Zuppa di Pomodoro was a simple tomato soup with crunchy croutons.

I should say, these garlic breads are the best I have ever tasted in my life.  Would rate 5 star for the garlic bread here.

We wanted a spicy pasta and we went along with the waiter’s suggestion of Alla Zingara. We got exactly what we wanted and the pasta was with aubergine capsicum, olive and cheese in a classic tomato sauce. The sauce was perfect and blended well with the spaghetti.

My gal went for Risotto Ai Funghi Porcini. The risotto was a brown rice with imported porcini mushrooms, cream and parmesan cheese. I loved the risotto’s tasty and aromatic flavor which was due to the presence of the king of mushrooms: porcini. 

One of the best places in the city to have authentic Italian food! The rates are a little on the higher end but the quantity was more than enough to fill the stomach. The ambience is awesome to have a quiet and intimate lunch.

I would suggest this place to people who want to try Italian food for the first time, italian food lovers like me. I also suggest this place as the goto restaurant when you are hungry!!!!

Read More »

Chennai food blog: Wangs Kitchen, KNK road

Had a busy afternnon purchasing things for our office inventory. After branstorming and arguments we were literally exhausted. After searching for several restaurants, we finally were standing in front of Wanga at the wallace garden, KNK road, Chennai. Trust me this place is entirely different from all the other wangs kitchen.

Hot and sour veg soup, spicy garlic veg noodles, singapore chilly chicken  were the things we ordered and they were just awesome. Lovely food. Then crispy noodles was yummy.

Food is very nice and quantity served is plenty , in case if you wanna try Chinese for the first time Wang's is highly recommendable. I would give it a four for the time taken, other than that kudos 

Location: a prime and accessible location.
Price: totally worth for the bucks you spend.
Service: extremely friendly waiters who are approachable and understand you.
Ambience: not so luxurious but cozy gives you just about enough privacy.

The starters are great, the soups are good too.. It's one place that keeps you coming back for sure.
 It was indeed an awesome experience dining here.

Trust me this is the best of all wangs kitchen

Read More »

Coffee tasting at Starbucks KNK chennai

After being regular to Starbucks at KNK road, Chennai for the past couple of weeks, I was invited by Nisha, one of the service provider for a coffee tasting session at Starbucks.

She was explaining me the coffee tasting process. The process has 4 steps.

1. Smell
2. Slurp
3. Locate
4. Describe

Now each step in detail...

1. Smell: The first and foremost step before smelling and tasting the coffee is to drink a cup of water, so that the taste buds gets cleaned and cleared, thereby making our taste buds to taste the real taste of the coffee.
The coffee mug gotta be hold in a closed position so the aroma doesnt escape away. I could smell an earthly and herbal flavour.



 
2. Slurp:The starbucks promotes the slurping way of drinking a coffee. Though I am good in slurping a coffee, couldn't do that for quite a long, because of the socio-pyschological reasons that my friends cited . But when Nisha asked me to slurp, I started doing it naturally in an perfect way and she was astonished and also complimented me saying not many people are good at slurping. ;)


Here's the art of slurping. When you slurp, the slurping sound should be heard enough. From the sound one can determine, if they are slurping the best way.

The science part of it. Slurping helps in reducing the temparature of the coffee inside the mouth. It also helps in spreading the aroma all over the mouth.

Dominator: This is the best part. After slurping, she asked me to bite a piece of cookie that was in the tray. She told it was to reduce the bitterness of the coffee I just had tasted, so i can have a refreshing tasting session again.


3. Locate: Now the third step is locating the taste. I could locate the taste of the coffee at the back of the tomgue.

4. Describe. She said that its the service providers duty to describe the coffee after the first 3 steps. Now here goes the description.

The coffee I had is named as "Sumatra". Here is the description of this variety.




 

Had an awesome coffee tasting session at Starbucks Chennai, the first ever coffee tasting session in my life. And the coffee tasted excellent and I also found an excellent way of tasting a coffee and drinking it.

I thanked Nisha and left the cafe.

Read More »