Moti Mahal Delux

This post will cover two experiences with Moti Mahal Delux. Once I had been with my nephews to the Nungambakkam restaurant and the next one was the packed lunch combo I ordered for my team from the newly opened outlet in Ramanujan IT City in Taramani.
I took my nephews to the Nungambakkam restaurant for dinner on Ramzan day I think. These chaps were into non-veg only since the last few years and so were trying to make up for the lost time! :-) The restaurant ambience was quite good. I think we ordered Tandoori Chicken for starters, Family Naan, Butter Chicken (I think) and a Panneer gravy for me. The Tandoori Chicken was quite good. The Family Naan has so many pieces that 3 of us struggled to finish it. It was also liberally strewn with cashews, almonds and dried grapes. My nephews said Butter Chicken was good. The Panneer gravy was also quite good. Overall a very good place for Tandoori items. I need to go again to try out other items.
A few weeks after the first rendezvous, when I wanted to arrange a lunch for my team, I wanted to try Moti Mahal lunch combo from the outlet they started a outlet in Ramanujan IT City, which is next to my office building. It is another matter that the ordered food has to pass through Ramanujan building security to go out and again go through the notorious Tidel Park security to come inside for delivery. This alone would have contributed at least 30 minutes. I asked for the food to be delivered at 12pm and it got delivered at 12.45pm. I understood the reasons for the delay and also the fact that they started operations only a day before and so naturally had some teething troubles. I was so caught up with coordinating with them for the delivery that I could not properly do the arrangements for the team and had to keep them waiting. The delays also contributed to food losing some of their freshness. I also felt the packing could have been better. Nevertheless the team liked the food and some of them said this was the best lunch combo they had had. Overall a not so good experience for whatever reasons, but I am willing to give another try at this outlet.

Chap Chay @Raintree

I had been to Chap Chay many months back and had been wanting to write about it. The funny part was we went to Raintree intending to have lunch in a Lemongrass restaurant in Raintree. Two of us in the group had been to Lemongrass many years back and we thought of going there again. To our surprise, Lemongrass didn't exist anymore and in its place Chap Chay was there. Both served Chinese cuisine and I thought what's in the name. I don't remember what we had, but the starters were good and we were suggested to try the Stir Fry as it was the speciality of this restaurant. This place is supposedly Chennai's first Stir Fry themed restaurant. So there was a stir-fry counter. You can pick a bowl and choose from an array of vegetables, sauces, spices, different types of meat, rice or noodles and hand it over to the chef  in the counter and may be you can also tell him how you want it prepared. The contents of the bowl would then be stir-fried and served on your table. Basically you design your dish and the chef prepares it the way you want. I liked the concept. The stir-fry was very good. I didn't realise at that time that you visit the station as many times you want, for I would have gone once more. The added benefit I think is that the food is relatively healthy. Now that I have relived that dining experience again while writing this post, I want to go to Chap Chay again quite soon!

Go Go Ramen

Though I have been eating out a lot in the recent past, it has been a while since me and friend cum colleagues Rajesh and Siva went out to eat on Fridays. It was like 3 of us were in office on a Friday after a long time. One or other were always travelling. So when Rajesh suggested that we go to GoGo Ramen this Friday, I had no clue about that restaurant. So when he said the specialty is Noodles, I immediately associated Ramen = Top Ramen in my mind and wondered why go to a restaurant to eat instant noodles! I even suggested that we keep the restaurant option open. Later in the evening, I did some web research and realised it is Japanese comfort cuisine and looked at the menu and got interested. So we went and ordered Miso Soy Ramen which was the sole vegetarian noodle option as  the other two were vegetarians and I too preferred veg since it is first time with respect to Japanese cuisine. I also had Oolong herbal tea, which tasted like a medicine to me. :-). Miso Soy Ramen was soup and noodle broth with vegetables and tofu and I had opted for mushrooms as extra topping. The soup was thick and flavoury. The noodles were thick and long and I had difficulty initially to even eat it with a fork. The dish was good and filling. Chocolate ice cream was the only dessert option that was available and we skipped it. Don't Japs eat desserts after a meal? I also saw some friend rice option in the menu. Need to go again to try out the other things in the menu. The restaurant style was simple and more like that of a (posher) roadside eatery which was fine with me. The price would come to around 500 -550 per person, which is OK for a specialty restaurant.

What makes a great meal?

It takes more than great tasting food to make a terrific meal. It takes an awesome location and eating with fun, interesting people.

Read from a website. I agree completely!

Tuscana Kryptos @Chamiers Road

Though I had been to Tuscana at Chamiers Road several times, I though I should write again at least for the dish I had this time. This time decided to try out a Kryptos Greek dish. The most safest bet seemed to be the Panneer Skewer, with Panneer being one of my favorites. It was Cottage cheese marinated in yogurt, paprika, garlic, cumin and coriander and needless to say, it was quite good. I want to have Tiramisu for dessert, but to my disappointment, it was not available that day. So the next option was Panna Cotta, which was very good.

http://www.tuscanaonchamiers.in/

Chipotle Mexican Grill

During one of the mall visits, I and my friend went to Chipotle for lunch. It is a Mexican fast food restaurant, but from what I observed and read about them, they don't seem to be a typical fast food chain. The food seems quite healthy and the burritos get done in front of you with your choice of filling, rice, bean, salsa and several other options. Overall I liked the food as well as the concept behind this restaurant. One learning is I should have probably chosen the Burrito bowl than Burrito. It has lesser calories and probably easier to eat.

http://www.chipotle.com

On the Border - Mexican Cuisine

The last working day of my stay in Milpitas, there was a team lunch planned at On the Border, which serves mexican cuisine. Now mexican is one of my favorite cuisines because you have lot of vegetarian options. But this time I went for a grilled chicken, probably bored of the fried rice and sandwiches. The dish I ordered was Tender grilled Chicken Breast topped with creamy chile con queso sauce and fresh sliced avocado. Served with sauteed vegetables and cilantro lime rice. It was good, though I would liked it to be a bit more spicy.

http://www.ontheborder.com/printable-menu.aspx

Specialty's Cafe

I had been to Specialty's Cafe couple of times. It was one of the places I liked to visit when I wanted to eat lite lunch, but now realise there are more options that I should have gone for dinner and spent more time and soak in the ambience. The place has a ambience that's just right for the techies, geeks and entrepreneurs of the Bay Area. My favorite sandwich was the Hot roasted veggie sandwich. It was pretty good. I also liked that you could order online or order from the terminals there instead of standing in the line and they do deliver it quickly.

http://www.specialtys.com/

Thai Town at Milpitas

Another Thai restaurant we went during my trip was Thai Town. We went here because our first choice Banana Leaf was closed on Sundays. I had Vegetable Curry Fried Rice, which was fried rice with mixed vegetable, egg and curry sauce. It was decent, nothing exceptional relative to the My Thai. I just think I should stick to curry and steamed rice in Thai restaurants. I seem to like fried rice more in Chinese restaurants.
 
http://thaitownrestaurants.com/

Banana leaf at Milpitas

One of the restaurants I happened to go and eat was the Banana Leaf. Though the name sounds very South Indian, this restaurant serves Malay, Thai, Chinese and Indian. This seems quite popular with my colleagues. We had planned to go for Sunday dinner, but since it was closed, we went there on Monday. Since I haven't had Malaysian food before, I opted for a Malaysian (or is it a Malay - Indian fusion) dish. It was Nasi Goreng - Indian spicy fried rice with chicken, tofu & eggs. It was more like a biryani made of chicken, egg, tofu and vegetables than a fried rice. It also had a little sweetness and I generally don't like sweetness in main dishes, except may be for the spicy thai curry. So it was a ok for me, but my colleagues seem to enjoy the food a lot better.

http://www.bananaleaf-usa.co

Amber Indian Restaurant at Santana Row

I suspect that I will end up writing more about the Santana Row area than the restaurant itself. The description on restaurant website says "ultra chic urban neighborhood, Santana Row". Enough said I suppose. Obviously being located in such a place, the restaurant should be having a nice ambience and of course be expensive. I went there for a dinner arranged by my company for all colleagues who had travelled from US and across the world for a training. While nearing Santana Row, I was wondering if we are going to the right place as the place was so glitzy and my company was not exactly known for extravagant spending!
Coming to the restaurant itself, it was pretty good. I wouldn't say great though. I had Roti, Naan's with Amritsari Paneer Tikka which was was good. Otherwise nothing more to add. This dinner was more about meeting colleagues from other locations and getting to know than about food.

http://www.amber-india.com/Indian-Restaurant-Santana-Row/

Dish Dash - Mediterranean cuisine

I had been wanting to eat in a proper mediterranean restaurant for a long time. There were not much choices in Chennai. They were either too expensive and difficult to get a table. Now we had oppurtunity while we were in US. My colleagues suggested that we go to Dish Dash and so we did. In fact I and my friend went again to Dish Dash later that week. First I want to shout that I had the best Mango Lassi i ever had in Dish Dash. It is called Mango Yogurt in their menu. It was perfect! (coming from me, it must be really good.. yeah!)
We tried the Vegetarian platter and also Falafel for starts. It was very good.
For main course on my first visit, I tried M'shakaleh Vegetarian - Layers of mushrooms, grilled eggplant, cauliflower, tomatoes, and rice, served with a yogurt-tomato sauce. It was in a sense similar to a bisi-bela bath and it was nice.
The next time, I tried Shish Taouk - Delicately marinated tender cubes of chicken charbroiled, and served with seasoned grilled vegetables and rice. It was very similar to Tandoori Chicken. It was good, but i struggled a bit to eat it with fork and knife (rather than using my hand).
But Mango Yogurt was my favorite.
Overall a very nice place.

http://www.dishdash.com

Buffet at Crimson Chakra

Went to Crimson Chakra a couple of months back with the team. Tried the buffet for the first time. I was not sure if the buffet was there all along or introduced recently. The buffet was reasonably priced at around 600 rupees. There were not many choices, but whatever was available seemed to taste good. I tried the vegetarian options and it was good. The combination of curd rice and vengaya (onion) kara kuzumbhu was the one i liked most. The carnivores in the group gave good feedback in the non vegetarian items as well. Overall a decent choice.

XXL Pizza

Every thing is Xtra Large in US, but I and my friend forgot this fact while ordering a large pizza. One evening we returned to our hotel late after some shopping and the restaurant had shut shop. So we ordered pizza. We thought 2 of us could share and so we ordered a large veggie pizza from new york colosseum pizza. When it arrived, to our surprise, it was at least 50% bigger than a equivalent Indian large pizza. The even greater surprise was that we managed to finish it after deliberating what to do with the remaining slices and whether we should have it for breakfast! :-)

http://www.colosseumpizza.com/menus.html

My Thai at Fremont, CA

I was in Milpitas, California during the first week of October on a business visit. I had to endure a gruelling 16 hour flight from Dubai to San Francisco. It is hard enough normally for someone like me who can't sleep on flights, but that excarbated this time as I wasn't feeling well (cold and mild fever)for a few days before and during the journey. So I really wanted to have some hot and spicy food after I reached my Hotel. The obvious choice was My Thai. This place was known for spicy food. What is classified as medium spicy here is hotter than hot in other restaurants. Whoever had hot food here gets photographed and displayed in the restaurant's Hall of Fame board. So I and my friend head out to this place. Not wanting to take too much risk, I opted for the medium spiced Thai Green Curry with steamed rice. I am someone who can handle a bit of spice, but medium was quite spicy enough for me even when I was craving for spicy food. The food was very good and served its purpose. Even though I had Thai food at other places during the trip, I liked this place the most!

Suffolk Grill

When I was in Ipswich for a week on business, I and a few of my colleagues stayed in Salthouse Harbour Hotel, which is situated on a waterfront and supposedly one of the best hotel in town. My company gets a good rate for the rooms, which includes complimentary breakfast. So my typical breakfast during my stay was like   Suffolk Grill -  fried bread, grilled tomato, mushroom & fried egg, spinach (minus pork and bacon which was part of the menu) Fresh orange juice Greek yoghurt with berries Fresh fruit salad Coffee Latte Needless to say, I enjoyed the breakfast. It was healthy and filling, but not too full to put me to sleep during the meetings. Ipswich is in the Suffolk county and hence the name Suffolk grill. http://www.salthouseharbour.co.uk/

Sankranthi at TTK Road

I had been a couple of times to Sankranthi which is in TTK Road quite near the Park Sheraton Hotel. Once it was a Andhra meals with Egg Podimas and other time, I think I had Egg Biryani. I found the food to be good, but not exceptional. The quantity and rates were reasonable value for money.

Peshawari at ITC Grand Chola

The first time I went to Peshawari was with a couple of my friends. We went there more out of curiosity about the new Hotel. We were hoping Royal Vega would have been opened, but it was not. So we looked around at other restaurants. One of the friends were keen on the buffet, but the rest were not and majority won and we ended up in Peshawari. We ordered some Roti, Naan and some Dal and Paneer side dishes. Though it was very expensive, the quality and taste was pretty good. More recently we had some senior executives from US/UK in town and we took them to Peshawari again for dinner. I think we were a group of 8. The food was very good and the visitors liked it very much. There was a set menu that me and another friend wanted to try out and but it turned out to be either every one in the table opts for it or it is not an option. The waiters and staff in the restaurant dressed in traditional pathan dress looked odd and funny to me. These dresses need tall and well-built pathan's to carry it off. Not our folks!!!

Back from the break!

Coming back after a while, well a year later! This is my first post in 2013 and we are into the last quarter. No excuses except that I had been plain lazy and lacking inspiration(???) to write! Hope to post more frequently. Have tried out a few more restaurants in Chennai. Also been to UK and US for short business trips. So thought of writing about the food I had there as well.