HighMix Mocktail Bar is at a quaint place opp Shree Mithai off Spurtank Road. This all veggie place has some awesome mix of Mocktails, crepes and waffles.

We tried quiet a few of their dishes since we were four of us. In the mocktails list we tried the  HighMix spice mocktail, which is their signature mocktail. This was the best of the lot. The Bar man’s special had a good mix of guava and kiwi. The Pinacolada was good too. The Saffron mocktail was too sweet for my taste.

The corn and cheese crepe was good with good amount of juicy corn and cheese. The lasagna was a bit of a let down, but since they are still at the soft launch stage they were open for feedback and agreed to improve the lasagna.

The Orange bee waffle and the chocolate vanilla crepe were very good.

Total bill Rs. 1686, this is without GST, since they have not yet got their GST number.

I am surely going again to check on more of their menu items.

Persian food at Ayna – Hilton, Chennai.

Persian food is seen as mother of mughlai food. If you love mughlai food it’s time to taste the Persian food, you will understand the shuttle flavours of Persia.The food that was served to us were exotic and made to perfection by chef Rahman.
We started with the soup.
Mourgh- Chicken & Chicken stock simmered with saffron & potato. This has a very strong cinnamon flavor and I personally loved it.

The non-veg starters has a variety of choice right from seafood to poultry to meat.

Non veg starters
Kebab Maigo Zafrani – Tiger prawns wrapped with saffron, lemon, olive oil & yoghurt. Huge prawns, tenderly cooked to perfection.
Mahi Ye Aflatuni- Fish with chopped scallions, pomegranate & orange juice. I personally did not like the dish and the flavor of the fish.

Joojeh Kebab- Chicken tikka marinated with saffron, wine vinegar, onion & curd. The chicken was laced with subtle flavor.

Mourgh Koobedah- Chicken Kebab, marinated with ground black pepper, garlic & saffron. This one was like any other normal kebab, nothing to write home about.

Kebab Koobedah- Traditional Lamb Seekh Kebab, mince marinated with ground black pepper, garlic & saffron. This one was one of favorites. The saffron flavor made this dish majestic.

Kebab Chenjeh- Grilled lamb chunks kebab of Irani Cuisine. The flavor in this kebab was distinct.

Shammi Ghushti- Lamb patty,Traditional shammi kebab of Persian cuisine. Very close to the shammi kebab we find in mughlai kebab

The veg starter for a change was very exciting too!
Veg starters
Zaffran Paneer Kebab- Cottage cheese marinated with saffron, pistachio & olive oil. The saffron flavor stole the show when wrapped around the soft Juicy paneer.

Gharth Tanuri- Farm fresh mushroom simmered with olive oil, Saffron & ground spices. Mushroom taken to the next level.

Felafil Abadan- Fried patty, Chickpea & potato with capsicum cumin. This was not one of my favorite, as I have had better ones and in the streets of Dubai.

Khubani Shammi- Shallow Fried patty, Potato shell stuffed with soft apricot. This was an exotic and different combination,that blended well and this truly excited my taste buds.

The main course has a variety of dishes you could choose from. Both veggies and the non vegetarian can savor the flavours.

Non veg mains

Magu Dopyaza- Prawns Simmered with Potato, Onion, lemon & Tomato

Kaliyan Mahi-Fish simmered with coriander, fenugreek, garlic, black cumin.

Khoresh Zereshk Morgh- Chicken and barberry stew with a rich taste of tomato & onion. This dish was slightly sweet and was not my personal favorite.

Khoresh Bademjan- boneless Chicken with eggplant, tomato paste, saffron & split chick pea

Khoresh Kalal Badam- Lamb simmered with almond & black barberry. This was my favorite dish, loved the succulent lamb with perfect blend of spices.

Khoresh Fesenjan- Lamb curry cut with Pomegranate & Walnut.

Vegetable Mains

Paneer Fasenjan- Diced cottage cheese simmered with pomegranate, powdered walnuts, mild spices.

Khuresh Bamiyan- Okra stew, onion, garlic, tomato & split chick pea.

Khuresh E Bademjan- Eggplant, dry milk, onion, walnut & saffron. The flavours of saffron gave a twist to the humble eggplant.

Khuresh E Gharth- Mushroom simmered with green peas, potato,salt & pepper

Makhlout Subzi Jat- Fresh seasonal vegetables cooked by ethnic Persian hands.

Dal Adasi- Black lentils (Whole Masoor) Concocted with Potato, Sumac Olive Oil. This Dal was par excellence, even better than an exotic Dal makhani.

Dal Hormozgan- White beans tendered with tomato gravy, Dill & garlic.

Pulao-Lamb Pilaf with Traditional Orange Flavor, Pistachio & Almond.

Bagli Mourg Polo-Basmati Rice & Fawa beans Simmered with Dill leaves & Saffron. In the rice choices this one clearly stood out.

Bademjan Pulao-Persian Pilaf, Flavored rice with Saffron, Sliced Potato &Eggplant.

Adas Subz Polo- Bengal gram pilaf, cooked with pistachio &seasonal vegetables.

Breads

Naan E Barbari (Irani Taftan, Topped with Poppy & Sesame Seeds)

Naan E Kirmani (Irani naan, flavored Herbs)

Both the breads truly proved a masters hand a work. The best bread I have had n Chennai so far.

Desserts

Halwa Takhmemorg- Egg halwa made with milk & nuts (Non Veg). The egg smell was totally camouflaged and it tasted like milk. I liked it.

Halwa E Sheer- Milk, Cottage Cheese & Nuts. My personal favorite was this dessert that was subtle on flavor.

Pudding Phirni Gulab- Milk & Rose Petals Pudding.

In all a royal lunch, when one puts the food ambiance, service and presentation put together.
This festival is open from 21st July to 30th July. Give your family a royal and exotic weekend.

A dozen of us flocked this place on a mid weekend for lunch.

We had made reservations and wanted our food to be served at 1pm.

The menu consisted of three varieties of Thali. Veg Thali, non-veg Thali and seafood Thali. We opted for the non-veg Thali. This had chicken, mutton and fish.

The ambience was amazing, the service was par excellence. Presentation of the food was picture perfect.

We started with the mutton soup and starters that consisted of neatly presented chicken65, sundal and curd vada. Followed by the huge royal Thali that had mutton gravy, chicken gravy and many vegetarian varieties, curd in earthern pots and butter milk. The highlight of the Thali was huge pieces of king fish fry. This also comes with idiyappam ( string hoppers) roti, tamrind rice, plain rice which can be had with sambar and rasam. Mind you all this is unlimited.

The desserts came in cute little bowls that were perfect for one person.

If you want to savour a good spicy southern Indian meal. This is the place to visit.

I make decent parathas, but rolling the parathas with hands instead of using the rolling pin has always been a dream for me.

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 cups wheat flour 

Water as required (do not make the dough too hard, will means use a little extra water)

1/2 TSP salt

2 TSP oil.

Mix all the above ingredients, make a ball, cover with cloth and leave aside.

For the filling:

200 gms paneer

2 medium boiled potatoes

Salt and black salt to taste

1/2 TSP jeera powder

1tsp chilli powder

1/2 amchur or dry mango powder

1/4tsp garam masala powder

Few corriander leave finely chopped.

Mash up the above ingredients and make balls and leave aside.

Method:

Take a portion of the dough roll it to Puri size sprinkle some oil or ghee, dust some flour and keep one ball of the paneer masala on it. Cover the masala ball with the dough and start spreading it with your fingers gently ensuring that the paratha and the masala inside is spreading evenly.

Take a pan and shallow fry the parathas. Drizzle ghee or oil on both sides.

Yummy parathas ready to be served with curd and pickle (optional)