J. Hind at GRT, Chennai took us through the gastronomical journey with their degustation menu.

The menu is planned to perfection with the finest of details that have been taken care off.

To start with the ambience is colourful and bright, just the way I like it. I am not a big fan of dim light.

The service is par excellence and polite.

Gear up- Amuse Bouche.The welcome drink with two sides were cool and funky. The Kumkum shot and honey yoghurt Batra with brids eyes chilli caviar.

Two varieties of soup, sipped a little of veg soup from my friend.

The non-veg soup, 21 spice attukal jelly soup was presented well and the taste was mildly pungent.

The trunk road kaddu dhania soup ( pumpkin and corriander soup) had the original sweet flavour of the yellow pumpkin.

The millet chat needs a mention, it was made on a live movable cart with liquid nitrogen. We loved the making of it and ofcourse it tasted good.

The beetroot nacho with hummus topping was a creation by itself.

The non-veg starters were super cool.

• Charminar murg tawa kebab.
• Hyderbadi Haleem fodue was an experience.
• Pan seared smoked chicken dimsum was juicy and light.
• Sardari Jhinga was huge and succulent and cooked to perfection.
• Tandoori Sarson Machi (fish) the fish was fresh and I really appreciate the fact that it was not the basa fish. Spiced and cooked to perfection.
• Meen pollichathu was tangy, spicy and yummy. Cooked in banana leaf the flavour were bursting.

The main course was a mixed platter of chicken, meat and biryani.

• The kurumbadu Biryani was made with samba jeera rice and serve in jars. The taste was ok, but presentation was good.
• The Mohan Maans was succulent lamb legs served in a bed of  milk and spices, the presentation was neat.
• Mysore chilli chicken had a very different and special masala. I personally loved it.
• The Rotis need a special mention specially the nuts roti.

And finally it was time to say Tata bye bye with the best desserts.

• The live ice cream counter was an instant hit with all of us. It’s an experience not to be missed.
• The Jigarthanda shot was mild and just slipped down our mouth.
• Chocolate rasgulla pop was yummy and funky.

Overall an excellent food trail with fun, wow moments and a journey everyone should enjoy.

Don’t miss it for anything.

Falafel, a middle eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas formed into balls or fritters and deep fried. 

Another dish that was in my must try list and are we happy? We are elated.

Recipe

Ingredients:

1) 250gms dry chickpeas

2) 6 cloves garlic

3) 1/2 medium size onion

4) 2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves

5) 2 tbsp chopped parsley

6) salt to taste

7) 1tsp jeera/ Cummin

8) 1tsp baking powder

9) 5-6 tbsp plain flour

10) 1tsp chilli powder

Method:

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight/ 6 hours, then drain.
2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in a food processor, add the parsley, corriander, salt, chilli powder, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.
3. Add the baking powder and  the flour, and pulse. You may add more flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for atleast 1hour.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of small lemon.
5. In a pan take oil and deep fry. If it falls apart, add a little flour.  Fry on medium flame, till it’s golden brown. Drain on paper towels. 
6. I served it with hung curd mixed with thahini and cummin powder, chilli powder and salt.

Bharathi Mess, triplicane, Chennai. Thanks to a bunch of youngsters who introduced us to this awesome, healthy eatery.

We reached the place at 4.15pm and had to wait for 15mins for the evening session to start. They close after lunch for cleaning and cooking for the evening.

What was unique about this place was the staff prays that they should serve their customers in the best possible way before they start serving food.

They have a policy of no palm oil, no cooking soda, no msg, no white sugar and no maida.

Their menu consists of all healthy evening snacks at very reasonable price.

We tried the vazhapoo vada ( Banana flowers fritters). They were fresh and just out of the pan.

Kozhakattai ( jaggery and coconut stuffed steamed rice cakes) steaming hot.

Rice and ragi idiyappam ( string hoppers) with vada Curry. Soft and yummy.

Ragi and kambu ladoo just melted in our mouth, this was made with coconut and jaggery.

Sumithi milk, had no clue what it was, but the foodie in me wanted to offcourse experiment. Well, no regrets, I loved it. This was made with mixing pepper, palm sugar, dry ginger in hot milk.

The prices are unbelievable low, it is total value for money. Do not expect sitting place, you can only stand and eat here.

They are open from 7.30am. I guess they close between 3pm to 4.30pm Worth the wait and visit.

I am going again with my family.

Our visit to ‘Restaurant of the week 2017’ had a grand beginning @ Golden Dragon, Taj Coramandel.

I am so glad that I booked well in advance this time, since I missed it last year.

The ambience and service are the best, particularly at one of the best Taj property, there is nothing more anyone can ask for.

The food was par excellence. Each dish that we had was flavoured to perfection and utter most care was taken to ensure our experience was good. Since my husband is allergic to MSG we had an option to drop it from our food. That only meant nothing was precooked and everything we had was fresh and made to order.

The seafood Bean curd soup,was wonderful blended and at the same time we could also experience the flavour of each ingredient in the soup, mild and subtle.

Our appetizer were, ‘Prawn Har Gao’ ( Prawn dimsum) one of their signature dishes at golden dragon and it sure deserves to be number one. It just melts in your mouth, if you close your eyes you could go to paradise.

The ‘Don Bok chicken’ was a deep fried appetizer with fresh flavour.

‘Peking Konjee crispy lamb’ was another of my personal favourites. Stripes of lamb fried and sautéed in flavourful sauce and bell peppers.

The main course was everything non-veg we could think about.

This one stole my heart, the ‘Steamed fish with Peking soya sauce’. The fish was steamed to perfection and rested on a silky bed of Peking soya sauce. Oh my God, it was just yum!

‘Braised pork belly with potato in spicy soya and garlic sauce’. This dish was nicely made and blended well with the fried rice.

‘Stir Fried Tenderloin and mushroom in Oyster sauce’ was polished off by my son even before we could smell it. The one person who hates mushroom polished off all of them. The dish was simply yum according to him.

The staples were nothing special to write home about. ‘Cantonese vegetable fried rice’ and ‘wok tossed chilli garlic noodles’ blended well with the main course.

The desserts were good, but the portions were very small. Taste wise my personal favourite was the ‘crispy date pancake’.

The home made ‘lychee and basil seed ice cream’ missed the flavour.

‘Chocolate terrine’ had a very good subtle flavour and was not too overwhelming.

Over all an excellent Evening! Please do not miss the restaurant of the week that is on till 15th October.

Banana Almond Bread, mostly made when I have over ripe bananas and do not want to throw them away.

Ingredients:

1) 250 gms flour/ maida

2) 150 gms sugar

3) 1tsp baking powder

4) 1/2 tsp baking soda

5) 1/4 tsp salt

6) 1tsp cinnamon powder

7) 2tsp vanilla extract or essence

8) 1/2cup melted cooking butter

9) 2 eggs

10) 3 over ripe bananas

11) 1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds

Method:

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients.

Mash the bananas, lightly beat the eggs and mix with the banana, add the melted butter and vanilla extract.

Now combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 40mins.

Amelie’s Chennai, has been in my must visit place for a while.

Since we were not very hungry we tried very few dishes and we liked them.

The chicken breast in Parmesan cheese was good, but the cheese flavor was not evident.

The Thai bao was soft and yummy.

The Apple crumble was very well made and we loved the taste and texture.

The Caramel ice-cream Pop was amazing yummy.

Overall a very tastefully done place. With good food and yummy desserts.

Mezze, the new Mediterranean cafe in Chennai.

3days old this place is buzzing with people and fresh food.

What I liked about this place is everything is made Fresh. They make their own pita bread too.

What we had :

Lamb meat balls with salad

Shish taouk ( slow cooked marinated chicken, with pickled vegetables fries and Lebanese garlic dip with pita)

Lamb lahmajoum ( Turkish thin crust pizza with minced lamb and tomatoes).

Zatar garlic and mint yogurt with garlic -parsley-chilli pita.

Fresh brewed lemon mint ice tea and lychee cooler.

Food was the freshest and the best.

They could probably improve the portions, the portions were very small.

Must visit place!