Kumar Mess, Chennai.

Kumar mess originated in Madurai, they opened a branch in Vadapalani a few years ago. The one in T Nagar is relatively new.

If you are looking for a small mess, well it’s not, it is much bigger than an usual restaurant. The term “mess” is deceptive in this case.

The food is Madurai cuisine if you are looking for authentic food. They have some Chinese and North Indian dishes that can be ignored.

We started our lunch with crab omlette and mutton Nalli roast. Both were good and the freshness of the crab was evident in the flavour of the omlette.

We moved on to the main course. The non veg meals was served with chicken, Mutton and fish gravy along with veggies, rasam, curd and buttermilk. Everything cooked and served to perfection on a banana leaf.

The aiyra fish is famous in Madurai and the aiyra fish curry at Kumar mess was good, but my friends who had it in Madurai said it is better there.

The mutton biryani is made with jeera samba rice and this style of biryani is my favourite. It was light and not too greasy.

The mutton dosa was soft and yummy. But too small for the price.

We ended our meal with the famous Jigarthanda from Madurai. Yummy, but again the portion was too small for the price.

Over all a very satisfying lunch. But too pricy.

VA Pho at Ampa Mall, Chennai. A sneek preview to the most colourful food place at Ampa mall.

Asian food with signature dishes from the Asian continent.

Movie at PVR, drink at Sera and dine at Va Pho. Weekend is complete.

The food at Va Pho is as vibrant as their decor.

We started with the welcome drinks. My favourite was the mango, basil, chilli drink. I personally liked the mild basil flavour.

The soup followed, I am a fan of authentic Asian soup.

But this Saigon Pho (soup) stole my heart. This was just like the one I had at Vietnam.

The raw papaya and mango salad was very refreshing along with the chicken salad.

The wide variety of starters can actually confuse you. They also have a choice of teppan now at Va Pho and hence the confusion only increases.

My personal favourite was the zucchini, corn and cream cheese dimsums that was unassumingly tasty.

The southern thai chicken satay was very different from what I have tasted elsewhere and the sauce/dip was yummy.

The Phuket beef satay was good too.

The crispy fish Bao was different and good.

The Signature Va Pho prawns cooked in sambal sauce was subtle in favour.

The chicken wings sizzler was different and we loved the smoked flavour.

The Malay styled squid rings were crisp and blended well with the sauteed sauce along with curry leaves.

From the teppan selection we had the tappam prawns.

As if the starers were not enough we moved on to the biggest main course. The varieties were unimaginable.

Nasi goreng kampung had a burst of flavours.

Meat 9 choice of meat we had chicken with nine exotic vegetables in chefs style. It did reflect the style of the chef.

Va Pho chilli beef dry blended well with our meal.

The Padang egg curry was mind blowing along with steamed rice, a good choice for eggeterians.

Japchae, glass noddles tossed with choice of meat we had it with prawns.

And like we all say the ending has to be happy. End of our dinner was just awesome.

Burmese falooda – rose milk topped falooda, a favourite from the streets of Myanmar.

Tender coconut ice cream stick served with sweetened coconut cream and sago pearls was the cutest dessert I ever had.

The hottest sizzling brownie with vanilla icecream.

The finale was Vapholicious! With the monster sundae we literally wanted to sleep there.

We certainly had lots of fun moments at Va Pho!