Campari On Ice

My fascination for Campari started sometime when I was in XIth or XIIth standard and had plenty of time to read all the novels in the world. And I almost did! I came across this drink in a novel. But try as I might, I’m unable to remember its name. I remember it by being written by a famous author, and it involved the protagonist being shipped to Italy with a face subjected to plastic surgery and a new identity to protect him from the bad guys. He’s made to learn Italian and made to pass off as a local. If someone has read this novel and can remember the name, please do leave me a comment. I’ve been cracking my head over it for a long time now.

One interesting tidbit of information I came across in this book is that no self respecting Italian drinks Cappuccino after 11AM! This should be news to folks in India who stroll into Cafe Coffee Days and Baristas and order a Cappuccino in the evening just to look cool.

Well, I digress. The protagonist in the story always ordered the same drink whenever he dined – A Campari on Ice. That started my fascination with this drink.
I was intrigued by the name, and wanted to know what it was. A couple of weeks back, I got my chance. I’d visited High Time at the GRT Grand a couple of weeks back with my best pal, and to my surprise, I found Campari on the menu under Apertifs. An Apertif is something to whet your appetite as opposed to a Digestif, which helps digest your food.

While,I wasn’t looking to whet my appetite,I wasn’t about to leave an opportunity to taste the drink I had only dreamed about, slip through my hands just because of a technicality. In my opinion, if you have an apertif after dinner, it automatically becomes a digestif. If it has to make you hungry, it ought to digest what you’ve already eaten. Right?

Well, I ordered without hesitation (though not on ice) and it arrived in a quaint little shot glass, sort of shaped like a distorted hourglass sawed in half. It was dark red. Eye candy. It smelt wonderful. Nose candy. It tasted awful!

Campari is an alcoholic apertif obtained by infusing bitter herbs, aromatic plants and fruits in alcohol and water (this is according to Wikipedia). It hails from Italy and its composition has been kept a secret by the Campari family for almost 150 years. I agree wholeheartedly. Its aromatic, smells of fruit, and is more bitter than anything I’ve tasted in my life.

But having set out on a mission to taste anything and everything possible (If I haven’t told you about this before, here it is) sipping on Campari was a privilege as seen by my buddy & I. While we manged the first few sips with straight faces, we needed plenty of potato wafers to finish the last few sips with distorted faces.

But, its the experience that counts. I’ve tasted Campari. Though I wouldn’t recommend it to any bete-noir of mine, its still one item off my bucket list.

Well, as for you readers, if you’re dying to have a sip of Campari, after reading about it in some book or watching it in a movie, or after watching Jessica Alba pout seductively with a bottle, well, I would advise you to take someone along. Someone who is absolutely in love with this stuff. So he/she can finish the rest after you’ve had your sip. Alternatively you can take 10 similarly-interested people along, and order one tiny glass, so that everyone has their experience, and doesn’t have to go through it again.

Cheers!

Mocha Mojo & Tasty Jones

I’ve just got back from a visit to Mocha Mojo. They have found a great location, just near Adyar depot. Quite near Java Green & Cafe Coffee Day. The place is tastefully decorated, with lots of funky colours and trendy interiors. The seating is semi-comfortable, by which I mean that some of the chairs are really comfortable, but the sofa-seating is not all that great. Only the ones sitting near the walls get to really relax.

The waiters are dressed in blue, but their aprons are pink & hilarious. The place gets quite crowded by around 6pm on a weekend. We had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a seat.

We were all suffering from sore throats and opted to go for hot drinks & sat in the no smoking zone. So I’m not able to comment on the Sheeshas & Hookahs.

The menu is rather comprehensive and has so many options that it sets your head spinning. The shiny colours and funky fonts are not very helpful either. We spent about 20 minutes trying to decide what to have. Finally, we decided on a Mocha Float – which turned out to be chocolate ice cream floating in coffee (also available with Vanilla Ice cream), Con Panna – a shot of espresso topped with cream, and Irish Coffee. The Con Panna turned out to be disgusting and my friend had to use around 6 packets of sugar to make it moderately drinkable and even then it tasted disgusting.

I strongly advise visitors to abstain from ordering Con Panna. The Irish coffee was good and was served in an authentic Irish Coffee Mug. Obviously it is served non-alcoholic.

The coffees left us quite full, but we had already ordered a Yin-Yang chocolate fondue. A fondue is basically molten chocolate, this one with equal amounts of white and dark chocolate. Marshmallows are dipped into the chocolate and eaten.

The fondue was served with a tiny candle under a ceramic bowl to keep the chocolate molten, and soon it started boiling. Apart from the marshmallows, apple slices, sponge cakes and biscuits were also provided as dips. This was quite good, but after eating so much sweet stuff, we were dying for something spicy.

We settled the bill and set out to find something spicy. The bill came to around Rs 500. On an average, the stuff is over priced. It is alright for a one time visit, but I sure wouldn’t go there a second time.

We moved to Besant Nagar for the spicy stuff, and after rejecting Galloping Gooseberries, we walked over to the row of food stalls near the beach. After finding Dhaba Express too crowded, we finally settled on Tasty Jones. We found a seat near the entrance, with plants jutting on to the table, however it was the only one we found. In the balmy heat,we were soon sweating, but the AC seating was full.

We weren’t looking for a meal, as we had filled our stomachs with coffee and chocolate. We wanted the Achari Kebab, but it wasn’t available. So we settled for a half Tandoori Chicken (2 pieces) and a Chicken Sheekh Kebab (5 pieces). The service was pathetic with the waiter serving us water only after we were through half our meal, and that too after we asked for it. Paper napkins were provided after the bill and that too on request.

The meal was good, with the chicken being accompanied with mint chutney and onion. The Chicken Sheekh kebab was delicious and spicy and hit the spot. We had got what we were searching for. The Tandoori chicken was typical. Meat was succulent though.

The bill came to around Rs.200. The location is good, near the beach, but it gets too hot if you choose to sit outside. You are also besieged by beggars. They also offer steaks, burgers, sandwiches, and Indian breads like naan, roti and curries. Worth a visit, but the portions are not very large. So I wouldn’t make a habit of going there regularly. The service is pathetic.

For the rating:

Mocha Mojo
Ambiance: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Taste: 3/5
Value for Money: 2/5

Rating: 3.25
Verdict: You can try it once, and if you like to smoke hookahs, maybe more than once. Just don’t make the mistake of ordering too many sweets.

Tasty Jones
Ambiance: 3/5
Service: 2/5
Taste: 4/5
Value for Money:3/5

Rating: 3/5

Verdict: Good to try if you’ve spent an evening at the beach. Can get crowded. Have to wait a long time for the food.

Cheers!

Addicted to Barbecues

This was about a couple of weeks ago. I had spent the weekend in Bangalore with my friend & her cousins. And a sister-in-law of mine had suggested that I have a look-see at BBQ nation. Since she had raved so much about it, we decided to give it a shot.

Apparently there are two in Bangalore & we went to the more famous of the two – at Indira Nagar or JP Nagar – I forget which. I’m still learning the geography in Bangalore. Anyway, it was full & we were told to wait an hour. Having missed breakfast, and not wanting to put up with rumbling tummies anymore, we went over to the other one after reserving a table on the rooftop.

The rooftop is a charming place with bright sunlight streaming in through the plastic top and thankfully, its not very hot. The table has a small receptacle in it to place the Tandoor in it. For those who haven’t guessed yet, this place is about Tandoori, Kebabs & barbecues.

We were five & we opted for the 450/head exclusive lunch which offers 7 vegetarian & 5 non-veg kebab options. The regular 275/head lunch offers just 3 & 2.

We were offered a complimentary drink with a choice of a pint of beer, a mocktail or a martini. We all chose martinis & I ended up choosing a Kiwi & Watermelon martini (being a self confessed watermelon addict), while others managed to pick Apple & Cinnamon and Pomegranate & Passion fruit. A&C turned out to be the best.

BBQ Nation has a nice policy. They keep a funny white flag on a table. The flag staff has a hinged joint (What did you expect from an engineer?). As long as the flag stays up, they keep bringing you starters – kebabs. Once you want to throw in the towel, you have to turn the flag down as a sign of surrender.

The starters started to arrive. The non veg option had Indonesian Fish, Cilantro Chicken, Tangdi Kebab, Grilled Prawns and Mutton Sheekh Kebab. We didn’t eat a lot of veg, but there was a disgusting Beetroot Kebab, and a delicious Paneer Kebab that melted in the mouth. The Cashew coated Potato Kebab was also heavenly and the Barbecued fruits were also tasty – masala smeared fruits skewered and barbecued.

The system is like this. The kebabs are partly cooked and brought to the table where the waiter places a small charcoal grill in the receptacle. The skewers are brought and placed on this mini-grill. A choice of sauces is provided on the table with a tiny paint brush. We can coat the kebabs & let them grill on the table. Some funky dips are also provided to accompany the kebabs after they are done. I remember garlic mayonnaise & lemon.

The Prawns were the pick of the day and we ended up ordering tonnes of those. The chicken had a lukewarm response but was not ignored completely. The Sheekh Kebabs were also received well,but we didn’t have too many of those as they were slow coming in. The fish was rather bland.

Among the veggies, we ordered barbecued fruits by the dozen. We kept on ordering and were at the starters for more than an hour with the flag flying high.

Until the waiter came and politely told us that the Kebab kitchen was closing and would we like to place our last orders.

(I still think he was shocked at the amount we ate and wanted to prevent the larder from running out). So we ordered a few more prawn and fruit skewers and then finally put the flag down – though it wasn’t really necessary as the kebab kitchen had closed.

And then we moved – wait for it – to the regular buffet. Yes! After the unlimited starters, there is a regular buffet where the likes of Obelix can gorge all they want. Crab Ghassi & Mutton biryani were part of the spread along with roti, and the ubiquitous curd rice. I was kind of full and so had a couple of crab claws and a spoonful of biryani.

And we moved on to dessert. The spread was quite good with Mapple tart (We were wondering if its Maple or Apple or a combination), blueberry pudding, muskmelon, watermelon slices, vanilla ice cream and whatnot.

We went through these a couple of times.Until the waiter came and politely told us that the buffet was closing. Perhaps he wanted us to get out of there as soon as possible.

We had spent two wonderful hours there and it was 4pm when we left. Though its a bit expensive (Rs 500/head with taxes), for people who can eat mountains, it is well worth the price. Its very tasty too.

There is one on North Usman road here in Chennai, and I’m planning to drag a couple of friends there as soon as I can.

For the rating:

Taste – 5/5
Ambiance – 4/5
Service – 5/5
Value for Money – 4/5
Total – 4.5

So if you have a Barbecue Nation in your town, do check it out. It is a wonderful experience. Bon Appetit!

Cheers!

There is no food like Home Food!

People tend to go through Six phases in life. First phase is when you’re too young to know what is being shoved down your throat. The second phase is when you refuse to touch certain items because of the way they look or smell (also known as being fussy – a phase I never went through). The third phase involves eating whatever your Mom cooks while managing to grumble all the while (usually during school days). Fourth phase depends on whether you have the (mis)fortune of having to stay in hostel for 3 or more years. During this stage, people manage to grumble all the while, eating the occasional 20 chapatis or so. The Fifth phase involves new found freedom and money, splurging on junk food and longing for Mom’s cooking. The Sixth phase, for men involves, learning the rather difficult skill of eating what the wife cooks while keeping their mouth shut. For women, it might involve either slaving over the stove, or for the more enterprising ones, watching TV while their husband slaves over the stove.

I’m going to focus mainly on phase Five as that is the one I’m currently going through and hence, the one I’m most familiar with. Restaurant food is tasty. You get to choose what you want to eat, eat paneer or chicken or whatever it is you fancy everyday, hang out with friends, and have a good time.

But, too much of anything is bad, and as time passes, one tends to get sick of the Paneer Butter Masala and the Tandoori Chicken. And that is the time when one starts to yearn for the rice & dal or the soft fluffy idlis or phulkas which mum used to cook. Visits home tend to be eagerly awaited. And rest assured, those (un)lucky among us to gain weight at the drop of a hat, tend to return after their sojourns considerably heavier.

There is also a sea change in Mum’s attitude. The irritated look she used to wear during phase Three whenever her son/daughter used to grumble, changes to uninhibited love as she pulls out all stops to cook all her child’s favourite dishes. However, a slightly long stay at home will bring back traces of the irritated look and hints about the date of the return journey.

As this yearning for home cooked food increases, people turn to friends who are locals and binge when friend’s mums play hostesses. Any invitation is jumped at, be it for dinner, or tea.

Another phenomenon which has caught on in the South, particularly near where IT companies are located, is that of the Andhra Mess. Since the IT industry is flooded with people from Andhra Pradesh, a few enterprising business men have started dishing out home-cooked Andhra ‘meals’ – which may not consist of more than plain rice, sambar, and a curry or two. They tend to be moderately priced and the patronage is unbelievable. It is a sure fire way to mint money for the owner of the Mess, and the customers get to have simple food that tastes like what they are used to eating at home. Win-Win for both!

The Udupi hotels are another variety of this, but they tend to stick to the Idli-Dosa-Vada combinations. Kerala hotels, Gujarati Bhojanalays, Marwadi eat-outs, and places offering Jain food also have the same principle – Simple food that doesn’t torture your stomach, and gives you a feeling of being at home even though you might be thousands of miles away even if its for an hour or so. This was one feeling I felt when I visited Sree Annapurna of Calcutta. People tend to eat as well as socialize.

The success of Indian food stores in the US & UK can also be attributed to the same phenomenon. It is said, you never really miss anything till you lose it. The food which mum served everyday at home was taken for granted. We need to be away from home to realize its true worth.

Healthy, tasty,fulfilling and filled with Love. A mix of ingredients, which no other food can match. Home food is the best! I’d personally have mum’s dosas than the ones that Saravana Bhavan dishes out. Their sizes are comparable, but the rates charged by Saravana Bhavan make you wonder if the same amount could have bought you a decent life insurance policy.

Those of you away from home will be able to relate more to this post. Those of you in phase Six, Tough luck. Maybe if you stay away from your spouse, you might start liking that food too!

Cheers!

Disclaimer: The above post is not intended to be an advisory for couples & the author refuses to be held responsible for any fights that may arise at home between members in Phase Six due to anything that may be mentioned in this post.

My First Cookshow

I’ve created my first cooking video and I thought I’d share it with my readers. Here goes! Move over Gordon Ramsay!

For the first time ever, I’m posting a recipe on the blog. And its my very own recipe. Try it out, and do put in a comment as to how it tasted. Personally, it is the best dish I have ever made.

Recipe:

Chicken – 1 Kg
Tomato Puree – 1/2 Cup
Coconut Milk – 2 Cups
Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 Tbsp
Button Mushrooms – 7-8
Carrots – 3
White Onions – 2 (large)
Bell Peppers – 1
Pasta Stock – 1 cup
Chicken Stock – 2 cups
Vinegar – 1 Tbsp
Olive Oil – 3 Tbsp
Black Pepper – 2-3 Tbsp
Cream – 1 Cup

Marinate the chicken for one and a half hours with the tomato puree, half cup coconut milk, ginger garlic paste, splash of vinegar & olive oil, pepper & salt to taste.

Saute the onions, mushrooms and carrots in about 2 tbsp of Olive oil and fry till onions are golden brown. Add the chicken and 2 cups of water for the gravy. Add pasta stock, chicken stock, rest of the coconut milk and the cream and stir thoroughly. Let it cook for about 30 min. Add the Bell Peppers and serve on a bed of Pasta.
This dish should serve about 6.

Cheers!

Amar Shonar Bangla

I am just back from a trip to Sree Annapurna of Calcutta (henceforth referred to as SAC) and the 1 hour journey to the place was worth every minute. I have to say that it has been one of the best experiences I’ve had in Chennai so far, and hence I figured it would be an injustice to wait too long to write a “Shonar” (Golden) review for the place.

The place has been at the back of my mind for a while especially after all the glowing reviews at burrp! and at the Chennai Food Guide community on Orkut. With the recession going on, no one is really in the mood to shell out hard earned money for a decent meal, we decided to forgo the air conditioning and some fake flowers for some cheap decent food. Hence, without a moments hesitation, the SAC trip was confirmed. The only tough bit is that we need to travel for about an hour by bus to Egmore to reach the place.

The reviews on burrp! and orkut had prepared us and we were expecting something on the lines of an Udupi restaurant. We weren’t misled. The furnishings are spare and basic. The cash counter nestles in a corner with a profusion of images of Gods and Goddesses. We arrived at about 8pm and we found almost every place taken. But this is more of a communal eatery than a regular restaurant and table sharing is apparently the norm. We politely requested a friendly Bengali couple if we could share their table, and they gladly agreed. There is no menu card, but the fare is displayed on a large white-board on the wall. Unfortunately for us, most of it was in Bengali. This isn’t a drawback for most customers as 99% of the clientele happen to be Bengali. We could see a few items written in English, and for a moment I wrongly assumed that they were translation of the Bengali phrases for the hapless few non-Bengalis who ventured there.

Bengalis, are generally peace loving people and have a heart made of 24 Carat Gold. This fact was re-established, when we naively asked the couple beside us if the English on the menu-board was a translation. The nice lady very patiently put this misconception to rest and pointed out a few items, and proceeded to suggest a few for us. She provided a brief description of each one, so that we could choose. She explained that the Kalia Fish Curry was a red sauce based dish and the Fish Pathuri was steamed fish covered with mustard paste. We were thankful for the short description and we proceeded to decide.

All the people in the restaurant seemed to be waiting for something and so were we. A few waiters could be seen, but none of them seemed to be taking any orders except for providing Mineral water & cold drinks. However, suddenly, as if on some unseen cue, they approached each table and took orders. There has to be a perfectly logical explanation for this behaviour, but unfortunately, I was not privy to it. Anyway, we were ravenous and were only too glad when the waiter came to our table. We decided not to dwell on mysteries of this type and proceeded to order. Based on the nice lady’s recommendations, we decided on Fish Kalia, Fish Pathuri (made with Bhetki fish) , Mutton Kasha (pronounced Kosha), Jhingdi Malai (Prawns) and Rotis. Our order arrived soon. Portions are quite small, but justify the price we pay for them.

We dug in with relish. The Kalia Fish tasted splendid. I believe it was lightly fried and then served with gravy. The Jhingdi Malai, which happened to be a prawn curry, was also very tasty. But the prawns were tossed in whole, unshelled. By the time we unshell them, there is little left to chew on. But the gravy is awesome. The Fish Pathuri came wrapped in a banana leaf, and we opened this little parcel with great expectations. Inside I found a kind of Chutney. My initial assumption was that the chutney had been made out of the fish. But as i tried to extract it from the banana leaf, I saw the steamed fish hidden under the chutney (I call it Chutney out of lack of a better word. Perhaps the Bengalis have a word for it). The chutney tasted very pungent and frankly I did not like it very much. But it seems to be a very popular dish as everyone seemed to be ordering it. The rotis were soft and though they weren’t phulkas, they did not have the south-indian signature of oil on them. The pick of the day was the Mutton Kasha. It was the most tastiest mutton dish I have ever tasted. 2 small but succulent pieces of mutton were floating in a rich gravy. The best part was that, it was cooked in such a way that the gravy had the flavour of mutton & vice versa. The gravy had a rich, buttery taste to it, which I attribute to the fat from the mutton. The gravy had been thickened using potato. This only reaffirms the fact that potato and mutton are the best of chums, especially when they go for a swim in some gravy.

The three rotis didn’t last very long, and soon we were licking our fingers waiting for the waiter so we could order some more. Unfortunately, the waiter who had taken our order seemed to have vanished. Finally I spotted him outside, making rotis, out of reach. I tried to signal another waiter, but even though I managed to grab their attention twice, they soon lost interest when they found out I was beckoning them for a second serving. I found this rather strange, but I think you have to order all that you need the first time they take your order. The waiters were bustling about taking other people’s first orders. I caught sight of a very large fried fish on another table, which apparently the nice lady had left out of her description. I wanted it badly, but when my second attempt to order it ended up futile, I threw in the towel since a bunch of young Bengalis were waiting for us to finish so they could have our seats, and we paid the bill. Apparently, you get to order just once.

The best part about this place is that the sense of camaraderie that all the patrons feel. Our table was shared by three different groups. Ourselves, the nice couple and another Bengali family – husband, wife and kid. I noticed that the couple immediately struck up a conversation with the family. The couple were also there for the first time, but since they were Bengali, they knew the dishes and helped us with the orders. There is a low hum of soft spoken Bengali in the place and a slow Bangla song- perhaps Rabindra Sangeet is piped over the music system. There is the occasional burst of laughter when some one cracks a joke. There is a sense a brotherhood, and of meeting others of your own race, in a place far away from home. The Bengalis don’t come here just to eat some food that reminds them of home. They also come here to bond. This is the quality that stuck me as the best thing about the place, the reason why I will rate its ambiance 5. Ambiance is not only just pretty flower arrangements and fancy tableware. There is a sense of being at home in this place. The owner and his wife take care of the bill. Luckily, everyone seems to know either English or Hindi. Otherwise we would’ve had a tough time, as orders are taken in Bengali.

Also, since the waiter realized we weren’t Bengali, he made it a point to label each dish when he placed it in front of us. This doesn’t happen at the other tables. The best part is that the prices are really cheap! A roti cost Rs 4. The cheapest roti I have come across in Chennai. Average cost of a dish is about Rs 35. Our total bill came to about Rs 165. Compared to the hundreds I’ve thrown about in other restaurants, this is a paltry sum. And there is a sense of satisfaction. Nothing can beat that.

There isn’t much fare for vegetarians, except a Veg Thali and a Pulao. The Bengalis live on fish, and fish occupies three fourths of the menu. There isn’t any dessert either. I had hoped for some Rasgulla, but with my waiter-calling debacle, I forgot about it. Rasgulla might have been one of the Bengali phrases on the menu, but I will have to go there again to find out. And go there again I will, since its cheap, the mutton is to die for, and I need to taste that big fried fish!

For the Rating,

Ambiance: 5
Food: 5
Value for Money : 5
Service : 3

Total : 4.5
Verdict : Must try even if you have to walk on red hot coals to get there.

If you ever pass by Pantheon road in Egmore in the evening, you might want to drop in to SAC for some simple Bengali fare. Shubha Bidhai.

Cheers!

PS: I ended the day with a Meetha Paan and an Ice cream soda. I also have some Chilly fish fry takeaway that I had packed on the way back (not from SAC). I intend to eat that now.

Spice and Ice

When I was a kid, which is to say, I was still in school, the Semia Upma used to be a dish which used to be a last resort snack which I would accept to eat only on pain of death from hunger. However, 4 years of College hardened my stomach & 2 years at work have kept me away from Semia Upma for a long time. Its only when you leave something alone for a long time that you truly miss it. The same can be said for Mum’s cooking. A couple of days ago, a whim seized me and I felt like having Semia Upma. Bought a packet of Bambino’s best and brought it home. I talked my roommate into having Semia Upma for dinner. Actually, it was quite simple, as he had never tasted it before. And the Tastemaster’s word is Law when it comes to food in my house (Since I do all the cooking).

After a quick call to Mum to brush up on the nuances of Semia Upma-ing, I dispatched my roomie to go and buy green chillies and curry leaves. I had brought home a coconut & went over to my cousin’s place to grate it. I spent a sweaty 20 min labouring over the blade & my Sister-in-law was impressed at my debut coconut-grating performance. I brought home the coconut shavings & shoved it in the freezer as dinner was still some time away.

After whiling away sometime online & after doing a few exercises, I called up Amma for the afore mentioned Nuance-gathering talk. She said she had bought a coconut grater & explained where to locate it. I thanked her for the delayed update & she retorted that I never remember anything that is said to me.

My roomie had procured the green chillies, but could not find any curry leaves. After lamenting this tragedy suitably, I proceeded to cook the Semia Upma. Countless recipes can be found online, So I won’t bother with the “1 cup Semia & salt to taste”. I’ll just describe the fun parts.

My roomie had procured some light green chillies that were quite big. I was chopping them for the dish. I had chopped three & I asked if he wanted me to add one more. He said, “I’m a Mallu. I love spicy food” or words to that effect. I then proceeded to bestow some Tastemasterly wisdom, on him: “The lighter & bigger the green chillies, the more likely they are to be used in Molaga Bajjis and the more likely they are non-spicy. When the Tastemaster bestows such pearls of wisdom, my roomies listen and nod their heads obediently.

With a flourish, I proceeded to prepare the Semia Upma. Soon it was done ( Will give Maggi’s 2 minutes a run for its money anytime). After I pronounced “Its done!” to my roomie, I realised that the cocount shavings were still in the freezer. But since it was too late, I consoled myself that I could use it for some prawn curry I’ve been planning. While I was dreaming about my coconut flavoured prawn curry, I noticed, through the corner of my eye, my roomie have a spoonful of the Semia Upma. Through the same corner of my eye, I saw his face turn pink to purple to puce. I figured it must be the Chennai heat. Then, after the customary scraping of the vessel, I too proceeded to have a spoonful.

Vesuvius Erupted!

I blinked through the smoke in front of my eyes. I realized my tongue was on fire. But, being the Tastemasterly type, and being the don’t-waste-any-food type, I managed to finish off the plate of gunpowder flavoured Semia Upma. My roomie did the same with his plate. Actually, inspite of the spice, it was quite tasty.

Getting back to the story, after we finished, we could barely make out each other sitting across the room through the tears in our eyes. I suggested that we buy an Ice Lolly (retails for Rs 4/- and is made by Skei and sold by a dealer quite close to home). My roomie was only too happy to nod his head.

I dashed off on my cycle, metaphorically with my posterior & literally with my tongue on fire. I bought 2 for me & one for him (He said that was enough). I just like the stuff. Not that I felt one wouldn’t douse the fire. Soon I was back with three Pineapple flavoured lollies & we happily licked away to soothe our flaming tongues. After a while, i proceeded to devour my second lolly with relish in a more relaxed frame of mind.

Hence ends the saga of the Semia Upma.

NB: I prepared Semia Upma again today, since my roomie hadn’t had enough of it (he bought a kilo of semia. I think he intends to stave off the drought in ethiopia). He forgot the chillies, and so we liberally sprinkled it with red chilly powder. Though it looked dangerous, it tasted just fine. Oh! And I remembered the coconut shavings today.

Cheers!

PS: Though some elements of this are true, Masala has been added at appropriate places to spice up the story.

Food for Thought

The following post was published in an internal magazine released at my workplace

Being someone who enjoys food & also being someone who works in a Telecom related service, I got thinking about how the two can be related. No one really gives much thought to how technology can be used along with food. I decided to.

Food is an essential component of one’s life, and with the advent of telecom technology and plunging call-rates, so is the mobile phone & the Internet. How can the two possibly be related? Or how can the two be used together?

One of the earliest systems in place, and one which is very common is the Home Delivery option. A hungry chap calls the nearest takeaway counter from his telephone & he gets his order. Or, he can call up and make a reservation at a restaurant. That, in today’s world is considerably low tech.

RFIDs are making their appearance slowly in Inventory control & though not very prevalent in India, large supermarket chains like Tesco & Walmart in the US are already using them. Supermarkets mainly use them to update their servers to notify managers about stock shortages. Slightly building upon this premise, we can have the same piece of technology benefit the consumer too. This can be accomplished by having the Inventory server send out an SMS to the consumer informing him when something he was looking to buy, has reached the shelves. Taking it a notch higher, it can be updated in the form of a RSS feed on the Internet & the consumer can access it from the RSS reader on his mobile.

Closer to home, people trying out Mum’s recipes usually turn to Mum for advice. When Mum stays far away, a phone call does the trick. But what if Mum isn’t always available? The Internet may give you a recipe, but not the way Mum made it. Well, a possible alternative is to have Mum make podcasts when she’s free, and listen in to podcasts as and when required. Or Mum can upload videos on Youtube which can be accessed to give a visual. Obviously this suffers from the flaw that Mum should already have uploaded the content. Otherwise you can always wait for Mum to pick up the phone.

What do we do when we like a restaurant? We tell others. Well, now it is possible to share it with the whole world. Blogging about the experience and reviewing the place on a number of websites has become quite the norm with the tech savvy. If you can’t wait to tell your friends when you’re biting into a yummy chocolate brownie, and you don’t have the patience to blog from your mobile, then Twitter feeds can let subscribers to your feed know you’re indulging in some sinful pleasure.

We can expect in the foreseeable future, location based updates informing the user on his mobile about where the nearest diner is around lunchtime or about a special offer on eggs at the nearby supermarket. Thinking of something much simpler, SMS updates can tell a kid when an ice-cream cart is in the locality.

Google & Yahoo maps already offer directions to nearby eateries. Mobile phones have started shipping with GPS technology. Borrowing a theme from voice guided GPS systems that are offered by Mercedes & BMW, mobile phones will actually be able to guide a person to the nearest McDonalds soon. Obviously, it can be used to find directions to other places as well, such as a library for instance.

The above ideas are not exhaustive and are just thoughts on how technology can be combined with food to live a more convenient life and to illustrate that there is more to food & tech than toasters & microwaves. The possibilities are endless. As techies, we can definitely contribute to this scenario by innovating or implementing these ideas. Till we can actually use all this technology, let us stick to calling up Dominos for now

Cheers!

Bay Leaf

It was my turn to give a birthday treat and my friends had picked a restaurant in Egmore near the Museum. However a last minute check on burrp! Informed us that the place gets quite secluded after 8PM. So we had to find another alternative and browsing through burrp! gave me Bay Leaf in Nungambakkam. Reviews were fairly decent and burrp! said it served Bengali and North-West frontier cuisine. That was good enough for me.

We called and made reservations and were glad for the tip from burrp! The place is very small and can seat only about 5-6 groups. We reached by about 8PM and were warmly welcomed. We chose a cosy corner by the wall. One side of the table had a kind of diwan with bolsters and the other side had chairs. Chinese festoons hung from the ceiling.

The menu was quite extensive and had innumerable pages. We were rather confused on what to try, but I finally gave some Tastemasterly advice. Try Everything! So we ended up tasting Lucknowi, Kashmiri and Bengali cuisine.

We ordered a Chicken Reshmiya Katti Roll which tasted alright. The Katti roll, also called a Frankie usually has meat, egg or paneer or such filling rolled up in a Chapatti. We wanted to try Kebabs, so we went for the Kashmiri Kebab which tasted quite good. It had a crumby buttery coating outside and the meat was tender. We were licking our fingers with this one. Lucknowi Mutton biryani was chosen for the main course. Now, Lucknowi biryani is known for its aroma, but in this department, our biryani, when it arrived, was lacking. It tasted quite normal and there wasn’t anything to differentiate it from a biryani you could find in, say, Tiruvanmayur. I can pass better judgment when I visit Lucknow someday and have the real stuff.

For the Bengali stuff, we went for Bhetki fish fry which was delicious. It had Bhetki fish minced & mixed with coriander and bread crumbs to form large cutlets. We dug in with great relish. I had asked the waiter for Ileesh or Hilsa, but he sadly said that it was unavailable. After all this, I made a very logical argument that we had tried Chicken, fish and mutton and the poor prawns on the menu were feeling left out. So we ended up ordering Tandoori prawns. They arrived soon enough. Though they tasted fairly alright, an observation that I’ve made is that prawns are not Tandoori material. Being flimsy and delicate things which absorb flavour very fast, putting prawns in the Tandoor ruins their taste. You can only taste the masala and the carbon. You might be eating prawns or a piece of wood. Prawns belong in curries and soups where they are not exposed to direct flame However, we cleaned up the plate which is always the case when Tastemaster is around.
The service was excellent and our waiter was a very charming fellow who attended to us very well. Though he did not make any suggestions of his own, he enthusiastically responded for all our choices. He was crestfallen when we refused the rasgollas for dessert. But of course, he had not offered to pay for them. The bill came to around Rs 700 for three of us. An average dish costs about Rs 120. We left after a very satisfying experience and went home happy.

For the rating:

Ambience: 4
Taste: 4
Value for Money: 3
Service: 5
Overall: 4
Verdict: Must try!

Sree Annapoorna of Calcutta on Pantheon road is reputed to serve better Bengali food, but I haven’t been there yet. That’s on the cards soon. Till then,

Cheers!

Kattumaram

A friend owed a birthday treat and we ended up picking Kattumaram, a seafood specialty restaurant that specialized in cuisine from coastal Tamil Nadu. The place is located near the Park Sheraton in Alwarpet.

A train ride and short walk got us there. It is a small place with a narrow stairway and a seating capacity of about 30. The place was deserted when we reached and we picked a table under the AC. Soon we were feeling cold, but placed our order. We saw a few guests passing our level and going somewhere upstairs. Our waiter stared at their backs as if they were aliens and we were pretty sure they would be back in no time after finding an attic with old stuff at the top level. However, they didn’t return and that piqued our curiosity. We enquired and found that there was a roof top. We asked the waiter if we could also sit up and asked him to have the order delivered upstairs.

The rooftop was a mass of bamboo and looked very warm and welcoming. A kattumaram or Catamaran was placed over the stairway, but I managed to spot it only after a while. One would have guessed that the artifact which gives the place its name will deserve a more central location. But obviously, they were hard pressed for space.

Coming to the food, we ordered Yeral Thengai Soup (Prawn & Coconut soup). When it arrived, it tasted disgusting and I still have strong suspicions that they just heated up some water used to wash the dishes and served it to us.

For the main course, we chose Sigappi Nandu Biryani (Crab Biryani) over Vimalakka’s Kozhi Biryani (Chicken Biryani). Though Sigappi was mentioned to be one of the great Tamil cooks on the menu, a search on Google throws up few results and it takes a time to actually find a plausible reference to Sigappi being a cook.

We ordered a Moonru Meen Kuzhambu ( Fish curry with 3 varieties of fish) which claimed to have three varieties of the most delicious fish or something to that effect. A Kolachel Yeral Varuval ( Fried prawns) made up for accompaniment.

Food arrived and the portions were disappointingly small for the price they charge. A dish on average costs about Rs 120. The biryani is enough for one. But we shared. The biryani was alright and no great influence of Sigappi could be felt. The Moonru Meen Kuzhambu was delicious and we ended up licking the gravy off our fingers.

My Tastemasterly instincts had been pricked by the King fish advertised in the menu, and after seeking permission from the Treat-giver, we ordered the Kanyakumari Vanjiram Varuval ( Fried King fish). They serve a decent sized portion of fish-steak. The fish had a different taste to it, and though it was delicious, I have had better. Pick of the day remained the the Yeral Varuval followed by the Moonru Meen Kuzhambu. The soup is something I’m trying to forget.

The bill came to about Rs 600 and we skipped dessert. They don’t offer much. One thing I found attractive about this place is that as after-meal refreshment, they serve Supari (flavoured betel nut) and Kalkand (sugar crystals) along with the sweetened Saunf (Fennel) that is usually served in restaurants. It had been a long while since I’ve seen this offered and I was glad. We made our way down the narrow stairway and caught a bus back home.

For the rating:

Ambience: 4
Taste: 3
Value for Money: 2
Service: 3
Overall: 3
Verdict: Can try once.

Though it is advertised as serving some of the best seafood from all over Tamil Nadu, if I want really delicious fish, I’d rather go to Besant Nagar beach.

Cheers!