College Cuisine

I’ll venture away from the usual restaurant reviews & articles on local specialities. I’ll touch on a topic, familiar to most and unforgettable – College Cuisine. For those still in school, your entry into college presents you with a license to eat whatever you want wherever you want. Hostelers will be able to understand this statement better.

All students, no matter from which college, will always crib about the food served in the Hostel Mess. This, Tastemaster believes is due to the boredom of repetition. College life is the prime time of a person’s life. If he(she) is made to waste those years eating plain boring old rice and dal every day, he(she) is bound to feel frustrated.Hence, the student turns to more tastier albeit dubious means of sustenance. I digress to point out that in a formal sense, it isn’t exactly sustenance. Its more like satisfaction of the palette rather than nourishment. For nourishment, you have the Hostel Mess & the College Canteen to look forward to.

Our college canteen fare was ‘to the point’ with no fancy items. You couldn’t even dream of getting pizzas or even a Coke in the canteen. (Colas were banned on campus). We had to be satisfied with the humbler pazhampori (bananas dipped in batter and fried), parippu vadas (fried snacks made from dal) and bondas (fried batter with potato stuffings). To quench your thirst, you had regular tea, coffee, milk and also the kattan chaya & kattan kapi (black tea & black coffee – Indianized Cappuccinos) and the all encompassing ‘drinks’. These drinks, could be anything sweet,watery, coloured yellow, orange or green & placed in the fridge. The ingredients & the preparation were suspect, but that didn’t stop us from downing bottles of these after a game or after hours of dancing. (After all, the canteen was at the corner of the ground and stone’s throw away from the auditorium).

Lunch in the canteen was either ‘meals’ which meant regular Kerala fare with rice, sambar, curry, papad and curd or ‘fish meals’ which included a piece of fish. Ofcourse, people could also opt for the chicken biryani (that’s what it was called, though it tasted much different) or veg biryani, the ubiquitious parottas (thick round things belonging to the chappati family, made with maida and lots of oil), the beef fry, beef curry, chicken fry, chicken curry & for the vegetarians, a kadala curry (chickpea) or tomato curry (poor things). With the exception of a few dishes, the fare never varied & people who opted Non-Veg could expect to spend the rest of the lunch break contemplating their lives, while they waited to finish gnawing on a piece of meat. But, we survived. The canteen, with all its faults, had the ultimate USP. It was cheap! It wasn’t too hard on the student’s pocket & thus day-scholars flocked to the canteen. The rates in the canteen seem medieval now that Tastemaster has landed in Chennai.

Now, that the Day-scholars have been represented, I’ll turn my attention to the poor folk condemned to spend 4 years away from their parents- The Hostelers. Agreed, some of the best college days are in hostel, but you have to sympathize with these chaps for being denied the right to tasty food 3 times a day. (Atleast the day-scholars got to have decent breakfast & dinner).
A sample of the worst hostel mess cooking was the “noodles for breakfast” theme. Cooking Maggi noodles for 300 hungry 20-somethings is no fun & I pity the cook for that. But I pity the 300 hungry 20-somethings for eating the noodles more, as even after breakfast, they remain 300 hungry 20-somethings. We could also expect the puttu-kadala(steamed rice & chickpeas), dosas, idlis (stone-hard) and what not. Point is, breakfast was a horrible experience. But that doesn’t stop 300 hungry 20-somethings from stuffing their faces. After all, you’ve to fill your stomach!

Lunch was similar to that in the canteen, except for the choice- there was only one. You had to have the ‘meals’ with a piece of fish thrown in. Veggies could expect culinary masterpieces like burnt lady’s fingers. Dinner was no different, except you could expect fish or chicken biryani, nei chor (literally ghee-rice), chappatis & what not. One peculiarity of Keralites is that they need non-veg everyday. So you could expect either chicken, fish or beef every day. Credit must be given where it is due. There were certain dishes enjoyed by all- namely the fish moily with bread (well, you can’t screw up bread!) and …….and……..Well, I can’t remember anything else.

A festive occasion in the hostel mess was the Feast. If college life gives you the license to eat, Feast allows you to break all the laws of eating. Imagine 300 hungry 20-somethings being let loose on a variety of dishes – pathiri (rice pancakes), biryani, fried chicken, unlimited lemonade, delicious pastries from All Spice, mutton curry, icecream & what not. The Mess would resound with music while the Seniormost batch served the hungry ones (as apart from the mess-staff who usually had the honour). This tradition brings to mind another. The custom of tapping one’s water tumbler on the table twice, to signify you’ve finished eating. Makes a lot of sense actually. The person who thought of it must be given full credit for driving home some decency into the rowdy minds of college students.

Well, that brings to end the In-campus Cuisine. Now more important is the Out-0f-Campus cuisine. This could mean piping hot samosas & puffs from the tiny shop opposite Men’s Hostel (later Ladies Hostel), the inevitable “mango“,”pista” or “grape“, short for juices of the same flavours from the nearby Imam’s shop or a dinner at Everfresh (Who would’ve thought that tiny hotel would’ve merited a mention in a blog!) when the Mess food was too boring. Everfresh was a tiny joint placed centrally between all hostels. They offered a large quantity of dubious meat (claimed to be chicken or beef) at throw-away prices. Though many doubted the legitimacy of the claims, it didn’t stop hundreds of hungry 20-somethings from crowding the place to gorge on it along with parottas and appams for company. This joint, was overcrowded during the days the Mess was closed during holidays. The owner made a killing. Tastemaster particularly preferred the Chilly Chicken, which though oily, tasted great. This along with 6 parottas and the complimentary gravy, washed down with Imam’s “mango” completed a hearty dinner on many a day.

Other hang-outs around the college were the “Sharjah” joints. Actually juice shops, they specialized in the ‘Sharjah Shake’, a milk shake made with bananas & lots of sugar, served ice cold. This was such a rage with the students, that it provoked a series of varieties with exotic names such as “Kashmeera” & “Arabian“. These joints also hawked an authentic Arabian delicacy, the Shawarma. This dish from Iran, consists of a thick piece of bread rolled around pieces of grilled meat & vegetables.

Then,there were ofcourse the thattukadas, road-side eateries which did not boast a name, but had students crowding nonetheless. These were cheaper than Everfresh, and one could fill one’s stomach for as low as Rs.10.

Now for the more sophisticated ones. Everfresh & the thattukadas were boys territory. Girls who wanted to sample these, generally had the food delivered to the hostels. Girls usually chose to hang out at All Spice. A nice place, famous for its cakes & pastries, served decent Continental,Indian & Kerala food. One could order a Pizza or a Hot dog without inviting stares of bewilderment. Tastemaster’s personal favourite was the Chicken Foot-long, Chicken sausage wrapped in a baguette with mozarella cheese & capsicum. All Spice was a regular restaurant & one could also opt for an A-La-Carte menu and was frequented by students & families alike. Simlar joints included Chef King & Ayappa’s, a tiny vegetarian restaurant which served soft hot phulkas & malai kofta and also Andhra Meals.

Recently, there has been a sudden spurt in restaurants providing all-you-can-eat buffets. Xavier’s & Sun Moon being leading contenders. At Xaviers, the food was terrible, and so was the ambience. But people, read boys, went there anyway as they promised 101 items for Rs101. Ofcourse, these 101 items included table salt & pepper. But, boys usually ate what 3 people normally eat whenever they went to Xaviers. Sun Moon was similary priced but had fewer items. Their USP was the ambience. Decorated tastefully in the form of a Naalukettu, A traditional Malayalee house, this restaurant afforded a splendid view of the entire town of Kollam. Girls preferred to go there. (One added reason, why boys also went there, apart from hogging).

Well, I think I’ve covered the complete gastronomic experience one could hope for in Kollam from the perspective of a College student. Taste apart, some of the best times in College were spent over food or discussing it. Be it the humble “mango” one bought for Rs3, or the fancy ‘Flosberry Flop’ one could buy at All Spice after shelling out Rs.50, food bound us together with a spirit of camaraderie of a different plane.

I suppose that college life in any part of India would be the same. So make the most of it. Eat those samosas!

Cheers!

Macaroons from Tuticorin

Tastemaster is back on the rural Tamil Nadu sojourn on popular demand from readers. A certain reader requested that the Macaroon be added to the list. So here goes.

Macaroons were originally first tried out in Italy by monks. Once you eat it, you fall in love with it and this is what happened to the French who happened to be passing by an Italian monastery. And like an epidemic, this craze for macaroons spread to France & thence on to the British Isles.

We have to thank the French for bringing this to India. They had set up their base in Pondicherry & a few Frenchmen who decided to sail on a Sunday to the south of Tamil Nadu, probably disembarked at the Port town of Tuticorin for a bite & deposited a few of those Macaroons with a local. (I’m just imagining this is what brought the macaroon to Tuticorin. Sounds probable doesn’t it? )

But since then, there has been no looking back. Tuticorin is now ,undeniably the Macaroon capital of India. Admitted, there are a few competitors in Mangalore, but the Tuticorin Macaroon is in a league of its own.

Now, as usual, for the uninitiated, what on earth is a Macaroon? A Macaroon is a cookie. Its as simple as that. But its USP is that it melts in the mouth. The typical macaroon is made with egg white, powdered sugar & flavoured with cashew nuts and is the product of some time in the oven. Usually shaped in the form of a cone, there is no hard & fast rule that it ought to be like this.

Some enterprising chaps have come out with variations, including coconut flavoured & lemon flavoured ones. But there is none, that can beat the original Cashew Macaroon for taste.

A bite of the macaroon leaves you with a pleasant sensation of crackling on the tongue while it melts & it leaves the pleasant aftertaste of cashewnuts.

Macaroons are best taken as dessert preferably after lunch. But that doesn’t mean they taste bad on a liesurely sunday morning when you are reading your newspaper.

So, now that you’ve read this, your duty would be nothing less than giving it a try. Versions of the macaroon are available in most places in India, but if you have a colleague or a friend who hails from Tuticorin, that would be your best bet.

So, go ahead, fall in love with Macaroons.

Cheers

A Nungu on a Hot Day

Few would have enjoyed a couple of refreshing slices of the Nungu on a hot day. The fruit of the Palmyra tree, this simple delicacy is a treat for parched throats. Called tadgola by the Maharashtrians & Gujratis, this was given the most apt name by the British. They called it an Ice-apple. One cannot think of a better name for this fruit.

Tastemaster happened to come across a hawker peddling this by a bus stop on a sultry afternoon in Chennai. Its quite cheap at 8 pieces for Rs.10. But as the older generation would say, it used to be cheaper.

A fruit usually contains three to four segments of fleshy consistency. These are covered by an off-white skin which has to be peeled off before consumption. Purists insist on eating it with the skin on as it prevents stomach related problems.Personally, the skin is bitter.

The best part of this fruit is, after you’ve peeled the skin, which is quite a messy job and quite tough too, when you bite into this soft chunk of fruit, you are surprised by a delicious trickle of sweet water onto your tongue (Ofcourse, the surprise is only if you’re having it for the first time).
Though you can get only a few drops of this juice, it is surprisingly enough to quench your thirst.
This can be because, the fleshy fruit has a large proportion of water in it.

The taste of the Nungu is not unlike the flesh you get inside tender coconuts. However, it is slightly different.Nungu dipped in sugar is a delightful combination.

The fruit is refreshing after a long walk in the sun or after a bout of exercise. But you have to be patient and get the skin off. But, the effort is definitely worth it.

Be sure to get hold of a few pieces from your neighbourhood vendor & check out this simple, cheap & yet delicious fruit.

Cheers!

Navarathri – 9 days of Treats

Navarathri, also called Dusshera is a 9 day long festival celebrated by Hindus to celebrate the killing of Ravana by Lord Rama & his victorious return to Ayodhya with his wife, Sita.It culminates with Vijaya Dashami which celebrates the victory. The 9 days are dedicated to the worship of trinity of Goddesses – Lakshmi, Saraswathi & Durga.

For kids, Navarathri in South India, especially Tamil Nadu, means 3 things -holidays, golu & sundal. Holidays are easy to understand.
Golu is the ceremonial arrangement of dolls in houses, to pay respect to the Gods. It is real fun setting up the dolls, and its fun looking at it and its even more fun showing it off to your neighbours.

But from a kid’s perspective, an even more fun aspect of Navarathri is the sundal. Sundal is a savoury dish made from chickpeas, peanuts, peas or any other such protein filled gram. The most common variety prepared is with chickpeas (chana or Kabuli chana). The chana is usually boiled in water to soften it. The softened chana is then mixed in a very simple mixture of grated coconut ,sesame seeds, a dash of oil, salt to taste & garnished with red chillies.

This very simple snack is prepared by maamis all over Tamil Nadu during Navarathri to serve their guests (who have come to look at the golu, remember!). The dosage of red chillies may range from very mild (to the point of being bland) to scalding hot depending on the temperament of the maami & on the gastronomic capabilities of the Man of the house.

Children take extreme pleaasure in devouring this snack and you can find them running from house to house in the neighbourhood during Navarathri to sample the sundal in every house. Apart from the taste, it also provides entertainment. Children try tossing the sundal into each other’s mouths from a distance.

The sundal is usally served along with pieces of fruit, dry fruits, kalkand (uncrystallized sugar) and so on. Ofcourse, it goes without saying that all these are offerings made to the Lord. Just that this prasadam is much more fun than the regular stuff you get.

So, if you want to savour this simple yet enjoyable delicacy, get yourself invited during Navarathri by one of your Tamil friends. But, be warned that there will be lots of little hands grabbing at the sundal.

Cheers!

Treat from the Temple Town

From Tirunelveli, we moved north to Srivilliputhur. And now we are moving further north to the ancient temple town of Madurai.
Madurai is famous for the Meenakshi Temple with its 4 gopurams. The city was built around the temple & the crowds at the temple bear testimony to the respect that Hindus have for this holy town.

Now, temples apart, lets get to the focus of this blog. Madurai is a crowded place & can be scorching in the summers. And to cool off after your temple visit, Madurai has its refreshing cold drink, the Jigarthanda.

Personally, the Tastemaster never liked it. But it is supposed to be the rage with Maduraiites & it is also supposed to be good for your stomach & for mouth ulcers.The Tastemaster recommends that visitors to Madurai atleast try it out once just for the experience. Ofcourse, if you like it, you can have as many glasses as you want.

The Jigarthanda is available in lots of tiny shops dotting the four sides of the Meenakshi temple. The clientele who visit these shops might range from wage labourers to rich patrons of the temple. This inexpensive drink draws one & all mainly as it is a good thirst-quencher.

The Jigarthanda is made from China Grass, Sarasparilla (Nannari) or Rose syrup, a spoon of icecream ,soaked Sago and milk. Tastemaster found it a bit too sweet, but everyone has their own taste. Admitted, the drink is refreshing.

Away from the Jigarthanda, we move to another delicacy from the temple town. The Kaadai Fry.
Paradoxically, its the last thing you would expect from a temple town. The Kaadai is a variety of wild Quail. You can find this delicacy in most restaurants in Madurai. It basically consists of a whole Quail marinated in chilli powder & spices and then roasted over a fire. The meat is delicious, but be warned that the Quail is rather a skinny bird & expect to have more time licking bones than tasting flesh.

Eating the Kaadai fry is a time consuming process due to the bones. But it can be a pleasure, as you get to savour the flavour of the spices for a long time. Meat freaks who have to eat meat by the sackfuls will be disappointed with this dish.

Well, that was a wide swing. From a cold drink to fried fowl. Be sure to have the Jigarthanda if you visit Madurai. Its safe for all. Non vegetarians who visit can also have a shot at the Kaadai fry.

As an aside, people who visit Madurai may also be intersted in visiting the age old Meenakshi temple.

Cheers!

Pal Kova – Best you can find

Pal Kova or Palkhoa (Pronounced Paal Goa) brings to mind Srivilliputhur to those who have tasted this culinary masterpiece from this tiny place in Southern Tamil Nadu. Situated in Virudhunagar District on the way to Tenkasi, Srivilliputhur is a temple town, famous for its Andal Temple.

But for foodies, its much more famous for the famous Pal Kova. The Pal Kova is a sweet dish made from milk, sugar & ghee. Surprisingly its cheap. If you buy it in Srivilliputhur that is.
The milk from the region is of very high quality & this contributes to the taste.

The Pal Kova is usually slightly yellowish in colour & is semi solid in texture. It is usually sold wrapped in tiny packets. A lot of businesses in Srivilliputhur make their living from selling the Pal Kova. The Pal Kova is so famous across Tamil Nadu, that when Five Star hotels are working on a Tamil Nadu theme, the Pal Kova finds its place among the Tirunelveli halwa, Virudhunagar Kothu Parotta & the Madurai Jigarthanda to name a few.

Of course, it would be cheaper to travel to Srivilliputhur & taste the authentic Pal Kova than to have it from a Five Star Hotel. The Pal Kova is ubiquitous in Srivilliputhur. Be it the bus stand, the market or on the roadside, you are bound to find hawkers selling packets of various sizes. Its prized reasonably from about Rs.2 depending on the quantity. In fact, enterprising hawkers even board trains passing through Srivilliputhur and sell the Pal Kova. The sweet is also available in most towns neighbouring Srivilliputhur.

A characteristic shared by the Pal Kova with the Tirunelveli Halwa is that it melts in the mouth. The texture is slightly grainy but it is splendid nonetheless. However, as with all good things, its fattening and its best taken occasionally.

If you ever happen to be passing through Srivilliputhur, don’t forget to buy a packet of Pal Kova. It makes a terrific dessert after a heavy meal.

Cheers!

Tirunelveli Halwa

The time has come to initiate the uninitiated into the world of Tirunelveli Halwa. Tirunelveli is situated in southern Tamil Nadu close to Tuticorin & Kovilpatti and its name has become synonymous with the Halwa you get here.

The halwa has been in Tirunelveli for about 300 years & in that time, its fame has spread far and wide. So much, that anyone passing through Tirunelveli is bound to buy atleast a packet of halwa.

The halwa is brown in colour & is just barely translucent. It has a very sticky texture & is high up in the list of messy food. But the taste more than makes up for it. The halwa is made from wheat & sugar. It is soaked in ghee & looks as well as feels oily. The best part about this halwa is that it melts in your mouth. So it can be enjoyed even by people without teeth. However it is very fattening & too much will put inches around your waist line. It tastes best when it is hot. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it when it has cooled down.

The halwa is available all over Tirunelveli,but a profusion of shops near the Railway station & the Nellaiappar Temple bring fame to the city. The most famous of these is the Iruttukadai (Dark Shop). Another contender is Shanti Sweets. Iruttukadai gets its name from the fact that there are no electric lights in the shop & no sign board. Business in the evenings is carried out in candle-light as it has been so, since the time the shop started.

The popularity of the halwa is evident from the fact that these shops are packed at all times of the day. I guess, people from Tirunelveli never seem to have enough of the Famous Tirunelveli Halwa.

Have a taste, and I bet you won’t too.

PS:A few people have asked me for the address of the halwa stalls. I’m adding the address on popular demand

1.Tirunelveli Iruttukadai Halwa

No 1/1-A, Madurai Road,

(Near Old bus Stand),

Tirunelveli Junction,

Tirunelveli-627001

Ph: 0462-2323330

 

 

2. Shanti Sweets

3,Central Bus Stand Buildings,

Madurai Road,

Tirunelveli-627001

 

Cheers.

Konichiwa!

After months of procrastination, TasteMaster & Co finally decided to visit Akasaka, the neighbourhood Japanese restaurant. We had some trouble finding it as its not very well advertised. After a couple of sojourns down dark alleys, we were finally able to locate it behind Jayanthi Theatre in Tiruvanmayur, Chennai.

The TasteMaster apprehensively pushed the door, but it refused to open.He pulled, it still didn’t budge. We looked up suspiciously at the “Open” sign above the door. Then, a waiter slid the door open, Japanese style. That’s when we realised that the “Japanese” tag was for real.

A step inside & we were met with a chair with a mound of Japanese Magazines (I wonder who reads them). We were courteously greeted by the Maitre’D & all the waiters.(We were the first guests of the evening). We were led to our table & we passed a fish tank.( The Japanese are crazy about fish, I believe). We were seated under the picture of a fish too.

The table was set for three, with small square plates coloured in black & white halves.The waiter smartly seperated the chopsticks placed on the table and then served us complimentary starters (Boiled Fish & Radish). The starters are quite bland & we dipped it in soya sauce (not the type you get off supermarket shelves,this is more saltier, but somehow more tastier) to make them more interesting. But don’t help yourself to too much soya sauce.We took our time deciding on our order as we found that the dishes were quite expensive. (The price you have to pay for authenticity). Finally we decied on the Vegetable Yaki Soba (I suppose that’s what the Japanese call Veg. Noodles) and Fish Chilly Tomato.

We were served complimentary Japanese Tea. Apparently they have it without sugar. It tasted dry & had a burnt kind of taste to it. We demanded sugar & they brought us sugar syrup which we proceeded to pour into our tea, till there was no more syrup to pour.

Our order came & we dug in. The noodles tasted just like it would, if you make it at home, or have it anywhere else. Nothing very Japanese about it. But the Fish was excellent. It had fillets of fish, capsicum, tomatoes & onions sauteed together and doused in sweet sauce. It was sweet as well as spicy at the same time and was delicious.

We took our time eating and had fun eating it with chopsticks. TasteMaster managed to teach his 2 companions how to use them. We called for the bill, posed for a few pictures , paid up and said goodbye to Akasaka. It was another good experience.

The ambience is wonderful & they have tried to create an authentic Japanese feel with Japanese paintings, writing on the menu, Japanese soya sauce, salt & pepper shakers & even a Television that plays a Japanese channel!The waiters are attired smartly & have name tags in English & Japanese. The waiters are courteous & ready to suggest what to eat.

This is a good place for executives to take their clients & also good for the occasional family outing. For the middle class, its slightly expensive, but you might want to try it as a one time experience. Dating couples who are willing to give it a try, must be warned that your finances will be severly set back for the rest of the month.

Another thing which I found very strange about the place is that they don’t serve water! In fact, if you want water, you have to buy it. And mineral water is priced Rs.60! This rather cruel bit of treatment has led me to decrease their rating for service.

Now for the rating.

Ambience: 4
Food : 3.5
Value for Money: 2
Service : 2

Overall : 2.875

Tamil Nadu’s finest Non Veg- Chettinad Cuisine

Well, after a brief trip to the Orient, I felt we should come somewhere closer to home. And, I felt it would be a great thing to start with spicy Chettinad food. Originally from the Sivaganga Region, Chettinad food can be said to be at its best in Karaikudi.

Tastemaster & Co set out to sample some of this hot stuff. We chose Ponnuswamy’s, a Chettinad joint that has been around for ages. We wanted to check out if it lived up to its reputation and so we went to the one at Shastri Nagar, just on the way to Elliots Beach.

But we made a terrible mistake. We chose lunch for our experiment while its well known that Ponnuswamy’s speciality is dinner. We realized this slip-up when the waiter informed us matter-0f-factly that Dosas are available only after 7.00 PM.

Now’s time to let you in on a secret well known to people from the South. Contrary to popular belief, non-veg curries make delicious combinations with Dosas & Idlis. We had to swallow our disappointment and make do with tandoori rotis. Now thats what is called a disaster. Tandoori rotis in a Chettinad hotel!

Well, ofcourse I realize that they are just trying to diversify the menu in order to cater to their cosmopolitan clientele. But, eating tandoori rotis in a Chettinad hotel is a bit of an anticlimax.
I’m not blaming the rotis. They were fine (though not as good as you would find in a Punjabi hotel).

Leaving the rotis aside, we settled for the kozhi kuzhambu (spicy chicken curry). The kuzhambu (curry) is supposed to be one of the delicacies of the Chettinad region. We were dying to make up for the rotis gaffe in our Chettinad experience and so we opted for the kuzhambu without another thought.

But unfortunately, it turned out to be another mistake! We were served a tiddly platter with 2 small pieces of chicken floating in thin gravy. (We were 3). There was too much tomato in the kuzhambu, and it tasted sour. But the spicy part lived up to its name. It was spicy. But i suspect the Chef made a hash out of it.

Now, we noticed in the menu, there was a serving of rabbit. I’d never tasted rabbit before that, and I was, as always, dying to try out something new. So, I unanimously passed the motion (the other 2 were opposed) , and soon we had rabbit roast in front of us. By this time, we had learnt not to be surprised by the tiny portions. There were, if I remember right, 3 pieces. And you should remember that rabbits aren’t all that big. So we just got to have a taste. The taste was nice. It was spicy and well cooked and fried just right. But all the stories I’ve heard about rabbit meat being tender & succulent turned out to be false. It wasn’t all that tender & infact slightly rubbery. But I’ll admit it added to the taste.

We didn’t order anymore and we finished off lunch with just 3 items. We skipped dessert. But Ponnuswamy doesn’t like anybody leaving without something sweet in their mouths. Along with their bill, they serve complimentary bananas & paan beedas(betel leaves). That marked a plus for Ponnuswamy’s.

The ambience is nice, but there isn’t anything fancy. The furniture is made of cane and there are a few paintings on the walls. The restaurant is sufficiently sunlit at daytime to keep the lights off.
The service is passable but the waiters are in a hurry to take your order.

I found that most customers at lunch went for the meals (thali) and I suppose that would be the wisest thing to do. I believe you get a little bit of everything (not everything in the menu).

The food is a bit overpriced considering the quantity they serve. But I’d recommend it as a one-time experience. Its a family eat out.

Now, my biggest critic has suggested that I should start rating the places I visit, and I concur that its a good idea.I hope she finds this satisfactory. The ratings given are entirely my own opinion of the place & anyone is welcome to have their own.

I’ll be rating restaruants on 4 areas : Ambience, Food, Value for Money & Service on a scale of 1-5.The overall is simply the average of the 4. So here goes.

Ambience: 3
Food : 3
Value for Money : 2
Service : 2

Overall : 2.5

PS: I’ve found a cheaper Chettinad restaurant, so keep reading the blog. It might make its entry soon.

So try out Chettinad if you’re intersted.

Cheers!

Dinner in a Rainforest

Ah, rather exotic Title isn’t it. But it isn’t to be taken literally. Rainforest is a restaruant in Chennai, tucked away in a corner at the busy Adyar junction, just below the flyover. Actually, it seems as if they dug a hole under the flyover & set up shop there.

Now, the USP of the restaurant is its ambience. It is supposed to give a feel of eating in a rainforest. (Actually its more like a regular forest & even more actually, everything looks artificial).But to be fair, you can’t exactly set up a forest in the middle of the city just to give an authentic feel can you?

The interior is alright, but its the entrance that got me down. The have a sliding door made of paiper mache which is forgivable but it opens into a sort of dungeon reminding one of being led to the gallows. But once you reach the restaurant floor, and meet the Maitre ‘D, its better.

Weekends usually demand a reservation or make you wait for about half hour. But the Rainforest plays a good host & provides a welcome drink during the wait (A soft drink). They also take down your phone number & offer to call once your table is ready.

Once you are seated, a complimentary basket of Spicy Papad is placed in front of you to munch on while you wait. The menu is extensive & you need to take your time choosing stuff. The menu is also diverse & offers a choice of Continental, Indian, Italian, Thai and Chinese.

One of the best parts of the menu is the one which lets you design your own pasta. It offers you a choice of fettucine, fusilli, spaghetti, penne & farfalle (as far as i can remember). You can choose from bolognaise, marinara sauces(2 that i remember) & you can choose from zucchine, bell peppers, basil or pepper for the seasoning.

Tastemaster & Co went for fusilli ( as penne wasn’t available) with bolognaise sauce (as marinara wasn’t available) seasoned with black peppers. Now, you’ll remember that my friend wants detailed descriptions. So, for her sake, fusilli are corkscrew shaped pasta as opposed to penne which are pen shaped, spaghetti are quite well known & are long and thick. Farfalle are butterfly shaped. So, there ends a crash course on pasta. Maybe a longer version in another post?

Now for the sauces. Marinara, as the name implies is seafood based with fish, squid & prawns thrown in. Bolognaise, as opposed to the marinara is meat based usually made with beef or mutton. The toppings are fairly straight forward being vegetables of some sort. For those unfamiliar with zucchine, its a vegetable resembling a cucumber.

We also went for a Thai chicken fried rice (I’ve told you, I really can’t remember Thai names!). It wasn’t as spicy as promised, but it had a unique taste to it. I can’t put my finger on what did it!We also had Chicken in Bell Peppers. This turned out to be regular fare you’d expect in any Chinese restaurant worth its salt. The ususal chicken cooked in soya sauce with onions & capsicum. It was spicier than usual though. On the whole, the food is pretty good and the quantity is substantial too (Can’t beat Wang’s though).

There are leaves set up everywhere to make up the effect of a forest and some stuffed animals here and there. The most ridiculous part of the evening was when a man dressed up as a bear ,was led by a waiter by a chain to the dining area. Apparently intended to be scary, it only drew a bored stare from a 5 year old kid seated at a table. Apart from that montrosity, the evening went just fine.

The service is good & the waiters are willing to help you pick out what you want (Especially in the pasta designing department). The ambience is unique, but does not live up to expectations. Lighting is just barely sufficient & if it weren’t for the leaves & stuffed animals, it would have looked very much like a dungeon.

So, its a mixed review for the Rainforest. The food & service are good, but the ambience could do with a makeover. Its good for a trip with family or friends.

I’d like to warn readers (especially readers who have been to Wang’s), that everything is priced about Rs.20 more than in Wang’s. But now that Wang’s has raised its prices, I’m not sure. (Damn Inflation!).

Thats it for now.

Cheers!