'Tanveer, your aunt said she's coming in the evening. Where shall we go for dinner?'
'Ma, we'll go to hyatt... '
*finish your sentence before I slap you look from mom*
' Ke opposite mein there's some new Arabian place'
😁😁
That was the actual conversation that happened, and I purposefully paused after 'hyatt' just for dramatic effect. 😄 worked well!
This new place, has been up for about a month or so I guess, but I've only managed to see it a week back. First things first, the place needs a new sign board. A neon sign board that would probably look passé on the Las Vegas strip. It needs to be that bright and big. Like, standing at teynampet signal, where the most underrated restaurant of Chennai, hotel ananda, is there, I should be able to see that there's a hotel here. People driving on Mount Road, often, pathu paisa kooda neram irukkadhu. If you need to get them inside, a new sign board is absolutely essential.
The place is pretty good. They have valet parking, or at least, they have people to take care of your car since you can only Park it on the side of the road.
The establishment has some sort of an open seating on the ground floor, with a lawn like carpet. While its a different move, I don't see it being very sensible because, 1. The roof is covered, so you aren't eating under the stars. 2. Chennai's weather needs no explanation.
Give off the space for parking if you ask me! The air-conditioned part of the establishment on the first floor is more than enough!
The place is well lit. No idea about natural lighting as I had gone for dinner and the windows were either covered or non existent. Couldn't tell. Chairs, were comfy, though they had some sofa seating as well, I preferred the chairs, like I always do.
The food. We didn't know what to expect and I hadn't tried the place beforehand, so for the first time in a long time, I was trying out a new place with family. Hence constant taunts of 'If the food sucks, Tanveer should only pay the bill' were increasing every minute. It was time we got down to business.
Food orders included, a veg and a non veg sizzler combo, a Mutton curry dosa, 4 wheat parottas, chicken hyderabadi gravy, a schezwan egg noodles and tandoori chicken.
The sizzler combos are a great idea for people with small appetites. They have a combo, of a soup, a rice/biryani, a side, and a dessert and a mini Pepsi can , at Rs 179 for the veg and 199 for the non veg combo. Damn good pricing if you ask me. The quantity of food served for each sizzler was also very good. The veg soup offered was a sweet corn soup and the non veg offering was a leg of lamb (aatu kaal) soup. Sweet corn soup was the usual fare, good quantity, tasted good, after dousing it with some pepper. The other soup was amazing! A nice strong peppery flavor and we all took to it! The problem though was that, the aatu kaal was not an aatu kaal at all. It was a nalli elumbu. For the vegetarians who are still reading this overly komattifying description, it's not a bone from the leg, but a regular bone. Lol. Sorry ya. 😄
The tandoori chicken was the dish of the day IMHO, and I genuinely feel it might as well be one of the best places to have tandoori chicken in Chennai, when compared to places which other mango people would visit. Of course, tandoori chicken at ITC would make you want to offer your hand in marriage to the Chef's daughter, but that isn't an aam admi place right! I was genuinely wondering if I should order another half chicken just for myself, and I would have if not for the truck load of food that was incoming.
The non veg sizzler combo had a biryani and some pepper chicken as a side to it. The biryani, just couldn't cut it, as per the unfairly high standards that my entire family has, only specific to biryani. Most other dishes we would gladly eat on the grounds of 'Saami soru podudhu' but biryani na one head weight, my entire family has, myself included. Guilty as charged. 😄 the pepper chicken side was cooked well, but they didn't add enough salt to it. While that was an error we corrected without much hassle, on our own, it could be avoided. Basic stuff after all.
The veg sizzler had a garlic fried rice and some crispy fried vegetables. My mother loved the fried rice as it wasn't aggressively spiced like usual fast food places. I on the other hand thought that the dish was a little too bland. Furthermore, they had used the usual sambar sadham rice to make the garlic fried rice. Dei, as a local fast food connoisseur myself, I can tell you, that even in ultra mokka places, inside Chennai, any type of fried rice is only made with basmati rice. It doesn't have to be of the best quality, but if it isn't basmati, even local fast food regulars would be irked. The chef has got to change this. No way you can serve any kind of fried rice, without using basmati rice as the base. Chance ey illa. Crisped vegetables were lovely, according to my mother and my cousins, but i just gave it a miss.
The Mutton curry dosa was damnnnn good! It was a nice thick dosa with loads of minced Mutton in it! I only wish they had given us some saalan (or salna as namma pasanga would say) as a side with the dosa. It would have elevated the dish to a whole new level!
The schezwan egg noodles, was okay. The noodles were a little over cooked, and so a little thick and sticky. Like pasta, noodles also need to be cooked, al-dente , and hence be firm to the bite. Missed that here. That's Chinese cooking #101. Idhu la sodhappina eppudi.
I was confused with what gravy I wanted so I just asked the gentleman waiting our table. He asked me if I would like the gravy to be spicy, and then suggested the chicken hyderabadi a lemon and green chilly based gravy.
'it's spicy sir, but it won't burn your mouth' was his description. Seri, let's try it.
The wheat parottas were good, nice and flaky, I just wished they were a little bit bigger. The gravy was wonderful and very polarising. 3 of the 6 people on the table didn't like it, and the other 3 of us, especially myself were raving about it. Looking at a few good pieces of chicken and a nightmare inducing amount of unseeded green chillies, my first impression was , 'Mavaney, piles than' 😂 😂 but thankfully it didn't happen. The gravy was super tangy and yes, slightly spicy but it wasn't like someone dropped a bhut jholakia in it. I loved the tangy-ness of the gravy more than anything. If you are looking to go beyond the usual kadai chicken or butter chicken, or if you're the kind of person who would squeeze every drop of lemon on your pav bhaji, or your tandoori chicken, then this is the dish for you.
Gulab jamun, 2 pieces in 2 bowls, arrived as a part of the sizzler combo. As my sister had been very persistent about going to Brownie heaven for dessert, even much before dinner time, we skipped buying any other desserts here and headed towards New college. Brownie heaven pathi pesa arambicha pesitey irukkalam. Please read my review of that place for further details. Also condone the shameless self advertising. 😄
Their service was a mixed bag. There was one gentleman, who either absolutely loved his job, or was on the brink of loosing it, and was asked to show some enthusiasm. Our plates were being cleared, seconds after we were done, and once after we had just got done with the exceptional tandoori chicken, he placed some after meal sweetener on the table and asked me if i want the bill. Dei. Enna da nee. His enthusiasm was at such a high level, barring a few more mistakes, for the rest of our service. Eventually we were all like, as vadivelu would say it, 'Ivan romba nallavan ah irukkan da 😄' and so we just let it go. He already seemed like he was having a bad day. There was one gentleman who seemed so smitten by a female entourage, so much that he didn't notice me frantically waving for water, when I accidentally bit into a green chilly. What da, bros before youknowwhatimsaying . 😄
After loosing the legendary Hotel deluxe to old age, sea shell to inefficiency and being left with Ozaann as the only non veg centric place in the pondy bazaar area, Ali's comes as a welcome change of scene. They also have a full non veg meal scene for lunch. Though I'm willing to bet a considerable amount of money that it's not going to be better than the full meals at hotel ananda nearby, (if you're reading this, you should make plans to go, like tomorrow itself for lunch at ananda) I'm quite intrigued by what they are offering. If their food for dinner service is anything to be judged by, I'm already having high expectations for the full meals for lunch. Now all I have to do, is find some time and the extraordinary courage required to go beyond hotel ananda that serves absolutely stellar food, to give this place a try. Fortune favors the brave though. 👍
Again, go to hotel ananda macha. Please. It's the absolute shizz. 😄
Cheers. : )
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