Vegetarian Asian Cuisine @ Eastern Wedge - Poes Garden

The latest entrant in the Asian cuisine space in Chennai, is a restaurant from the stables of Mr. Mahadevan. However what makes this new restaurant unique is the fact that this is their first pure vegetarian restaurant. Although Chennai is not new to stand-alone vegetarian restaurants, a vegetarian restaurant focussing exclusively on Asian cuisine is a difficult find. I myself found it difficult to comprehend how could they pull it off as meat & egg is such an integral part of the cuisine they offer. However, I was amazed at the amount of research that was done by the Chefs engaged by them from Japan, China, Malaysia and of course our own Chef Ramkumar, the man behind Benjarong and Va Pho. Every dish spoke for itself and at the end of the meal, I never felt the lack of meat options as the flavours in the dishes served more than made up for it.

The evening begun with a selection of interesting beverages from their menu – Lemongrass Cooler, Mandarin and Basil Spritzer, Nutty Milo & Virgin Bailey. The first two were light on the palate providing a refreshing start to the evening while the latter two served as a runner throughout the evening. My favourite amongst them was the Nutty Milo, as it had the flavours of a peanut butter infused Milo milkshake. I can gladly gulp a few glasses down easily.

(Beverages)

The appetizers begun with a selection of ‘Kushi Yaki' and ‘Kushi Age’. ‘Kushi’ is Japanese means skewers while ‘Yaki’ means grilled and ‘Age’ means deep-fried. You can order the Kushi’s in a combination of 3/6/9 skewers with a selection of vegetables based on your preference. We had a combination of Button Mushrooms, Broccoli, Tofu, Cherry Tomato, Baby Corn, Potato and Bell Peppers. Seasoned with just salt, the Kushi Yaki were cooked to perfection and tasted excitingly fresh. The Kushi Age was equally lip-smacking with the batter being amazingly light on the palate. Both the platter were served with an assortment of dips including Miso Mayo, Wasabi Mayo & Kushi Yaki sauce for the Kushi Yaki while it was Ton katsu sauce, Yellow Mustard & Mayonnaise for the Kushi Age. On top of the assorted vegetables, we also ordered for two of their ‘House Special Kushi Yaki’. The first being a combination of bell pepper & corn kernels along with Tongarashi Mayo & Kushi Yaki sauce while the other was Iceberg lettuce and veg protein wrapped in Nori sheet.

(Kushi Yaki)

(House Special Kushi Yaki)

(House Special Kushi Yaki)

Next up was the ‘Crispy Corn Pie Tee’, which were cute little baskets filled with crispy corn kernels. This was followed by some ‘Spinach Dumpling’ with a lovely filling of spinach, veg protein, carrots and a spinach infused dumpling sheet. Next in line was the ‘BBQ Bun’, a bao filled with veg protein, shitake mushrooms, green pea in a BBQ sauce, a ‘Glutinous Rice Siew Mai’, simple dumpling filled with sticky rice, carrot, mushrooms and pea, and finally the ‘Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf’. With the steamed section done, we now moved on to the savour some of the other starters including the ‘Pandan Paneer’ which is a clone of the famous ‘Pandan Chicken’ from Benjarong. In addition to this, we also had ordered  a portion of ‘Eastern Wedge Water Chestnuts’, ‘Honey Chilly Lotus Stem’ and ‘Szechwan Shitake’ to indulge to our craving for the Indo-Chinese cuisines that strives within us.

(Spinach Dumpling)

(Glutinous Rice Siew Mai)

(BBQ Bun)

(Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf)

(Eastern Wedge Water Chestnuts)

(Pandan Paneer)

To beat down the starters, we went in for a ‘Ramen salad Hokkaido style with Roasted Sesame sauce’. The cold salad provided the perfect cleanse for the main course that was followed. We went for the Chef’s highly recommended ‘Chanko Nabe with a Miso Broth’. The dish was brought to our table and placed on a portable burner to ensure the broth was at the right temperature to be served. The Udon noodles and the vegetables in the broth made it a perfect one meal dish. Another main course that we ordered was on the other end of the spectrum in terms of complexity. The ‘Bamaa Curry Rice’ was a Northern style Thai red curry with coconut milk served along with a portion of steamed rice. It was a perfect finisher with good levels of spice. To bring closure to a sumptuous evening, we went ahead with just one portion of ‘Sesame Balls’ for dessert. Recovering from a cold, I resisted the urge to savour the dessert as the sesame balls were deep-fried and served with a portion of vanilla ice-cream. 

(Ramen salad  - Hokkaido style with Roasted Sesame sauce)

(Chanko Nabe with a Miso Broth)

(Bamaa Curry Rice)

With a great price point, Eastern Wedge is a must visit for vegetarians looking to get a taste of authentic Asian cuisine. Located at Poes Garden on 2nd Street, Kasturi Rangan Road, a meal for two would cost about ₹1200.

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Authentic Chettinad Cuisine @ Mango Tree, Nungambakkam

When it comes to spicy Tamil cuisine, all of us know nothing beats Chettinad cuisine. But are we sure we are talking about the right term? What does spicy denote here? Are are we talking chilli or peppers? Most restaurants that serve Chettinad cuisine involves only the use of chilli. However, the authentic Chettinad food is created using a fine balance of chilli and peppercorns. It's not the burning sensation that is Chettinad, rather its the hot after effect that represents the authenticity of the food.

With commercialization the key in today's food scene, a new restaurant has decided to make taste and originality their key. Mango Tree, a recently opened restaurant in Nungambakkam focusses on introducing authentic Chettinad home cuisine to folks in Chennai. Located near Valluvar Kottam on a by-lane, the restaurant is a remodeled house that replicates the ambiance of a Chettinad house. The decor too is in line with what you would expect in a regular Chettinad house. It really felt like being in a Chettinad house with the expectation that the food also follows suit, unlike other so-called Chettinad restaurants that leave you burning after a meal.

(Kari Uppu Kari)

(Kari Kola Urundai)

The starters that were served included the 'Kari Uppu Kari', 'Karuvepilai Paneer', 'Beetroot Kola Urundai', 'Erai Varuval', 'Kari Kola Urundai'. Kari Uppu Kari is one of the signature dishes along with Kari Kola Urundai. They were both very simplistic and full of flavour. The Kola Urundai served here comes sans the wrapping of the urundai with dried plantain fibres making it a bit easier to eat. The other standout dish was the Erai varuval. Though being deep fried, it was not at all greasy and had a very distinctive spiciness to it that made me feel just a subtle hotness which was instantaneously overcome by the aroma of the masala. 

(Karuvepilai Paneer) 

(Erai Varuval)

(Beetroot Kola Urundai)

A Thali is one of the best ways to understand how the fare in a restaurant is as invariably it includes most of the basic dishes that can otherwise be ordered a la carte. Keeping this in mind, I ordered a 'Karaikudi Special Thali' while my friend ordered a 'Mutton Biryani combo'. The Karaikudi thali was indeed special as it had about 19 items all beautifully plated in a big thali. If anyone can actually manage to finish everything in the thali, I'm sure they wouldn't even think about dinner. There was  fish, chicken as well as mutton curry along with rasam, vegetable kootu, a poriyal and masala fried whole egg. As accompaniments, the thali had parotta, variety rice, steamed rice with ghee served along with curd, pickle and appalam. A neer more accompanied the thali and a payasam to finish it. On the other hand, the Biryani combo was also huge. The combo consisted of a full portion of Mutton Biryani along with Raitha, masala fried egg and appalam. But what made it more interesting is the fact that the biryani combo also had parotta, Kari masala and some salna. This made it a perfect combo for hardcore carnivores like me. 

(Non Veg Karaikudi Special Thali)

(Mutton Biryani Combo)

Most of you by now know how much of a dessert fan I'm, so how could I skip desserts even after such a sumptuous meal. So we requested a dessert sampler plate. Although not part of the menu, the restaurant obliged us on the same. The plater consisted of 'Kauvn Arisi' and 'Aadi Kumaayam'. Both were distinctive in their taste and consistency while at the same time being very simplistic in composition.

Now comes the most important question amongst all. Did my palate burn at the end of the meal? Absolutely not. Does that mean my meal wasn't spicy? Of course, it was spicy but the sort of spiciness that leaves a lasting tingling effect and not the one that ends up burning you. This I'm told is the characteristic effect of an authentic Chettinad meal. And the secret to this is the fact that all masalas used in the preparation at Mango Tree are home prepared and grounded to avoid contamination with any elements that have an commercialization attached to it.

Mango Tree is located at 31, Jambulingam Street, Off Valluvar Kottam High Road in Nungambakkam. A meal for two would approximately cost you about Rs. 1200 while that Thalis are priced from Rs. 160 for the Executive Veg Thali to Rs. 340 for the Non-Veg Karaikudi Special Thali. The Biryani combos are priced from Rs. 290 for Veg to Rs. 420 for the Mutton Biryani combo.

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Healthy Eating at Pumpkin Tales, Alwarpet

Pumpkin is a dish that is seldom given the importance that it deserves. Most restaurants in Chennai do not even have one dish that champions Pumpkin. Being a very versatile ingredient, it can be used in a multitude of dishes ranging from soups to mains to desserts. But if you are that hardcore Pumpkin Lover, Chennai has a restaurant dedicated to Pumpkin amongst others. 

Aptly called 'Pumpkin Tales', this elegant restaurant in Alwarpet is truly a pumpkin lovers paradise. Every course on the menu has at least one dish that uses pumpkin as the core ingredient. To name a few, at Pumpkin Tales you can experience dishes such as P.E.L.T (their take on the well-known BELT sandwiches), Pumpkin Taco and Pumpkin Mutton bowl amongst others. 

We started our evening with some 'Pumpkin soup' and 'Carribean Chicken soup'. Having pumpkin as their hero ingredient, the pumpkin soup was fabulous with a perfect balance of earthiness and creaminess. The chicken soup too was nice in its own ways albeit being a little on the hotter side. We served with some in-house baked sourdough bread accompanied with butter to pair up with the soups.

(Pumpkin Soup)

(Carribean Chicken Soup)

For starters, we tried out the 'Grilled Tempeh' along with some 'Harissa Chicken Wings'. I was personally keen on savoring the tempeh as I've never tried it before. Tempeh is basically fermented soy cakes that are made in-house at Pumpkin Tales. The tempeh was grilled with some chili and cumin and had a crunch in every bite. It was definitely unique and a good alternative to those who are bored with soy. The chicken wings were the usual fare excepting here it was oven roasted rather than deep fried.

(Sourdough Bread)

(Grilled Tempeh)

As for the mains, we decided to try a couple of crowd favorites. First up was the 'Grilled Prawn Taco'. I was expecting a hard taco on the table but apparently, the dish is a soft taco dish. With a sumptuous quantity of prawns on each taco, this dish was refreshing definitely a great health eat. The taco was followed by a 'Mexican Chicken Bowl', just to continue with the cuisine. The bowl was loaded with rice, refried beans, vegetables, and salsa. However, I felt the dish could have been a little more generous on the cheddar and avocado as it definitely highlights the cuisine at hand. Post the Mexican fare, we went Mediterranean and ordered the Mediterranean Lamb Plate. We had a good quantity of lamb that was roasted served with some lemon butter potato, greek salad and a bread. The last main on the table was ordered based on the request from a fellow diner whose favorite it was. It was the famous Korean dish 'Bibimpap' and the variant that we ordered was the Tofu version. The Bibimpap was very close to the authentic one and is definitely one of the best in the city.

(Bibimpap)

(Mains)

With the mains done, it was now time to treat ourselves with some great desserts. We ordered a Mango Sorbet, Tiramisu Gelato, Pumpkin Pie and a regular Tiramisu. Trust me, the desserts were all out of the park and were amazing in their own ways. The Tiramisu can rightly be placed among the top 5 in Chennai. The Mango sorbet was as close to nature as it can get.

(Tiramisu)

(Mango Sorbet)

Overall, Pumpkin Tales is a great place if you want to enjoy soulful organic food. Adding to it, if you are Vegan, then this is the place you need to be frequenting as they have a huge number of dishes that can be prepared Vegan.

Pumpkin Tales is located at Bava Salai, Alwarpet and a 3-course meal for two would cost you about Rs. 1500.

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Tulu Nadu in Tamil Nadu - Madras Pavillion, ITC Grand Chola

Every restaurant keeps coming up with some sort of festivals on a monthly basis and often end up not doing justice to the festivals as a result of poor research. However, a handful of them ensure all efforts are taken to recreate the classics. I’ve known of Chef’s who had brought down experts from the relevant cuisines, brought specialised cooking tools, ingredients and so on.

One such restaurant that takes their food festivals seriously is ‘Madras Pavilion’ at ‘ITC Grand Chola’. Being the finest of luxury hotels in Chennai, any festival from their restaurants have a huge expectation. Having taken a break from attending festivals for a long time because of the lack of originality, I made my mind to check out the Tulu Nadu festival this time around.

The land of Tulu is not something new to me as I’ve a couple of friends from this region of South India. Tulu is in fact an ancient language that has been around for a few centuries with majority of the Tulu speaking population concentrated around the Western coast of Karnataka including regions such as Mangalore, Udipi and also extending into Northern Kerala encompassing the district of Kasaragod. The food here is supposed to be typically home style with a strong emphasis on simplicity and flavour.

(Bana Baraida)

The meal begun with a ‘Bana Baraida’, which was basically a drink made by blending tender coconut and well ripped bananas. To complement this, we were also provided with a traditional ‘Alai’ which is a blend of buttermilk with ginger, chilli and mint. I personally preferred the Alai more as I knew I could keep having it side by side along the courses of meals that were coming since it felt very comforting on the palette. 

(Natia Kori)

(Sajja ke Tairai Roti)

Next up was the Saaru aka Soup. Saaru in Tulu as well in Tamil typically refers to the juice that is extracted from lentils and tamarind. The saaru here was a ‘Bele Saaru’ which was made up with lentils and spiced with Cumin and Pepper. The best of the evening was the ‘Natia Kori’, succulent morsels of chicken cooked in ghee and chilli paste. I just couldn’t get over with this, as I kept asking for more and more as it made a perfect accompaniment to both the ‘Sajja ke Taarai Roti’ as well as the ‘Mamsam Biryani’. To add further to our mains, we had a fantastic pineapple based gravy known as the ‘Pineapple Gojju’, some famous ‘Kori Gassi’ that already had the roti soaked in it. The sukka made using shrimps was another highlight of the evening. Both the Pineapple Gojju and Yetti Sukka were paired perfectly with the ‘Neer Dosa’. A special word of mention for the Mamsam Biryani as it was unique yet amazingly flavour. The lamb was so tender that it fell from the bone with the least effort required. 

(The Full Course)

To bring the delightful experience of Tulu Nadu, we were served with a ‘Bele Payasam’ which was almost similar to our Paruppu Payasam and a ‘Ragi Manni’ which was more like a fudge made using Ragi & Jaggery.

(Desserts)

Like I’ve mentioned in the beginning, ITC Chefs take special care when they create a festival and an extensive research is made before the festival launches. This is evident from the fact that I felt completely light at the end of the meal albeit being fasting the entire day which ensured that I needed to provide my system with a sufficient amount of food. 

The Tulu Nadu festival is on till the 25th of June, 2017 and is available as part of the Buffet at Madras Pavilion located at ITC Grand Chola, Guindy, Chennai.

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Back on a Sweet Note

It has been quite a while since I've been active here. Several new assignments really kept me hanging for time and wasn't really able to devote dedicated time to write here. But realised that I was missing writing about things that I love the most, something that really kept my stress levels down. So here I'm back again.

So to give a twist, my return post is about my recent holiday in London. Albeit being a family holiday, I managed to take some time out to explore a few must have desserts in London. Out of them, two were standouts.

On a usual gloomy rainy afternoon, I was nearby Oxford Circus and felt the need for a dessert to forget the weather. I remember reading about a small restaurant hidden in one of the alleys of SOHO called Spuntino and how one dish over there was highly talked about. What was intriguing was the fact that the dessert sounded very primitive so was curious to know what was so special in it. Called the 'Peanut Butter & Jelly' sandwich. A sandwich for dessert, guess your thinking the same thing that went through my mind too. 

But when the dish arrived, I knew what was in the making. A gorgeous looking dish on a rustic plate appeared in front of me. There was no bread for starters. What was indeed in front of me was two perfectly sliced sections of Peanut Butter ice cream stacked in between with a Berry Compote. First bite and it dawned upon me as to why this dessert was talked about so much. There was a perfect balance between the ice cream, compote and the crunchies that was sprinkled on top. Each bite brought back a distinct memory of the PB&J yet in a more refreshing way.

(Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich)

If you happen to be in London, ensure you visit Spuntino. It is located at Rupert Street, Soho and is hardly a 10 minute walk from the Oxford Circus Underground.

The second dessert shop was based on a close friend's recommendation. She constantly kept buzzing me to check if I did visit the place. After having a cold dessert on a rainy day, I sure wanted something to make me feel warm. And this dessert shop also being in SOHO, didn't want to give it a miss. Said was a small chocolate cafe that looked very teeny weeny from the outside. When I entered, I saw the place was full and had to wait for a table. A glance over the counter and I realised the reason it was full. Everything on the menu had a chocolate element and was drop dead gorgeous.

Since my friend had already told me what I should not miss ordering, decided to order that first lest I fill my palate. The order was for a 'Regular-Milk-Hot Chocolate'. Wondering what would be very special here, my eyes popped the moment my order was being prepared. The drink cup was first dripped early with all three forms of melted chocolate, Dark, White & Milk. Thinking this was to provide it with a complexity what followed was more intriguing. Since I had ordered for a Milk chocolate variant, the same melted chocolate that was used to drip the cup was poured into the cup. Yes, the hot chocolate at Said is a more of a melted chocolate drink.

(Hot Chocolate)

The drink was definitely sinful and has taken the top most position in my list of hot chocolates. And I reckon its definitely going to be there for a long long time.

Said is located at Lexington Street in Soho and is a 5 minute walk from Oxford Circus Underground.

To be updated on my latest reviews, do subscribe to the feed by leaving your email address in the subscribe section on the top right hand side of this post. If this article interested you, please share it so others may be interested and benefited too!!! For quick reviews, ratings and yummylicious images, follow me on Instagram at @FoodInChennai. Request you to also visit our Facebook page Food In Chennai - Facebook and share the page with a Like amongst your friends and also follow us on our twitter handle at @FoodInChennai. You can also follow us on Google Plus at Food in Chennai-GooglePlus. Please also feel free to g+1 this post so others may be benefited too. 

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Iftar @ Anise - Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam

Having evening meetings during the Holy month of Ramadhan can be a bit tricky. Often the meeting venue needs to be a place where some soothing food can be had to break my fast. On one such occasion, I had to have a meeting close to Taj Coromandel. I remember Anise at Taj Coromandel having an Iftar two years back and checked if they had one this year too. The answer was in the positive so fixed today’s venue for Iftar at Anise.

Place:

The Iftar menu at Taj Coromandel is served at Anise, their 24-hour coffee shop. For a change, the Iftar menu is available both as a standalone offering as well as an add-on along with their regular dinner buffet. The quirky and cliché setting makes Anise a perfect place to catch up for a quick meal at any point of the day.

Food:

The Iftar traditionally begins with dates and water. We were served a nice platter of two varieties of dates along with some almonds to reign in the natural sweet from the date fruits. This was followed by a platter of mixed fruits to bring the freshness and set the palate up for the meal after a fast of 14 hours. To soothe the parched throat, two drinks are served. A Roohafza to bring in instant energy and a Banana smoothie to relax with.

(Dates Platter)

(Fruits Platter)

(Chilling Roohafza & Refreshing Banana Smoothie)

This was followed by a small mezze platter with some Hummus, Cous Cous and a tomato salsa to go with some crispy Falafels and Pita bread. Tomato salsa in a mezze platter was something new to me and didn’t really understand how it would go with any of the other flavours. Nevertheless, I managed to make a wrap with the Falafel and Hummus that was bang on with flavours. Next up were starters from the buffet, a Chicken kebab and a Mutton Sheekh. The Chicken kebab was Yumm from the word go as it was soft and moist and succulent. The Sheekh though flavourful, I felt it to be a bit dry. 

(Falafel and Pita)

(Mutton Sheekh)

(Chicken Kebabs)

With the starters done, came a big big surprise in the name of Haleem. Haleem is usually served in a bowl but wouldn’t it surprise you if it was brought in a platter. Yup, the Haleem at Anise is a variant to the original Hyderabadi Haleem. It differs in both texture and colour from the original. This Haleem has a few additional spices added that took it to a whole new level. Probably the best variation of the Haleem I’ve savoured till date and the presentation with all the condiments around it made it all the more elegant. This is a definite must try.

(Haleem)

Being really tired I decided to skip the buffet completely as I didn’t want to task myself with an overdose of food either. So heading straight to the desserts, I picked up a very comforting dessert which had Lychees soaked in condensed milk topped with some pistachios. It provided the perfect finish to an Iftar menu.

(Lychee Dessert)

Price:

The Iftar menu at Anise is priced at Rs. 850 plus taxes for the menu that includes starters and desserts from the buffet. If you would like to go for the full buffet, then the Iftar comes at no additional cost as you pay only for the dinner buffet which is priced at Rs. 1985 all inclusive.

Location:

Anise is located at the far end of the lobby at Taj Coromandel in Nungambakkam. The Iftar special is available everyday till the end of the Holy Month of Ramadhan which is around the 7th of July.

To be updated on my latest reviews, do subscribe to the feed by leaving your email address in the subscribe section on the top right hand side of this post. If this article interested you, please share it so others may be interested and benefited too!!! For quick reviews, ratings and yummylicious images, follow me on Instagram at @FoodInChennai. Request you to also visit our Facebook page Food In Chennai - Facebook and share the page with a Like amongst your friends and also follow us on our twitter handle at @FoodInChennai. You can also follow us on Google Plus at Food in Chennai-GooglePlus. Please also feel free to g+1 this post so others may be benefited too. 

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