After the 5 stars and the Bangalore streets and sit-in Iftars, I had to try a couple of Combo Packs. At the first opportunity, my first choice was Zaitoon when I was stuck home-alone for Iftar!

First impressions: Beautifully packed in a nice hard box and the food was arranged well enough that it didn't shake or spill inside. Perfect!

Now for a box priced at Rs 299 for 300 things inside, you shouldn't complain at all. I mean, it is like a birth right to complain has been taken off!

Nannari Drink tasted funny. Like a little too strong nannari syrup inside kind of funny, but after a couple of sips, it simply went inside post the 14 hour fasting stomach. Spoilt for choice over what to eat first, I devoured the haleem. It was a little spicy for my liking, but the flavours were all there and wasn't some careless haleem. It was nice and boneless except for one teeny weeny bit of bone. At this price, no complaints!

Tiny puff like thing. It was like a cross between a samosa and a Lukhmi. Bite sized and perfect. This was followed by the Khubus and the yummy grilled chicken. It was a nice decent sized piece and not some set of bones thrown in. Along with the given Toum (the garlic mayo like paste), it was enough to break fast with!

Post prayers, I devoured the small paratha with a quite yummy chicken gravy, almost like a butter chicken, but with less butter! This was followed by the mini shawarma during Master Chef Australia and the dates. Yes, I had dates in the end!

The only complete disaster was the rice. I don't know if this batch was bad or it is always like this in the Iftar pack, the rice was kind of over cooked and I couldn't take more than a spoonful.

But at Rs. 299, I got more value that what I paid for. It wasn't too heavy and it can happily be a complete Iftar or if you have things at home, then one box can be a good accompaniment for two people. 

The first time I had the Zaitoon Iftar Box, two years back, I was blown. I wondered how they were able to nail it! It was nailed brilliantly! Price, quantity, quality. Everything was just right. Last year, though, was the exact opposite. I thought, they were a one year wonder. Hated the box. It was overpriced and the quality had dropped from the sky to a below sea level. I had no intention of trying it out this year. I noticed the box siting at home. Folks had picked it up as they were out and there was no time to prepare something. And boy, was I glad!

For the first time, this Ramzan, the Haleem was excellent. The taste, the consistency and everything about the haleem was near perfect. It was so good, that I went back and picked just the haleem the very next day. But the box is well thought out, so I'll start with the things I liked. Haleem, yes. The grilled chicken, yes. The tiny paratha with the chicken gravy, perfect size. The modified schawarma, yes. Besides the fruit bowl and drink and dates, the only other things left was the Arabian rice with three pieces of meat and a very dry kuboos. The Arabian rice might have been better if it was hot, but the kuboos was way too dry for me.

Smart moves were the size of the paratha, since this boxed is aimed at one person, the tiny one was good enough for me. I liked the modified schwarma which was smaller and more meaty with less veggies.

This year, Zaitoon has got it perfect and I am glad. I went back again and picked up Haleem, because the haleem was excellent, and if I go back, I will stick to their haleem and a roll maybe. 

When I see a foodie friend post photo after photo on Facebook and rave about a rather small joint, it does intrigue me. I'm sure it would intrigue most of us. What so special about a restaurant that looks like a run of the mill multi cuisine restaurant? When I had to meet a couple of people, we ended up going there unplanned and thus I got to taste their food, finally. One of the partners of the restaurant was there and would have skewed the service to a higher level, so I will leave that out.

I quite liked the Chef Special soup that we started off with. It was a bisque type soup flavoured richly with lamb and all three of us were quite at home and it tasted like liquid haleem. That it had the small cheeslings biscuits, which I adore, certainly added to it. The Arabian salad was blah! The grilled tiger prawns served with kubus was rather nice and we all loved the complex flavours rubbed on it and char grilled, while the stuffed Tangdi kebab was blah. Something was missing and I couldn't point a finger on what! And then came the best dish of the day, the Chicken Almondi (or Almondy?), a dish whose spelling I can't recall. It was an excellent stuffed chicken breast soaked with an exciting sauce and served with some french fries and rice. A very continental type dish, but Indo-continental at best!

My friends ordered naan, biriyani and a gravy and all of them were reasonably alright, though the foodie in question who keeps posting photo after photo highly recommended the biriyani. Yes, good biriyani, but not 'blow your mind' types! Though we were stuffed, we tried their tender coconut pudding and quite liked that!!!

Overall, for this price point, this is another run of the mill restaurant, but a good one at that. It means we have more choice among the multi cuisine restaurants and that can only be a good thing for Chennai.

3.5/5

I wonder why there is a sudden rush for Arabian like food in Chennai! It must be doing well and if the trend goes, we might soon has Indian Arabian, just like we have Indo - Chinese. None of the dishes are Arabian really, but, of course, one cannot open a restaurant for people who want authentic food and price it low. They have to play to the market and going by the crowd at Laham, with a simple but nice interiors, quirky posters, I think the owners have found the sweet spot.

Three of us walked in and found that both brands, Laham and Tas Tea, belong to the same person. Tas Tea, is a bubble tea that I have had at Malaysia and I was keen to see how well they have fit the concept to the Chennai market. So we ordered for chicken shawarma, Shish Tawook and Chicken Sheekh Kebab. Apparently the restaurant had just opened and a lot of dishes on the menu was unavailable.

The bubble teas came up first and though the 'bubbles' were similar to what I have had before, the tea did not seem to have any tea in it. Only then did I realise that I had ordered the crushed ice bubble and since there was no crushed ice at all, it didn't seem like it and I presumed I had ordered tea. The other two guys had their tea and I tasted them both and they were fine. The bubbles are nothing but small flavoured tapioca balls added to the tea and the straw is large enough to suck them through.

The owner recognised us as his school seniors and joined us for a chat. He told us about his previous experiences with restaurants and told us his plans for this restaurant, which included bring in sheekh kebab burgers in both chicken and lamb. With a vast background in food, he seemed to know what he is doing. But I found the shawarma to be like a Bengali kati roll. There was no veggies, no pickled veggies, no french fries - just a pita roll stuffed with chicken. So if you like your roll to be full of chicken, you will like this, if you're like me, wanting a balance between the chicken and the veggies, then you wont. The roll was tasty, it is just not shawarma for me. The chicken sheekh kebab was juicy and very tasty, while the shish tawook was very differently spiced and not what I am used to. There is a lot of gravy and roti on the menu that we did not try.

The owner refused to take the bill and said that the place was just up and running and he was glad to get feedback from us and waived off the bill. He has asked us to visit him again in a few weeks once his full menu is up and then we could pay! So I am not rating this place yet! Prices of dishes are between 80 and 200 for most dishes and a meal for two should cost about Rs. 500! But this is Indo Arabian, not Arabian and with an almost full house, I guess it has clicked.

Laham is right at the Kelly junction in Kilpauk with a parking space for about four cars.

I finally went to the revamped Zaitoon! Yay! Though slightly confusing, I think it is fair to say that Zaitoon is multicuisine restaurant specialising in Arabian food! Does that even make sense? For me, it is slowly starting to. Krishnavilasam is a multicuisine restaurant, specialising in Classic South Indian food. I think, slowly the concept of specialising in one cuisine, but having more options is becoming the need of the hour for restaurants to survive and invariably the 'Chinese', of course, Indo Chinese, is always there along with some North Indian food! The same with Zaitoon! The restaurant was packed that Sunday night and we waited for about 15 minutes for the table and there were families all over the place.

So being a large group, we had to order quite a few dishes, but that way I got to sample a lot of them. The special Zaitoon shawarma, which had quite a lot of meat, but almost nothing else, started the meal for me. I would have liked more than just chicken inside, but then, I asked for the 'special', I will probably try the 'normal' one day to check out what that tastes like. An order of falafel came with loads of hummus and a few balls of falafel, which tasted decent, while the hummus was alright, not great, but not bad either. The grilled fish, though was quite good that night and we ordered another portion! The Arabian rice with chicken was nice, but if you are expecting Biriyani, you will be disappointed!

And then, the reason they are an Arabian Specialty, but having the words multicuisine on top their logo, came about. Three people wanted naan and butter chicken and one person wanted only fried rice, so, Zaitoon, definitely caters to that. Was it excellent? No, but was it good enough for family outing where you don't have food critics, then a thumping yes!

I went to the Zaitoon in Nungambakkam, but there a few around the city, so take your pic!

3.5/5 was for me! 

The first time I went to Fusion 9, I really liked it! Most others in my group did not think it was great! When the restaurant contacted us for a review, I wanted to see what blinded me the first time and I came back with more questions than answers! Of the four, two of them were making their first visit to F9 and so the combination for a review was ideal!

The first set of iced tea was super! Perfectly brewed with the right mix of lemon, sweet and tea. It was so good that we asked for another but I think the chief of the bar left for the day or something else went totally wrong! What else can explain the same drink being so horrible? We returned it and asked for lemonade and it was worse!!!!! They need to find a second in hand for the drinks!

But the food was brilliant to say the least. We started off with a Mezze Platter and for all practical purposes, the main ingredient is the Falafel, but my friend could not but help say that it was a high class masala vada. There is some truth to it, but hey, its called a Falafel is some parts of the world. It was served with some well made hummus and pita bread which was baked to perfection for me! For the main course, we had one Thai Red Curry, which is served with white rice, a BBQ chicken Pizza, a Basa Fish Steak and Pasta. The chef got most of them right, with some brilliant flavors for the Red Curry, a fantastic Pizza - thin crust, made perfectly with the right amount of stuff on top and a super Basa Fish, probably the best dish of the day! The pasta was a big let down, it was overcooked and pretty bad, especially in comparison to the other dishes. The mezze platter was priced around Rs 475, the pizza was priced similarly, the Fish steak was Rs 300 or so, so you get an idea of the prices! I think the restaurant must be praised for being able to get the right flavors in different cuisines - in my experience Multi Cuisine or World Cuisine means every cuisine is average, but here the Thai flavors were distinct from the Italian and Arabian!

If we thought the main course was great, the desserts here shocked us even more. The German Chocolate cake that we had was stunning! The tiramisu was very nice and was on par with some good Tiramisu around the world, if not the best, and the other cake we had (I forgot the name) served with Ice cream was super, though (as I realized later) it has alcohol in it, so if you are wary of alcohol you should know this before hand. Being a resto bar with drinks, I guess they presume that you need not be warned about alcohol, but I still think that they should.

Service was pathetic that day, though it was much better on my first visit. The ambiance is very very nice, with a great combination of soft comfy sofas and chairs and ideal space between tables, so you don't have to hear a stranger's problems with her husband!

I would love to go back! And all four of us thought that F9 was good, so..........

Food 8/10
Service 5/10
Price 7/10
Ambiance 8/10

F9 is located in Quality Inn Aruna, below Mainland China on Sterling Road

Note: This was an invited review!

Its been quite a while since we visited Mouthful so on Saturday late evening, we headed there for some exotic stuff. We were just the two of us and decided to stick to just some specialties! For a Saturday evening, the place was pretty deserted and we were wondering if the place has lost its sheen.

So, we ordered half Lebanon Grill Chicken, a Chicken Schwarma and one Raan (the lamb leg) cooked Moroccan style. The Lebanon grill chicken is served with kuboos, some hummus and veges, while the lamb was served with the same and the schwarma with just some veges. The Lebanon grill chicken was amazing, with the perfect flavor, but the kuboos and the hummus were pretty bad. The Lamb leg was not as tender as it used to be sometime back at Mouthful (or when it was Mouthful, its Flame Grill now)! The schwarma was pretty ordinary too!

Service was ok, and the ambiance is pretty ordinary. The place has definitely lost its sheen over time, and though some dishes here are still excellent, I have a feeling that the overall quality has dropped. The group has started two new restaurants on RK Salai, called Wild Amazon and Al Arab, so maybe they are focusing their energy there! But the lebanon grill chicken was just awesome! Half chicken was priced at Rs 180, the schwarma at Rs 70 and the Raan at Rs 950.

Food 6/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 5/10
Price 7/10

Flame Grill is located next to Green Trends on Ragaviah Road (Parallel to GN Chetty road, take a right at the Rohini Hotel Junction when coming from TP Road)

The new theme restaurant by the Mouthful Group is open to public! The setting of the restaurant is simply superb, with an elegant waiting area in the ground floor and some superb interiors to mimic the rain forest setting (reminds you of the Rain Forest restaurant in Adyar, very similar settings). There are speakers all over which keep throwing out sounds through your meal which is more of a distraction than being an attraction. There are sounds of elephants and a waiter walks around in a tiger costume and I am not too sure if both the elephant and the tiger are found in the Amazon Forest, I thought it was more of an Anaconda place!!!

We ordered one Raan (whole Lamb Leg) cooked in Moroccan style, one Afghani chicken, one baby corn fry, one crispy corn and some desserts! The Afghani chicken was probably the best dish of the lot, it was soft, well marinated and well cooked with some superb flavor! The Raan was not as good as the one in Flame Grill (by the same group), this one, though flavored well, was very dry for our liking, and being priced at Rs 1100, you do not want such dishes to go wrong. The crispy corn was a new dish and I thought it was great too, the baby corn fry was the usual fry. The death by chocolate was a brilliant dessert, while the sizzling brownie was the same old brownie!

I would love to go back here for the ambiance, the food being well priced and tasty and the service was excellent. The raan might have gone wrong that day and I would not mind trying it out again before deeming the raan here as less edible than their other outlet!

Food 7/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Price 7/10

Wild Amazon is located just beyond Citi Center, towards the beach!

Its time for a rendezvous with Sea Shell and so my friend and I decided to get there for a quick lunch. Sea shell tries to be multi cuisine, but is only good with what they do best - Grilled stuff!! The place is quite small on the crowded Mount Road end of Greme's road with parking being a huge headache. Once you do get inside the hot place, the smell of grilled chicken fills the air!

We stuck to our favorites - the Arabian Grilled Chicken and The Afghani Chicken. Half portion gives you two large chunks (half a chicken), some hummus, some mayo, some salad and two Kuboos! The kuboos here are nice and soft on most days, the hummus is almost always great and the chicken, really tasty. The grilled chicken was brilliant today, cooked to perfection and served in style. I also loved the Afghani chicken, though my friend did not like it (so i got to eat lots of it)! Another favorite of mine here is their BBQ Grill Chicken, which tastes more Tandoori than BBQ, but in a place like this, name does not matter to me- the chicken tastes great, period!

The 'biriyani' that is served here is very different, I don't know if it is how it is served in parts of Arabia, but to me it more of a flavored rice, something like a different pulao. Its tastes great no doubt, just that its probably named wrong!!! The lassi we ordered was pathetic so I won't say more! The grilled stuff (half portions) cost between Rs 90 and Rs 120 and that to me is very reasonable! They have stopped serving shawarma during the day time and is now only available after 5 PM and their shawarmas are pretty good. I would stick to their shawarmas and their grilled chicken here! There is not much of service or ambiance to talk about, but apparently their Anna Nagar branch is more spacious, but I am yet to visit that!

Food 8/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 4/10
Price 8/10