Rewind 5 years. Frankfurt, Germany.

Me: Dey, take me and introduce me to some nice German cuisine.

My Tamil friend settled in Germany: German cuisine aaa? Vega vacha panni between bun and a glass of beer. That's all. (For the uninitiated, the literal translation would be, 'Steam pig between a bun ......'

A few days later, we were eating some awesome beef with grilled onions and I question his interpretation of German cuisine. 'Oh, you get these during the fairs only. Yeah, its great!'

Another couple of days later, we were having schnitzel in a German pub with apple beer for him and non alcoholic apple beer for me. I questioned him again. 'Oh, this is actually Austrian, not really German,' he dismissed. Slowly, I figured out some very nice stuff you get in Germany. Yeah, its not Italy or France of Mid east, but it certainly has more to it than steamed pig in a bun!!!! But Oktoberfest is mostly that, with German ladies carrying a dozen glasses of beer in traditionally attire and in the more, well, 'authentic' places, waitresses, lets say, reveal much less to the imagination.

Rewind 2 years. Hyatt Regency, Chennai.

Chef Thomas (the then exec chef): Wasim, can make you some pizza?

Me: No thanks, Chef, I am fine.

Thomas: You won't be fine if you keep eating that much bread with the Madras Curry gravy and nothing else.

All this while, my friend who came with me, stuffed his face with all the pork stuff, looking at me once in a while, like I was missing heaven. And he wrote the review on this blog too! And that is why I didn't bother visiting any Oktoberfest after that in India. The true ones had only pork and beer and thats how it is supposed to be.

2014.

This year, when I was invited, I was told that there is a lot more. Two days before I was invited, I was there at another restaurant at Hyatt and I got a glimpse of the fest. It was awesome. German music, fantastic crowd and buzzing! It was a Friday and the crowd was setting in. And so I went. I ensured there was a beer drinking, pork eating bad boy with me, just in case and Sunday we went. Awesome crowd, nice peppy German music and the Oktoberfest spread. Set up in the outdoor smoking area of the 365 AS pub at Hyatt, this was a feast to the eyes, ears and tongue!

Bad boy went gaga over the beer. 'If I drink 4 glasses of the beer, then it is worth every penny of the Rs. 1700 they charge,' he said. He had a nice chilled glass. And ate the pork. And said it was average. Very average. And then he ate a smaller pork sausage. And praised it. And ate it. And praised it. And ate another one. And praised it. And the cycle continued. Waiter came. Waiter poured beer. Bad boy asked details about the beer. Waiter left. Waiter came. Waiter poured a different beer. Bad boy asked name and details. Waiter left. Cycle continued.

Poor me, sat there, watching him. Yes, there were other stuff. Good ones too. A very nice pretzel, a superb beer batter fish, a really nice chicken sausage. A live counter with nice lamb chops. A very different 'German Pasta.' And some average ones too. Like the chicken schnitzel. And sauerkraut. The Madras Curry dip was sorely missed. But this all about the beer and the pork. The rest was there for those accompanying the beer drinker and pork eaters. But there was one more thing that was sooooo awesome. I mean, I didn't think that a simple virgin mojito could be awesome. Common. What can you do to soda, lime and mint leaves? I asked the beer drinking bad boy to taste it. He was a little stunned too. He kept his beer aside and took another sip, so that must mean something. The balance, he said. The balance of the mint and the lime and the sweetness and the soda was perfect. The desserts were killer that day. A nice strudel, that I wish was slightly warmer, a fantastic chocolate mousse and a little profiterole type thing that was nice!

The best part of this Oktoberfest visit? I realised that 365 AS, is a superb watering hole for catching up with bad boys! The setting is classy, the crowd is very nice, the food is very good with Focaccia right next door so you can get stuff from there, an outdoor terrace to step out to and excellent service. The place was packed on Friday and Sunday and a large crowd was inside unwinding, so looks like I am the last to find out about this place!

Started off 10D quite a few years back, then Winchester a few months back and now Moon and Six Pence joins the club of 'English' inspired pubs in Chennai, though this is a little Irish! Not very far away from each other and I haven't been to Ireland, so I wouldn't know. They got the ambiance right, though it is not as luxurious as Winchester, the theme is just about perfect with a bar and a lounge area that sort of bring in the 'English' feeling! I am presuming that Irish is similar. I heard that they even shipped some wood from Ireland, though I am not sure of that and would like to ask the owners sometime if that is true! However, moving away from Chennai tradition and the one thing that makes it 'more English' than the rest is that there aren't any club rules and stags are welcomed with a smile. Don't know how long that will last, but as of writing, it applies.

What was a tea drinker doing at a pub? As part of a big of Chennai Food Guide's team invited to spend the evening at MSP (Can't type the name everytime, sorry), we had an enjoyable night that invariably happens when you have great company of friends meeting after a while. While the 'drinkers' went crazy on Baileys and other 'liver enhancing tonics,' the only drink I had, pineapple with coke was very bitter the first time with an overload of lime, but the bar tender quickly corrected it and gave me a good one the second time.

But of course I was here for the food. Started off with two soups, a prawn bisque and a vegetable broth and both, though not very rich in flavour were just about right for a soup. A very innovative drink was the mushroom cappuccino, a coffee with mushroom which I thought was excellent. A little more flavour of coffee and it would have been outstanding.

The fish part of the Fish n Chips, the hallmark of any 'English' place was off the mark and was woefully low on the batter. The chips part was excellent, not just in this dish, but in every dish that had chips. Triple cooked, I think and hand cut, I loved them. The Lamb Pie was another excellent dish with fantastic flavours and a super smooth mashed potato on top and I wonder why they didn't serve us a Shepherd's pie, but this one made up for it. The lamb stew, served with a little rice and a reduction sauce was another dish that I thought was quite good, though a few other didn't like it.

The evening had its share of not so great dishes besides the fish part of fish n chips. I did not like the salmon, the chicken lollypop type thing that was served with a different flavour, the open ravioli among other things. The mini lamb burgers would have been excellent if the buns were good, but the buns were dry and a little hard, but with excellent patties. We finished off with desserts - a Bailey cheese cake that had no flavour of Baily, but was tasty as a cheese cake and a rather different apple pie which had very little apple flavour, but tasted excellent. Desserts need to be renamed.

With more than a few wonderful dishes and a very good ambiance, this is not a bad place to visit when you're the 'side dish eating shark who doesn't drink,' but I wouldn't mind going here just for the food once in a while. I don't know if the promoters of the place will like that though!! But a little work on the food and this place can give any restaurant a run for its money.

Moon and Six Pence is on the first floor of the new Hablis hotel, Guindy, a little away from ITC Grand Chola.  

The burger is dry. There. I said it. It is off my chest. Phew. *Shakes shoulders*. Let's get on with my experience now. Hard Rock Cafe, finally, opens shop in Chennai at the luxurious Phoenix Market City. A little different from Bangalore, the Rock Shop is on the ground floor and the restaurant is located in a single level at the second floor with an exclusive lift from the Rock Shop. The ambiance is very typical of any HRC, with fancy guitars adorning the walls, an exclusive performance stage and nice friendly waiters. Chennai has been missing a place like this for a long long time and personally, I love the set up. So what prevented me from giving HRC, Chennai 5 stars? This might have been the first time I would have rated any place as 5/5, but that did not happen.

So on my first visit, we ordered just three dishes, a fajita, a legendary burger and a cheesecake. The fajita was excellent with a nice round of sides and is a make-your-own-fajita type dish. There was a good serving of cheese, veggies, sour cream and a sizzler with grilled chicken. I loved it. But the burger was a let down, only in terms of the juiciness. The flavour was great, the onion ring inside was excellent, but the burger was dry. Almost bone dry. I asked for it to be medium and I felt like I need to smother it with sauces. The cheese cake was excellent. The damages were Rs. 2200, of which Rs. 1600 was for the food and the remaining for the service and the government.

My second visit was on a Thursday where there is a live band playing and the ambiance takes a whole new level. The sound quality was good, the crowd was good and if you go early you can get a seat or else, it is like a mini rock show and so the entry fee of Rs 400 of which you can redeem Rs. 250 inside is no big deal. Of course, I don't know how many were friends of the band, so it might vary everytime, but that night was excellent. I asked for the burger, hoping last time was a one-off thing and bang. It was dry. This time, even though I had specifically mentioned not to add bacon, bacon was added to the burger. Not good. But on a band night, I guess their service takes a beating.

So, Hard Rock Cafe has arrived, without alcohol for now. Just missed the mark, but that said, I hope this sets the trend for more such restaurants to come to Chennai.

4/5, could have easily been 5/5 if the burger was juicy and they did not mess up the bacon, the second time. Though I hate to say it, the HRC in Bangalore is closer to the HRC's around the world. 

Easily the best Lunch combos in town, 10 D has a wonderful offering for both teeny boppers and the business guys equally. I am not sure of any other place in chennai, where you will find college kids and business executives in one confined area, almost everyday during lunch hours.

Priced at Rs. 200 for the non veg and Rs. 150 for the veg, and with a humongous menu to choose from, this place rocks even during lunch. And the food is good too. You get a soup or a soft drink or a glass of beer, a main course and an ice cream. Yesterday my colleague had a scheswan fried rice with chilly chicken for the main course, another friend had (despite me telling him not to), a lasagna and I had my favorite naan with chicken tikka.

The main courses usually have rice or noodles or naan or rotis with a choice of gravy, or if you go for the continentals stuff, a grilled fish or lasagna or something like that. The continental stuff here is just not upto the mark, except maybe the grilled chicken, but the Indian and Chinese are generally very nice.

Service is not great but passable and the ambiance is superb, so, yes, it is one of the best places for lunch in Chennai.

Food 8/10
Ambiance 8/10
Price 9/10
Service 7/10

10 D is located on North Borg road, T.Nagar, just before the entrance to the Residency Towers.

The Chennai Food Guide met up again and this time it was at Fusion 9 inside the Quality Inn premises. I really like this restaurant and I was glad the group met here as I could try more from the menu when the group is large. The starters super, the first one we had was some Iranian joojoobe kebab, I have no idea how it is spelt, and if it is really from Iran, but who cares? It was a simply superb kebab. I made sure I ordered a guloti kebab, which is my all time favorite and is best at the Great kebab factory, but here it is pretty decent, I just don't understand why it is not served in the traditional large roti but served in small cut parathas here. But it is very nice here and I could not care less and ordered some roti to roll it in. The sushi was very nice, but since I had some fantastic sushi at the Hilton the previous evening, I could not help but compare and Hilton was better.

For the main course, I got to taste their jumbo prawns, priced at Rs. 600, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The prawns were marinated well, were of decent size and the portion was large with some rice and gravy with it too. The Arabian platter is a monstrous dish, which has some lamb chops, chicken tikka and quite a lot more. Our version of Man vs food ordered a beef steak medium done and it was pretty decent. Another friend ordered a potato main course, the name of which I forgot and if I ever turn vegetarian, I would eat that everyday.

The desserts were a disappointment for most part. The caramel custard was ok, the tiramisu was pretty bad and the muffins were very ordinary. The only saviour was the age old brownie with ice cream which was actually very good.

Usually when we meet for a CFG event, the owner or a senior management person is with us and we learn something and they give us some insights, but no one was here, so it was a little different this time around. But on the whole, it was a nice lunch.

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A special occasion arrived and the choice was Hilton, as we have never been there before and you expect to hit Hilton only on such occasions, so.... After getting there, we scouted around for the best place to eat and in an extremely wonderful gesture, the FB manager took us to all their restaurants, and we finally zeroed in on Q Bar, the roof top, pool side cabana restaurant. The ambiance is brilliant, with individual cabanas, the poolside and a resident DJ playing some nice music.

The menu is very limited, maybe a maximum of twenty dishes on it and most of them being grilled. We settled for a mocktail, a chicken schwarma and a grilled seer fish. The mocktail was decent, just the usual mix of blue curaco and a soft drink. The chicken schwarma was decent, but certainly not out of theworld, but quite filling. The price of Rs. 750 justifies the ambiance and the relatively big schwarma, but not the taste. The seer fish grill was good in parts and some portions tasted bad, but a majority tasted nice and was priced at Rs. 650. A very different parota was served with the fish and it tasted very nice. The hummus served with the schwarma and the chutney with the fish were passable.

Very few options for dessert, so we went down to the 24 hour coffee shop and had a super nice mango cake. Service was attentive but as you are in your own cabana getting their attention can be a little tricky. As the name suggests, It's a great place to have drink and some sides, but not as a complete dinner. You pay for the ambiance and the focus is on the drinks I guess, so it's great place to have a party or even a quite night with that someone special over wine, or take your business friends, where the focus is on the evening and not on the food.

Food 7/10
Service 8/10
Ambiance 9.5/10
Price 8/10

Q bar is at the Hilton, Chennai on 100 feet road, near kathipara.

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