The only other time I had something at the Gatsby Cafe was when there were present, I think, they lasted 10 minutes, on RK Salai, but the stuff was so good that I was craving for more. On the way to Mahabs on Sunday, we stopped at Tryst Cafe and I was quite wowed at their offerings. Tryst Cafe, apparently ships fresh bakes every day from Pondy, but I don't know if that is true. I did not expect a full fledged cafe and so the setting with a small but nice outdoor seating and a simple indoor seating actually took me by surprise. At about 130 in the afternoon, the place was packed with expats.

From the bakes, I picked up a baguette chicken sandwich which I thought was quite yummy and I specially like the baguette which was nice and chewy. For me, if I see a croissant in a bake shop, I must try it, at least once. The one here was good, but the crunchy exterior was limited to the top part of the croissant while the sides were still soft. Not perfect, but not bad! Since this was not a planned meal, but one merely to quench my Gatsby thirst, we could not try much, but still went ahead and ordered a corn, cheese, spinach chicken bake and asked to add broccoli on it. The bake was yum and loaded, I mean, like really loaded with chicken. We finished off with an excellent fruit tart.

The visit was like this blog post. Out of turn, not satisfactory and something that I have to re-do in order to do full justice to the place, but for some reason (mostly the excellent stuff I had when they were at RK Salai), I just wanted to write something about the place. And I want to go back there and try more of their conti stuff to see if all of them taste the same or if there is more to this place than just bakes. Especially after I saw the 'Grilled Pompfret' on the 'Today's Special' board. And I want to try all their bakes and various types of bread. Basically, I want to back when I'm a little more hungry.

Tryst Cafe is on the ECR right in the Gatsby Village Complex. 

I am big sucker for breakfast and I believe that it is a very important meal. A lot of my wellness gyaan talks about breakfast and its importance, but unfortunately, except for the Stay-includes-breakfast deals at hotels, somehow fancy-breakfast does not seem to be a very profitable business in Chennai or most parts of India, at least in cities where there is no Au Bon Pain. The Sundays have the brunch, which is a different ball game altogether, but there are lots of places which thrive on breakfast dishes throughout the day - purely on idly, vada, sambar, pongal types, namely Saravana Bhavan and now the newly opened Krishnavilasam, which I am yet to visit.

But back to non-Indian breakfast and your choices are quite limited, but when the craving for eating a good breakfast outside of home on a Sunday (and I know I am one of the few who craves for that), the only option that came to mind was Parfait 3. A few months back, I had a very good breakfast at BBQ Chicken, but they closed down. So, last Sunday, we were at Parfait, just to stretch out and eat some breakfast! We arrived at 1030!

We had just two orders - the largest breakfast combo priced at Rs 225 (starts from 85) and a banana pancake! The combo had 4 slices of toast, slightly burnt (I asked for it that way), eggs to order and we asked for cheese masala omelette, 2 chicken sausages, 3 slices of chicken salami, butter, jam, a chicken breast made to order and coffee with a cookie. The chicken breast had lots of oregano and was simple, but tasty and the rest were what you would normally expect - nothing more, nothing less. I have had banana pancake here before and they are usually very good, but that day, the pancakes were thicker and so slightly undercooked!

We then picked up some meringues, which I thought were excellent, packed a very soft and rather thin focaccia and chocolate bread sticks for home and their bakery is worth a visit. There were two other tables occupied, one with a young man who ordered the same breakfast combo and was reading, while the other was a couple, so I was not the only one crazy enough to get breakfast on a Sunday! Normally, on Sundays, I sleep through breakfast times and that is a different story, but on all workdays, I get a very similar breakfast done at home! So, it is very similar to making idly at home, but going to HSB or Sangeetha for idly once in a while.

The total bill, including the take away was Rs. 380.

There are many Parfait 3's in Chennai and I went to their Kilpauk outlet. They are open from 11 am to 11 pm on weekdays and from 8 am onwards on weekends. I don't think an IHOP type place will ever come to Chennai! 

la Boulangerie, touted to be the best 'French' bakery in town had a wonderful ambiance at their first outlet in Anna Nagar! Now, I have no clue as to what happened to that one, but though no other outlet has that wonderful ambiance, food is pretty good!

We went back to the outlet inside the Harrison's hotel lobby for a rendezvous of our dating days! The setting is pretty cute, though small and very elegant. We asked for a butter almond croissant, a cheese quiche, a white forest cake and chocolate mousse! The croissant is certainly not the best in the world, its not crisp on the outside and soft inside, but its not bad either. The quiche was pretty good and well baked, while the cake and the mousse were decent. We did not try out their garlic bread this time, it used to be brilliant earlier. The above cost us Rs 240, so most dishes are priced around Rs 50! LB is certainly not what it used to be sometime back, but its still decent for occasional indulgences!

LB has a dessert buffet on weekends, priced at Rs 200 plus taxes ( I think)  which I would like to try sometime soon. Nothing to speak of service in a bakery and the ambiance is neat!

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

la Boulangerie is located at multiple places in Chennai, the one is Harrison's hotel is the closest for me. You can visit their site for more locations. http://www.laboulangerie.in/

French Loaf is a cake house that serves bread, sandwiches and croissants and of course cakes. The place is small and so are the tables, but its a good place to just chill out and the eatable are mostly very very good.
You have four aspects of food there-the sandwiches, the bread, the croissants and other bread stuff stuffed with fillings and the cakes.
For the sandwiches, you get a piece of paper with all the variables in it to make your order. You tick whatever you want and hand it over to the waiter and it will be served just as you asked, totally customized. Though the concept is all nice, the sandwiches are not, they are just alright.
The bread stuff, are mostly very good. Especially the chicken quiche-creamy, yummy and fatty. The frankfurters are alright and the croissants are really nice. You have a wide choice of such food in both veg and non veg fillings.
The bread- you have a host of choices of french loaves, garlic loaves, soup sticks, multi grain bread etc etc etc, in white, brown, multi grain and all the possible combinations. Yes, most of these are take home stuff, but I must say that their garlic loaf is simply stunning. Its about 2 feet long, hard and crunchy with a mild garlic flavor. I make sure I get one t eat every time I go there and also one to take home and keep munching while I watch the TV. Its really good. And most of their bread varieties are worth every penny you pay!
The cakes are probably their flagship products. You get cakes in numerous flavors and almost all of them are extremely good. The mango gateaux, the kiwi, the chocolate, the pineapple and every other flavor you can think of are all there. Each of them are unique in their own way and if its a big group, then each of you should try a different flavor.
All in all its a place that serves great cakes and bread varieties. Except for being small and slightly uncomfortable for a large group, its a great place if its just a couple or threesome to just chill out!
They have the Chocolate factory on the first floor, its crazy expensive, but its a new story altogether.

Ambiance- 5/10
Food-8/10
Service- Not much to expect in a place of this genre.

French Loaf is located on Harrington Road a few furlongs beyond Shopper's Stop and a new branch right next to Benjarong on TTK Road.