There used to be a joke that was doing the rounds in food meet ups. 'I want the largest buffet with lot of non veg options with alcohol, max budget Rs. 500.' A popular stand up comedian in Chennai used this left right and centre. Food forums were flooded with these requests. In the era of the 5 star brunches priced upward of Rs. 2000 nett/, the joke may actually not work anymore. OK, not 500 bucks, but at 1300 bucks, the large Sunday Brunch at Gateway Taj is really LARGE.

It starts right at the lobby. Yep, you enter the hotel and food stares at you. Besides the large dessert section, there is a live counter doling out French Toasts and Crepes and the likes. I couldn't resist and despite recommendations from that chef to try these for dessert, I insisted on having them straight away. The cinnamon kissed French toast was fab! Unlike most places, this is a nice thick, almost French baguette that is dipped and served!! Besides the fact that few places actually serve breakfast in their brunch and serve a glorified lunch, it was nice to see breakfast stuff!!!

The problem with these large brunches is that everything tends to be okayish. You can take a couple of mouthful of everything and by the time you taste everything, you would be full! This wasn't the case here. The food was of quality and taste that is definitely better than most brunches in the city (OK, technically this is out side city, New Chennai, sort of).......

While there is no way to jot down every dish, there were some super favourites. The Broccoli Almond soup was yum. The Madurai dosa, essentially chicken/egg or both paste on the kal dosas were yum. The starters - a little cannelloni was nice. This stuffed zucchini and the grilled sweet potatoes were excellent.

Then the Indianised version of Eggs Benedict and Scottish Eggs, both with fully cooked yolks. Now that I have started enjoying the runny eggs, I thought these weren't great, but the chef said that people complained about eggs 'not being cooked properly,' so they've decided to cook them up. Can't fault that.

A smart South Indian section with rice, a yum biriyani and lots of gravies with six types of papads and four types of raithas. Really thought out well for the local population.

Disappointments? Yes. The cheese counter wasn't great. All hard cheeses and no soft cheese. The Japanese counter was extremely limited with only vegetarian sushi. Really? C'mon. But the honey glazed chicken from the Oriental kitchen (the other restaurant that is part of the Sunday brunch) was fabulous. Breads were also disappointing with not-so-great croissants and others. But with so many good things at a killer price point, one can't really complain.

Desserts are the weak links in most places and here they've made sure it doesn't happen as they have the live pancakes, crepes and toasts, so that is a safe haven. Besides, there were at least three biscuit type ones that were lovely.

You can take a dip in the pool if you want to. For free. Spa at 20% off. Considering the drive, this is like a long weekend drive up, soak up, massage up, eat up and get driven back. There is a little table for kids with an elaborate spread of finger foods, breads, mini pizzas, mini burgers for the kids.  I wasn't planning to take up the invite, but with a friend going and me not having to drive, I'm glad I went. Missed taking my swim shorts though and planning to take the family back soon.

P.S There is a live bar counter with a bar-tender who doles out cocktails and mocktails, the alcohol version is Rs. 1600 plus taxes. 

Places to host a little tea party are few and far apart. If there are, then you need to pick a fixed menu that varies between Rs. 400 and the sky and you get the same dish for everyone. Maybe okay for birthday party with 10-20 kids, but with three kids and 15 adults, my friend wasn't happy with a Rs. 650 plus tax for juice, soup, pizza/pasta and dessert type menu. Jonah's came to mind. I've been meaning to write about this place for a while, but never did. What stuck to my mind though was the little 16 seater part of the restaurant that is cut off from the rest and can be the right party place for a small crowd. And being a small place, a-la-carte would be great, we thought.

So after discussions, my friend decided to do it. We just blocked off the place for 16 people. Jonah's being Jonah's with their outstanding customer service that I wrote a few times about on social media, had absolutely no qualms about bringing a cake from outside. The kid's mom wanted a theme cake and Jonah's was super cool about it. Place was blocked and we had a blast. The ladies ensured that dishes that landed on their tables did not leave their tables!! The men though had to send what landed in our tables to the ladies. If not, there were glares!!!

I remember we ordering stuff left right and centre but these are the dishes that come to my mind!! Chilly fries - yum yum yum. We ordered almost three plates. Crab cakes - with six vegetarians and others not too fond of crab, just one portion was enough for the four of us who ate. The paneer with rice and gravy was yum!!! The fried calamari was equally yum.

At their Besant Nagar outlet, I had written about the really dry burger. Here it was juicy and nice. One interesting dish on the menu was the steak burger pizza. Its essentially the burger patty on the pizza for those who want to have the best of both worlds. I did not like it at all!!! There were lots more, but thats all I took photos of!!!

The bill for 15 adults and 3 kids was Rs. 9000 after a 15% discount that they offered for a group booking, which ended up being a steal for the amount and variety of food we had. Definitely better than the same soup starter pizza and a stale cake for Rs. 650 plus tax!!!! The minion cake was baked by Afsar's Magic Oven (9994088522)

Jonah's is on Kasthuri Rangan Road, the road next to the old Chola Sheraton, a few meters further down the Russian Culture Centre. 

A stand up comedian, from Bangalore, a year or so back, cracked a "jokes", "You take a guy from Bangalore and put him in one of your five pubs in Chennai....................." He wasn't very funny even otherwise. Chennai has come a long way since then and pubs are mushrooming all over. However only a few of them stand out though. Maybe the comedian was right.

And Plan B will probably be one of them. Sometime back, my friend asked me if I had the steak at Plan B. I was like, what? Where is that? "You're a foodie? Really?" she snorted. And ever since then I've been wanting to try out Plan B, but never got the chance to, until last Friday. The place was packed to the brim so the three of us got seated right at the very end, next to the bar. And the fun began.

It all started off with the two mocktails and a whisky marmalade which my friend was praising all through the week. Apparently it was fantastic. I wouldn't know. My mocktail wasn't great. And then three fantastic starters as we were ravenous. Loaded Potato Skins! Yum, would be an understatement. It had a sort of crispy sogginess and loaded with chicken. They're quite generous with their meat as we found out during the rest of the meal. Beef Chilli Fries. While I would have liked fries loaded with beef chilli, this was the other way around. A handful of fries loaded with beef chilli. Again. Loads of meat and apparently the fries are just meant to keep dipping into the beef chilli.  And another fantastic starter, the Fiery Chicken. While I loved it, our drinker friend was getting happier . Not sure if it was the whisky speaking, but he was like, "man, this is like the perfect side dish," spicy and juicy and yummy he went on, till the main course arrived.

The burger arrived. Called the Jucy Lucy, it was presented extremely well. My whole body started to salivate just looking at the burger. The patty looked nice, the bun had crispy onions on it and the egg was inviting. Slowly, I took the bite. And. Then. It. Came. The disappointment. The burger, though called the juicy lucy was a little too dry for my liking. I should have ordered the one that had beef chilli on top of the patty. The Beef Steak was the exact opposite. Loaded with beef, it hid a beautifully smooth potato mash beneath it, the plating wasn't great, but the beef was just excellent. It was juicy, yummy and the sauce was very complimenting to the beef. Loved it. "What's a sandwich that doesn't have ham and cheese," said our drinker. He enjoyed his ham and cheese on his own as the other two don't eat pork. He was all praise for it!!!!

They have only two desserts, a 6 layer chocolate cheese cake and a chocolate tart cake. I can't believe I forgot the name of the chocolate cheesecake. Its a crime because it was decadent. The chocolate tart cake was fantastic, but the other one was just a tad better. Actually, no. Both were equally good. Actually no, the tart was better. Okay, final verdict. Both were excellent.

The pricing here is brilliant. A superb steak for about Rs. 350 bucks. A meal for two without drinks can be had about 1k or so, which is brilliant, considering the ambience! Rustic, music filled, happening and seems to be some sort of a melange between a loud bar and a quiet pub!!! Nevertheless, a great place for a Friday evening once you navigate the nasty road to get to it!!

Plan B is off Greme's Road, Egmore. Take the road opposite Sea Shells on Egmore and you'll see the sign boards. 

How do you mess up the order, serve the patty well done when asked for medium, serve a burger in a soft torn bun, but still make it awesome? Ask ETC cafe. Brand new cafe, with ample parking space on the first floor with a full fledged restaurant in the ground floor, ETC cafe has something about it. The prices are atrociously low! I mean, Rs. 140 for a burger in a posh cafe located on Rutland Gate? Quite unheard of in a long time.

So, we heard about this cafe and decided to go in. The ambience is quirky and elegant. The egg shaped chairs are surprisingly comfortable. There is a game room with life sized Snake and Ladder, Ludo and even Connect The Dots.

Let's get to the food now. I'll get the bad things out of the way first. The vegetarian club sandwich is very average. Its just a three layer sandwich with only cucumber and tomato. Not the kind of food that the rest of the food represents. The garlic french fries were also a little hard and chewy. Anyway, bad things over so, now the French Onion Soup. Close to the perfect flavour, and served very nicely in a cup, the soup is just right. With a nice little piece of crusty bread topped with cheese, it complements the soup well. And it might just be taken straight of the cup! And then the burger. Beef burger wasn't on the menu, but when I asked, they said they can get it from the restaurant downstairs. I asked for medium, it came well done. The bun was falling apart. But, the burger was FANTASTIC. Superb beef, super soft, awesome flavour with the right amount of onions and juicy!!!!!

Now, we asked for the bill and the owners came up and said that right now, there is no bill. They've tied up with some orphanage and the money you pay goes straight to them. They said they will tell us how much we ate for and that they would like if we pay at least 50% of the bill. Wonder why. We said we'd pay 100% of the bill amount and then the said that some people came in ate, loads, paid peanuts and went. Sad that such an initiative is being misused, but gladly they did not withdraw it. Not sure how long this is, but the above and two cakes together cost us only Rs. 800.

Love the collection of books. Love the menu prices. Love the car park. Finally, I think I've found the place to go if I just need to be on my own with a book in hand or laptop on.....well, lap!!! This might almost just replace Cha Bar. ETC cafe is on Rutland Gate, on the alley next to Ritu Kumar, where the old Apollo Wellness Centre was. 

Not even in my wildest dreams would I have attributed Double Roti to mean the two breads between which the burger patty is stuck. Or the two breads between which fillings are stuffed and made into sandwiches. I might have thought of Double Roti as a Punjabi restaurant. Or a North Indian restaurant!!! Until a friend told me they served the best burgers in town, I wouldn't have cared about a restaurant enough to want to land there within the next few minutes.

My foodie friends warned me not to leave them and go. But none of them were available on short notice for a place that claims to serve awesome burgers. I mean, common. What can possibly be more important in life? So, I ditched them!!!! I know after reading this they will be ready with some bats to beat me up, but I am willing to take that. And they don't know what they are missing.

The first thing (ok, after getting seated) I noticed is the efficient use of space. While tables were pretty close to each other, it did not feel like your neighbouring table was eating your food. I loved this. The menu is quirky and though not extensive, has made a simple menu interesting to read. I went straight for the burger and then we decided to order the rest.

Nutty Shake. Lovely, just the right thickness and temperature for Chennai's summer. Felt like a Snicker's shake, but that's got nuts too, so no complaints. Loved it. They have a ripped version of New York Fries and we had Fries with Chicken sausage. It was very very, but if I have to nitpick, I'd say, I would have liked a little more sauce in it. Otherwise lovely.

Then the hero. The burger they call, Barely Legal. For quite some time, my only source of comfort for a consistently good burger was Sandy's. Then Brick House Bistro joined the party. And now, Double Roti. The burger was as juicy and as flavourful as it can get in this price range of Rs. 275. I want to try their Illegal burger which is Rs. 375 next time. (I mean, like in a few minutes. I am hungry and craving for it as I write this, so I plan to go there).

We were a little hungry after that, so we decided to try Maggie. Yes, Maggie. 2 minute Maggie noodles, but the souped up restaurant version. I guess once in a while it is okay to let a chef whip you up maggie that is different from what mummy makes. We had the Punjabi Maggie, which is Maggie in its original tastemaker, but with curried chicken on top. Loved it! We finished off with a pineapple popsicle, which at Rs. 60 is the only, non VFM on the menu.

The bill for all of this was Rs. 805. Their credit card machine didn't work and I didn't have cash on me. The service was friendly all along, but when it came to commerce, it actually got friendlier. They didn't ask me to leave my watch or car as security. He asked to me to send cash with somebody whenever I could. The service was so friendly, that I went myself the next day, hoping they will give me a burger for the trouble I took to come back and pay. Nope, they didn't! Nice try though.

Double Roti is located in Cenetoph Road, First Lane, bang opposite the Malaysian Consulate.

Foodie Friends, I am willing to accept the same punishment you gave Shady for visiting a few places leaving us claiming to have exams and am willing to offer the same apology he tendered. Which means, I don't have to do anything. :-)

Burger King of Chennai (self proclaimed, but I think I have a right to the title) and I didn't know about the Burger festival at Park Hyatt! Sheesh. A chance visit and a fellow foodie and me found out that it was the last day of the fest! Crap! What's worse, we were eyeing the awesome sounding Angus Beef burger and being the last day, it was sold out! What else could go wrong!?! Thankfully, nothing after that!

There were seven burgers on the menu for the festival. We decided we wanted to taste all the non-veg burgers so we ordered one each and shared. For starters, we had a chicken burger! Now, I am used to having a boneless piece of chicken as the patty in most decent places, and a mashed potato with traces of chicken in average places, but this burger was different. Unless you paid attention, you couldn't have made out if it was chicken or beef as the meat was ground and cooked to perfection! The toppings on the burger was a surprise with a nice Asian twist to it. Loved it.

For main course, we had the middle eastern lamb burger! Whoa. Imagine a super juicy lamb patty, cooked medium, with a little apricot jam and an awesome tasting tzatziki. It was a melt-in-the-mouth dish. My foodie friend, for whom this was the first visit to the Flying Elephant, was sold!

And then for dessert we had a lobster and prawn burger! Yep! Lobster and prawn. Yes, you read that right, lobster and prawn! I will have no way to describe the burger cos it was a mix of being a lobster/prawn cocktail type filling with the meat partly mashed and partly whole, but description wouldn't matter. Loved it too.

And then, in my dreams, I had this Angus Beef burger, cooked medium, with the buns flying around and my foodie friend trying to catch the flying burger, while I was laughing at him with the burger in one piece in my right hand and slurping after every bite. And then I woke up in the morning with a burp!

The fries that came with the burgers need a lot of improvement, though! Burgers were priced at Rs. 795, which is similar to their regular burgers and I honestly think that at least the lamb and chicken burgers should make it to their regular menu! The Angus Beef burger that we did not get to eat was priced at Rs. 1850. Sadly, we'll have to wait for God knows how long before we get our hands on that burger! 

Bistro. Patisserie. I love those two words under the name of any restaurant! Jonah's has been around for a few months and the only reason it took me so long to get there was the distance! Besant Nagar! Finally found a fellow foodie to drive! He he! Yay! The setting is very very nice. A combination of high chairs, private dining space and regular seating, the display of the patisserie is very inviting. My eyes fell on the escargot  and I told the waiter that I would like to have it for dessert! Yep, ordered dessert well before we got seated!

The menu was a typical continental menu but with a few new names. Bashed Potato! The description said something like 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.'  Our mouths started to water. We also placed order for another unique dish, some chicken wrapped in turkey bacon! We ordered a burger, (yeah, I know), a grilled chicken with a side and waited!

The first starter was a disappointment. Well, not taste wise, but description wise. What would you think when you read, 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.' Yeah, I thought of that too. But what we got was a bunch of roasted baby potatoes, smashed with string of creamy mayo. We called the waiter to ask if they mixed the order, but the PR manager came and said that they were going to change the description on the menu. I wish the waiter told us this WHILE we placed the order. We asked him to change the rice in the main course to mashed potato because our minds suddenly wanted a mashed potatoes.

The chicken wrapped in turkey ham was an awesome dish! The chicken was juicy and the slightly smoky flavour in the ham went well and I wished I could have had a few more. We were raving and raving, when our friend, sitting at home told us that the burger is dry there and not to order that. When we saw up, the burger had just arrived. It was dry. End of story! The other main course had a very good chicken, but the mashed potatoes were very grainy, tasted stale and felt like the store bought potato flour. The PR manager denied it and assured us that it was mashed in house, but there was something totally wrong with the mashed potatoes. We were told that they have issues with the types of potatoes they got, but we would have been happy if they said, 'yes, this serving on your plate is bad, can I replace it with fries or something else,' instead of giving us a lecture on what all affects the quality of the mashed potatoes!

The escargot that I ordered at the start arrived and it was fantastic. The cookie was nice and crisp while the chocolate on top was just right without being too sweet. We also had Belgian Waffle, which were not shaped or taste like Belgian waffles, but tasted very very good! Very airy and light and super soft! Went well with the caramel and maple syrup! Great way to end a meal!

Jonah's is in Besant Nagar and I believe is coming soon to Phoenix Mall! 

Burgers are storming Chennai! While fancy hotels are upping their burgers by a notch, like Park Hyatt, newer players are putting Hard Rock Cafe's Legendary burgers to shame! While a few places have made some noises in Facebook and Twitter, I had the chance to visit only Brick House Bistro a couple of days ago and slurp! That too because I had a scapegoat to drive. Yay!

Yeshwin, the brains behind BHB was associated with a start up pizza brand that saw a rapid growth, but one that did not sustain too long. I really hope he has learnt his lessons from that experience, because I would hate to see this wonderful place go down. Walking into this new bistro, I liked the stencil art of cooking greats like Heston and Marco Pierre White and the likes! Nice touch. The place is quite small and can seat about 30 I guess, but he has done the place up quite eclectically.

And now the food. Expectations were through the roof and I had been seeing photos of their burgers splashed all over the Chennai Food circle. I was waiting to be disappointed! But when the burger did arrive, it lived up to every review I read! Super juicy. Super tasty. No distractions. It was a simple well done beef patty burger. As simple as that. At a price of Rs 195 (without fries, add Rs. 60 for fries and salad), this was a winner all the way! Yep, the burger was good, but that should not take away anything from the hot dog! Slurp! Smoky and super soft and super flavourful, this was a nice hot dog! Lovely in every way. The king's club sandwich, which was very similar in taste to the hot dog did not catch my attention, but the other two were just mind blowing. Even if it was priced at twice the price, we don't think we would have thought any different.

Now the bad. The dessert. The Aunt Maria's Lemon Cheesecake, though wasn't awful, was pretty bad considering the standard of their main dishes. The base was so soggy that it was like a marie biscuit dipped in tea!

We paid Rs. 1450 for a double burger with fries and salad, a double hot dog, a king's club sandwich, two coffee shakes, a lemon cheesecake and a single burger takeaway for mummy! Tummy Khush.  Mummy Khush. Wallet also khush!

Brick House Bistro is located in Anna Nagar at No 9, S-Block, 6th Avenue, Anna Nagar East, Chennai

 

Hey, nice car.

Thanks. I like it too.

So where is the treat.

Anywhere you want.

Awesome.

10 mins later.

Dude, our friend has got his car. Lets take him for a treat. Both buddies, the one with the new car and one with an old car walked in.

Yup, I've booked a table for three at Flying Elephant.

Wow, you're treating us at Flying Elephant?

What? When did I say I am treating you guys at Flying Elephant.

You didn't. But I've also booked a movie for the three of us at 10 PM. So we should be good to go after dinner.

I didn't say I am treating you there.

Who said you told us you were treating us there?

Then why do you think I am treating you there.

Remember two years back when I bought my car. How you guys wrung a treat out of me?

I don't remember.

Good, two years later, I won't remember today either.

But I am vegetarian today.

Last time I checked, they have veg dishes at Flying Elephant. I love the place. Let's go. 

And that is how we got the treat from the guy. And that is how we tasted an outstanding burger at the Flying Elephant! Enough has been said and written about the ambience at Flying Elephant. There is nothing more that I can add. 5 levels, a private dining space, multiple open kitchens, a large menu, a dance floor that magically transforms into a large Saturday night pub. OK, I know I added a few words, but this restaurant is designed by somebody who thought out of the drawing board. Not sure if there is a similar concept anywhere else or if this is original, but its excellent. 

We started off with a mezze platter as that had a couple of veg dishes for our friend who managed a smile right through. We loved it. The food. Yes, the smile too, but the food more. And then a qewthow (I am not sure I got the spelling right), which was quite nice. And then a pizza that we got half vegetarian and half grilled chicken. Both parts of the pizza were blah. But me writing this post is not about the ambiance or the service or the pizza or anything. Its the burger! Let me try to describe it.

A super soft bun. A patty placed on top. Cheese on top. Yellow sauce on top. Served open top with the top part of the bun placed on the side. None of the veggies are in the burger. They are on the side. Waiting for you to place them on the patty and close it and make it a burger. The size, well, large. Looking juicy. Inviting. Onion rings on the side. I decide to pack the burger. Placed a lettuce, a pickle, a tomato slice, an onion ring and closed the top. Bit into it. I don't know how my face looked, but my friend took away my burger without asking and bit into it. And then I had a fair idea on my face might have looked. Sloppy. I took a bite. He took a bite. The guy giving a treat looked at us, cursing. Three bites and the burger was done. No words were spoken. 

We were late for the movie and so we skipped dessert. Bill was Rs. 2450 for those four dishes. Bill was paid by the treater. As we walked out of the restaurant, we were discussing the burger, much to the irritation of the third friend. Two people discussing the burger and one person cursing the two people discussing the burger. 

I don't know if it was great that particular day, but that was an outstanding burger! 

Flying Elephant is the outstanding multi cuisine restaurant at Park Hyatt, Chennai.