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I wasn't too excited about mBessy. 'What is new about another resto-bar in a small hotel?,' I thought. Its the fashion these days! Tie up with a hotel that has the required 21 rooms and start off a watering hole! Hmm! Friends insisted on going when they launched and me, though dead tired that day, tagged along! The entry was typical. And the familiarity ended there!

This was a real fine dine setting hiding behind that typical-bar-door. We were whisked away to the first floor though and apparently that's where the action is. The setting is beautiful and eclectic. Completely different from the classy looking ground floor, this was a beautiful resto-bar! While I was still recovering from the beautiful setting that I least expected, we were seated in a nice eight seater with a low table. We can go down for the main courses after we are done with drinks and starters, said Mugesh, their manager. I have known him from his days at Casa Picola and he was as surprised to see me there as I was to see him there! 

Starters and drinks were excellent. I can keep going on and on about the starters as they were simply excellent. The crumb fried prawns, a bunch of nice big prawns, dipped in a flavourful crumbs and fried till crisp, was the pick of the lot, though the others were almost as good! Prawns took the cake as they I love them in general and was happy to not have to leave the shell on the tail behind. It was all done and you had to keep eating them! The Broccoli with cheese was quite excellent with the soft broccoli being coated nicely with cheese and the bruschetta that came along with it was fantastic. The other starter, the spicy chicken skewers were quite nice and didn't stand a chance compared to the other two, but that's okay. The mezze platter was pretty nice with fluffy pita bread to go with the dips. The drinks were excellent from a teetotaller's POV. Some had theatrics like smoke coming out to flavour a drink, but the mocktails weren't too bad. My drink had smoked pop corn on top and in general things were great this far!

And then they sort of went downhill. Being a bunch of six of us, we tried quite a few dishes and really none of them stood apart. By this time we moved down to the fine-dine type place with its rich looking decor and cutlery. Sadly, the food did not live up or maybe the starters were so good that the palate didn't like the mains. Whatever the reason, the pizzas were blah. The Australian lamb felt like it was being handled without care and was rather dry and leathery. The risotto was very very blah. Stuffed chicken breast was rather inedible. Dessert was slightly redeeming. While certainly not excellent by any means, it sort of cooled off the rather bad main course. 

 But going by the quality of the starters, I guess, this place since being rather new has a lot of scope to catch up and get on track with the mains. While the choice of menu is good, it needs some work to get it to match the ambiance and the starters! 

I'll be going back in a month or so to see how things have changed. Do the mains get to appetiser quality or vice versa? Only time will tell.

mBessy is in the ground floor of the newly revampING, Estelle hotel in Adyar, near the Aavin, the first building on the Bessy road. 

Slowly, but surely, eating out is becoming expensive. And cheap! Uh? Contradicting, right? What seems to be happening is that the per person eating out at common places are slowly going high. And for something similar, the 5 star prices are coming down. Now, a first look at the menu and this may not seem right. Prices look ridiculous for a casual eating out or meeting with friends, but over the past two years with a lot of business meetings in the coffee shop of hotels, the overall bill is a little startling.

And that is why when our friends came down from the US and a bunch of 10 of us had to meet, we met once in a comfort coffee shop and eat well. We paid about Rs. 6500, which is about 650 per head. And for the second time, we met at EST, Hilton. This time we paid about Rs. 6900! Thats why opening statement that is contradicting itself!

So we had lots of cake. The ones on the counter are priced lower than most coffee shops! We loved the mango cake and the pistachio cream cake among the four or five different ones we had. And then, surprisingly their orange juice was excellent. I mean, how much can you do to an orange,but whatever they did, it was nice. The price (and the reason the bill was high) was about Rs. 300, so normally it might be avoided.

And then croissants. And french fries. And pop corn, a very nicely flavoured cheese and jalepeno pop corn!!! Two of it, in fact. And sandwiches. More sandwiches. More fries. More pop corn, this time another flavour, I forgot what that was! Tasty though. My US friend finally caved in and said he wanted the Biriyani. We warned him. He couldn't care less. He ordered. We all had one spoon. He was left with three. He wasn't complaining. Biriyani wasn't fabulous, but was flavourful and the lamb was soft. When you're a bunch of ten, it is very difficult to remember all that was ordered!!!!

Everyone was happy with the bill. And the ambiance. With a nice comfy sofa all ten of us had comfy seating with a large coffee table in between. There are tables of 2,4,6 too for smaller groups, but only one that can accommodate 10. So, fancy hotels are attractive now, at least their coffee shops when they have a counter. But food from the menu is priced 5 star!!! The temporarily-US-return-friend was happy with the bill that he foot it himself and no one went dutch.

Happy Eating. 

 

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. 

The craving for something savoury happened when we did the dessert hopping, but this can happen to anyone, anytime! While we were at it and the sweet did get to my brain, my friend and me decided to get into the savoury mood and that is when we had these!

Since we were at EST, Hilton for the last stop of the dessert hop and since my cousin told me to try the Bagel with cream cheese and salmon, I decided to try it. I love bagels and I love cream cheese and I love Salmon, so this was a no brainer, despite the others not offering to share it! And it came! Well, it was poorly presented and for the price of Rs. 650, I certainly expected it to be presented much better, but the amount of salmon inside, more than made up for the poor presentation. The bagel was nice and chewy, the way it should be and the cream cheese was just about right, but the amount of salmon was winner.

And then while we were driving back home, my friend had his sweets hit his brain and he demanded that we eat something savoury. Yes, I had a I-told-you-so moment and at midnight, we didn't want to go another hotel, so decided to try a home delivery place and so ended up at Shaack, Anna Nagar. The other end of the spectrum, we ordered a burger and for the price of Rs. 180, it was pretty big and a good portion of french fries. The burger was super juicy and finger licking good and super value for money!

So a five star bagel with cream cheese and salmon and 5 star prices and a fantastic burger at pocket friendly prices on the same day! Both were great!!! And so was the night!!!!

EST, is the 24 hour coffee shop at Hilton and Shaack is a great continental restaurant by the day and a saviour for those who want a good meal at night, located at Anna Nagar, near Chintamani signal. 

Lloyd's tea house is a very nice coffee shop (OK, tea shop), serving some good food and is very typical of a good cafe, albeit serving tea as their specialty. I have written earlier about the food there, but at that time, the teas weren't great, couches weren't there, but food was very good. Lots of things have changed and this time, I found that food has improved, seating has improved, desserts have not, but the biggest improvement for me has been the teas. The same tea that was quite so-so during my first visit, were quite good this time.

The tea of the month - Mango Tulsi tea was brewed to perfection. Actually, they place the timer and tell you what the ideal brewing time is, so you are partially responsible for the tea! I loved the tea, while the blooming tea that my friend had was very very good and the he iced teas that the women had have improved a lot too!

But that day, the Lloyd's cheese burger, officially put its hands up to be counted among the best burgers in Chennai. I had the ham cheese burger with no bacon, but added egg and it was juicy and perfectly done. While it still does not out-do the burger at Sandy's and I also don't know how consistent they are going to be with the burger, Sandy's cheese burger is not out of the 1st place in a coffee shop yet, but this burger is good! The chilly prawns that the ladies refused to share with us, but we ordered one more and refused to share with them was super hit! The corn on toast was loved by all, a very simple dish, but tasted great and the pastas were reasonably good.

But, the desserts still have a long way to go. While, this place could be the go-to place for me for some nice tea and burger or coffee and short eats, this is, not yet, the place for me to head to for coffee and pastry. The red velvet cake was not great, the rainbow cake was decent, but not great and they have probably the worst French Macaroons in the world. OK, I am being harsh with the macaroons, because I know that these are probably the toughest cookies to bake in the world and they are finicky and one tiny mistake and the whole batch could go waste, but that is no excuse to put a bad one on the menu. It was soggy, had no feet, cracked top and well, like I said, a very bad macaroon.

So, great place for tea and food, not a great place for desserts. At least not yet and because the food has improved from being good a few months back to almost being great now, I believe the owners can make the desserts great too. If that happens, this will hands down be the best coffee shop for me in Chennai and I have already been there thrice in the last ten days!

4/5 for the food and tea and 3/5 for the desserts.

Lloyds Tea House is on Avvai Shanmugam Salai (Lloyds Road), behind the Oxford Press. 

In the quest for a new place to eat, my colleague and me set out and spotted this next to our laptop service center and decided to give it a shot! A guy with a nice warm smile and an eagerness to sell was at the counter and was making suggestions on what was best there. We went with his recommendations - a grilled lamb burger and a grilled chicken burger!

We were seated and he called us when the order was ready. One was a combo with fries and an iced tea (for which I paid Rs. 25 extra as the combo originally had coke in it) and the other was just the burger. The lamb burger was better than the chicken one and both were reasonably ok. The grilled chicken had just lettuce in it, while the lamb had some tomato and onion too. So, we have another burger/chicken joint in town. Prices are similar to other joints - the burgers were priced between 70 and 110 and the combos were between 150 and 200.

3/5

Looks like there are many such outlets, but we were at the outlet next to SIET college, Teynampet.

A few years back, in one of Malaysia's mall, I spotted a quaint little outlet. They had only 5 items on the menu - a choice of spring rolls, a choice of momos, a choice of fried rice/noodles/crispy noodles where you can choose the style, the sauce and the meat and two desserts! Food was excellent there!

Today, when I wanted a change from the usual Subway and Quiznos for lunch and with the rest of my friends not here, I headed, alone to Ishpahani! Luckily for me, I spotted two standees, Chat on Chaat and Chat on Chinese -1st Floor! I headed to the first floor and saw two restaurants, very similar in decor and I walked into the Chinese side of it. Apparently the Chaat restaurant is pure veg and the Chinese is the non veg, but they will serve the Chaat here, but not Chinese in the Chaat restaurant! Makes sense!

The menu was almost exactly the same as the Malaysian outlet I was talking about! They had just two starters - a spring roll and momos - both with veg and non veg options. I went straight to the main course and I, being a big fan of crispy noodles, chose the crispy noodles, went with the Mushroom sauce and diced chicken. They had a 'Signature' Chilly Garlic sauce, but I was not in the mood for anything spicy. A big bunch of college kids occupied about 15 seats and there was one other gentleman on one of tables apart from me. The place can accomodate about 30-35 people! The spoons were fancy - both fork and spoon on the same thing, but not very useful as you can use only one! And if you want to use the other side, you will have to wipe it first!

The food arrived and I loved it. It was brilliant combination of crisp, saucy and stuff on the noodles. There were lots of veggies with brocoli and stuff, a good helping of chicken and the right amount of noodles! I also tried their cheesecake which I thought was very different - it was a layered cheese cake and it tasted reasonably ok!

There is nothing much to try here, but I am wondering if a Chinese place with only 5 items on the menu will survive in Chennai. If they maintain the quality and taste, they might be a hit with the working group and maybe even the offices within Ishpahani, but the place I was talking about in Malaysia was in a mall and therefore has higher footfalls. Also, many restaurants have failed in that space as I think more people will prefer Coffee Day as a time tested outlet. Only time will tell, but the concept is here now and it is worth a shot! Next time, I would want to try out the chaats!

3.5/5

Ishpahani is on Nungambakkam High Road and this is on the first floor, next to Coffee Day.

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/

Hogdog is an 8X8 sized two men manned, hot dog outlet. At present, you can find it at Spencer's third phase on the first floor next to the Nike and Java Green outlets.
You choose your choice of eating styles out of two options-on the stick or in the bun! Then you choose your meat (from chicken or mutton) and then the sauce mix you want on your hot dog (you can choose between mexican, bbq, chicago and tangy). You will get your hot dog in less than 1 minute after placing the order!
I have tried all the permutation and combinations available and really have nothing to complain or rave about any of them! However its a quick meal, a couple of them will actually fill you for a while (if you are an average eater that is, we are not talking about monsters) and will not burn a hole in your pocket!
The hot dogs in the bun are priced at Rs. 50 and those on the stick at Rs. 30 and will be a good munching meal while you shop!!!!