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.

Why? Why? Why? Why does Chennai not have more places like this? As much as I hate to admit it, Bangalore's eating out scene is much better, but when I happen to visit a place like this, the feeling gets rubbed in like crazy. Located on the Indra Nagar 100 feet road, the ambiance is very eclectic with a small outdoor seating and two levels of indoor seating all set in white.

We were three of us and stuck to one dish each - I had the tenderloin steak, friends had a beef burger and a fettuccine in white sauce with grilled chicken. The first reaction to the burger was, 'Man, that's big!' The second reaction was, 'Better than Sandy's'. I can't help comparing, but the two burgers were a little different, but I quite liked the burger. The beef steak was excellent and I loved the sides and the beetroot sauce that went with it. The fettuccine was quite nice too, though the grilled chicken seemed a little under-flavored. In spite of being stuffed to the face, my friend wanted a dessert and so we narrowed the choice to the seasonal special, the Yule Log. In spite of being stuffed, the body found space for the dessert.

The damages were about 1.8k for the three of us and with nice portions, didn't feel the pinch. Service was quite attentive and glasses were refilled promptly, a nice bread basket was served at the start of the meal and the waiters were reasonably knowledgable of the menu.

4/5

Located at the 100 feet road, Indra Nagar, about a km or so from the Domlur flyover.

For a city which has the second longest beach in the world, Chennai is woefully short of good beach facing restaurants. A trip down the ECR and way past the second longest beach will take give you glimpses of some restos, but not too many that will stick to your brain. The restaurant in Fisherman's Cove's far north beach is one that will stick. Their Sunday Brunch is supposed to be outstanding and I got a glimpse of it and it had lobsters and stuff, but since we went at the fag end of the brunch, we made a reservation for dinner.

At dinner time, the place had only 7 tables of which 4 (including us) were full. It is a beautiful restaurant, perched on a small rocky surface with a beautiful sea view, which would have been way better during lunch, but the ambiance at dinner is not bad at all. The restaurant is manned by only two waiters, who, you might think own the place - that is the level of commitment and smile they have even at the fag end of a long day. This is a nice fancy restaurant with a limited menu and produce from around the world. Scallops, angus beef and Norwegian salmon are all on the menu. Its a pity that we were full and did not have the appetite, but whatever we had was amazing.

After we placed order for the soup, we were served our amuse-bouche, which was a pear soaked in something and though it could not create space in our not-very-empty stomachs, it was nice. The tortilla soup wasn't the best soup in the world, but it was nice and I wish there was more crisp tortillas inside it. Once the soup was done, we were presented with a nice palate cleanser - a raspberry sorbet. We decided to order one starter and one main course, so we got a funny named kebab, something like booondooohoo or something. The waiter himself mentioned it as the 'kebab with many Os' and said that it was a signature dish, so we went with it, along with a grilled sear-fish and loved them both. The kebab was almost like a galouti kebab and the lamb was flavoured brilliantly.  I so wish I could go back and get an Angus beef steak or Scallops!

The service was outstanding to say the least. It was attentive without being intrusive and they let you have your privacy, but check on you - so it was one of the best services that I have received in a 5 star hotel. After we were done with dinner, they asked about dessert and since we were full, they gave us two pieces of chocolates each as compliments. "You should always leave us with something sweet, sir", was his defence. We saw something on the menu that interested us and they delivered it to another restaurant the next night after dinner. WOW!!!

4.5/5 was the experience and Rs. 2715 was the damage, but if you're taking scallops or premium cuts of meat, the damages will be more.

When a friend of mine from the Chennai Food Guide called me for first taste review of this upcoming restaurant, I casually asked him if the restaurant was in the Wallace Garden vicinity and 'Yes' came the answer!The hub around KNK Road in Nungambakkam can stake claim to be the Food Capital of Chennai!! What else can explain restaurants queuing up to set shop in this place (with reports that space owners don't want a rent but a share in revenue!!!)?

So I parked my car on the road and walked up to the restaurant and was taken aback by the look - Great first impression for a restaurant that is not yet open! The exteriors were nice and chic and screams 'expensive'. The owner took us around the place, and I could not help but notice that the interiors were not as good as the exterior, but were decent and upmarket. Being a house that is being turned around into a food joint, you have a lot of small pockets of space and not one big chunk. The ground floor had about three such rooms if I am right each with about four tables or so. The first floor was similar, but it also had one conference room type of space which will soon be available for house parties that can host up to 20 people. You have more people on your facebook friends list? 'No problem' says Sunil, one of the partners, 'We have the terrace and also the outdoor seating that you can book for your party' he says! Impressive, but I do not know if the concept will catch on, lets wait for the market to answer that!

Now to the food - we were served Lemon Prawns Grill for starters and it was easily the best dish of the night! Succulent, well marinated prawns that were oozing with flavor and I must have had at least 8 of them! It was followed by small portions of their best dishes, the first being a cat fish steak. I am not a big fan of fish, but my friend suggested that I try and I was glad that I tried as it was superb. The next dish served was a beef steak, which to me was not great. The beef was not the best cut in town and the flavor did not seep in, so marination was a problem. The same problem was with the next dish too, the lamb kebab and both these need some mentoring!!!

Ambiance is very nice, prices are yet to be up and the service can be judged only when its open to the public. If they tweak the beef and mutton, Mash Grill can be up on the already crowded food space in this area!! Waiting eagerly for their opening - atleast for the prawn and cat fish steaks! Slurp!

KOBE grills have now opened up shop in Chennai right at the heart of town. Located behind Apollo Hospitals, in Wallace Garden, KOBE will now compete with Tuscana, Subway, Casa Picola and a million other places a stone's throw away. Apparently liked by quite a few people at Delhi and other places, they have franchised one now in Chennai.

As you enter, you cannot help but notice the simple, but nice and elegant interiors. I would have preferred more space between tables in a steak/sizzler joint with smoke coming from all directions, but that was not to be. Luckily we went in early (both in terms of restaurant opening day and time) and were the only ones for quite sometime before few more people decided to take a peek.

We were two of us and had only 2 sizzlers so I can only speak for those two. The portions are HUGE. We ordered a grilled beef steak with schezwan sauce and a grilled chicken steak with garlic sauce. You get a decent portion of meat with a number of different vegetables, all grilled, all around the steak and makes it look BIG!!!!

One pleasant surprise was that both the dishes tasted different sauce wise. It is not uncommon to visit a restaurant and order two steaks and find that the only difference was the meat, but here, the base sauce (although the same colour), was different for both. But the extra schezwan (which you can see in the picture, red and angry) and garlic sauces were poured carelessly over the steak on top! The schezwan sauce was overly, overly, overly spicy,something like andhra times andhra!!!!!! The garlic sauce was ok, but if I go again, I would avoid the sauces (and the extra Rs 20) you pay just for a jab of sauce. I completely removed the schezwan sauce and placed it on the next plate.

The beef was extremely tender....he did not ask me how I would like my steak, a relatively basic question that all steak joints will ask!!!! The meat was well tenderized and easy to eat, but hey, I like my steak medium done! I was not even offered that option. The chicken steak was decent. The veges served more than make up for the meal and you might not need any side orders. The steaks were priced around Rs 320 each, justified only by the size.

Decent place, would like to go back in a larger group and try out more steaks and steak burgers, but if my intuitions are right, we have another extremely Indianized steak outlet, nothing particularly great, but another place to eat!!!!

Food 6/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Price 6/10

KOBE is located in Wallace Gardens, behind Apollo Hospitals, or the road adjacent to Tuscana.

A nice looking shack, complete with wooden chairs, tables and tree barks running through, with fresh fish, lobster and prawns on display and multiple stand alone tables facing the Bay of Bengal is what you see when you enter the area of the Wharf at the GRT Temple Bay Resort in Mahabalipuram near Chennai. The view tells you that this is no ordinary place and the food later on will prove it to you.

You are served with the Beverages menu, and needless to say in a 5 star property, you have a choice of Indian and Imported Liquor. Apart from beer, all of us ordered only mocktails so I cannot comment on the Liqour. The menu strives to serve a variety of cuisines, but in a restaurant like this with shacks, they could have stuck to grilled, tandoor and the likes.

Among the meat eaters, we ordered for a Moroccan Chicken Steak which is four nice juicy chunks of chicken marinated and grilled with some kind of spicy sweet sauce. The next was the catch of the day which is the choice of fish cooked to your choice of marinade and sides and we chose the lemon honey marinade with potato wedges. You can even make your own marinade to customize it even more. In fact you have a choic of a few fish to choose from and all of them look delicious! The king prawns was made with a wierd name marinade and I chose to have it with fries and salad, while the other order was a Tandoor Chicken Steak. Except for the last order, the others were brilliant while the tandoor was average. You get about 6 pieces of King Prawns spilt open and it was totally worth it. The fish was extremely good while the Moroccan Chicken Steak was something totally new for me. Among the vegetarian dishes, the paneer grill was mentionable while the corn steak was pretty good too.

All the grills and steaks are served with yellow or black dhal and a couple of tandoor rotis, so a grill is a meal by itself and quite filling at that! The portions are not big, but the right size and with a drink and dessert, you are done.

Desserts are decent and nothing spectacular. Service is impeccable and order to table time is acceptable, considering that this is a place where you want to take your guitar and sing along with friend on the beach front or sing to your girlfriend! Women, expect your men to be in great mood what with beach side and shell fish as great aphrodisiacs! Down some alcohol and you could have a great time!

Prices are five star, and kind of justifies the kind of atmosphere and service you get there. We were a large group with almost no alcohol and therefore costs us about Rs 700 per head, but if you are a couple you could expect to pay about about Rs 3000 for two, especially if you order alcohol,lobsters and some other pricy steaks.

A great place to chill out, its even better at night and lunch is served only on weekends.

Food 7/10

Ambiance 8/10

Service 7/10

Price 7/10

The Wharf is located on the premesis of the GRT Temple Bay Hotel in Mahabalipuram, near Chennai on the East Coast Road.

Once known for its steaks and 'Meal by itself' dishes, Opal Inn somehow went into hibernation for quite sometime. With reports that the place was not up to its mark and poor food and service complaints, I did not feel like visiting this 'once upon a time' restaurant. The last time I remember going there was in 2000, when I did not really enjoy the food. But last Saturday afternoon, after debating for a long time between Opal Inn and Sparky's, we tossed a coin to make the decision and headed to Opal Inn!

Soon as we entered, we could not help but notice the cleanliness of the place. The interiors were neat- definitely not like a worn out old restaurant! We were seated and we decided to order 3 'Meal by itself' and one of my friends wanted to try kulcha and gravy. I was surprised to find 'Diamon Grill', my 90's favourite from Opal Inn. We ordered one each of Diamon Grill, Devilled Prawns and Grilled Fish, with 2 kulchas and buttered vegetable gravy. The Diamon Grill was just as it was a decade back. Succulent pieces of lamb in a dark semi gravy served with flavored rice and boiled vegetables. The Devilled Prawns was equally yummy, served on a bed of spaghetti. The spaghetti was a little too oily for my liking, but the prawns were brilliant in quality, quantity and taste. In fact it was a little too filling, I would have rather liked 3/4th of the quantity of prawns served with some mashed potatoes/french fries and some boiled vegetables. The spaghetti needs quite a margin of improvement though. The grilled fish was like the ones served in most places, with french fries and boiled vegetables and was satisfying. The kulcha and gravy were pretty neat too on taste.

Pricing for the above dishes were slightly on the higher side and the final bill was Rs 1380 which is quite steep especially since we only ordered 4 dishes and 2 kulchas! Two main dishes were priced at Rs 320 each.

We did not have desserts there as there were only a few ice creams and one or two Indian sweets I guess, so we headed out for dessert. However going by the dishes we had, this place certainly retains a large chunk of its old charm and is well worth a visit and the service did not leave much to complain either.

Food 7/10

Service 7/10

Ambiance 6/10

Price 5/10

Opal Inn is located on Nungambakkam High Road in the premises of Hotel Ranjit, opp Ispahani Centre.

Noted to be a great place for North West Frontier food, the service in recent times, especially during weekends, when they run full, leaves much to be desired. For example you might find that something you ordered might not be served at all, but worse, claimed that it was definitely served. We did bring it to the notice of the manager, but how would you complain about waiters not assigned to your table conveniently ‘not looking’ at you, rather than excusing themselves and asking ‘your’ waiter to come over? So you have to wait till ‘your’ waiter sees you waving your hand.

But that said, the food at Kabul is still one of the best in its cuisine. Do not let a plain menu fool you, the food being served is definitely worth more than the simple printed 2 page menu and the prices. Both vegetarian and non vegetarian are equally good and close to authentic. You have a choice of fruit drinks served in decent sizes, my favourite however is the jal jeera-a great appetizer.

The signature dishes are probably the biriyani varieties- they have 5 different varieties and they are not just different names or the same tomato rice served in different colours. They are actually different biriyanis. The chicken zafarani biriyani is the less spicier version with a tinge of sweetness to it and if made well, will blow your mind. The murgh mutton biriyani is quite as nice and there is one version that has potatoes in it, the name of which I cannot recall, however the description on the menu will tell you that you hit the right dish. I must say that all the 5 varieties are decent, one better than the other, next to a well made muslim marriage biriyani!

The Thanghdi kabab was decent, though the flavouring could have been richer, while the Raan (which by the way is a whole lamb leg cooked to your choice) is way tastier. Their paneer dishes are very very good and will also tempt a hard core non veg guy. The gravies are of decent portions and most of them give out the aura of being made somewhere in the North West region itself. Naans, kulchas and stuffed parathas are a standard and are not anything extraordinary (and you don’t expect it to be).

The choice of desserts are very minimal and more often than not ,you will be offered a choice between strawberry ice cream and kulfi. The kulfi is served in the earthen pot and is probably the same as any good road side kulfi (which is by no means inferior), so I suggest you have your desserts elsewhere.

All in all, a nice place for the specific cuisine. Its expensive for a couple but will work out to be very comfortable on the pocket for a large group of people and will make you feel you got what you paid for (if the service is not pathetic on that particular day). The ambience is unassuming and very northy and the waiters are dressed in kurthas to give you that feel, not a bad job overall.

Food- 7/10

Service- 2/10

Ambience- 5/10

Kabul is located on TTK Salai right after the adidas showroom.

Cool breeze and a Fantastic Ambiance greets you as soon as you walk out of the elevator! A smart guy greeted us and showed our table, right at the edge of the terrace. The atmosphere is indeed superb. As I wait for the rest of my friends to arrive, I ordered a non alcoholic margarita, my choices were lemon and strawberry, and I chose strawberry. It wasnt great, but was not bad either and was a good time pass while I waited for my friends to arrive! When they finally did, we ordered 3 different drinks, all non alcoholic, from the limited mocktail menu. All 4 (including my margarita) tasted similar and that left us wondering if they have just one drink with different names and glass sizes!
For starters we ordered one portion of Minced Chicken Keive which was the waiters suggesstion and one portion of 'South Indian' Fish Fingers. THe keive was exactly the same 'chicken balls' that you get in the ground floor shop at Chennai City Centre for Rs 50. The taste, the size, the spice were all the same, but you get 10 pieces, the set back Rs 175, but ya, it was tasty, so you dont feel the pinch, especially if you are sitting 164 feet above sea level! The fish fingers were different from the usual stuff, more like the dragon chicken taste and tasted good too!
Now comes the best part of our meal, the main course. Being four of us, we decided to go with two orders from the Lava Grill and two from the Indian. Our choice was Chicken breast with the marinade being Arslan sauce and King Prawns marinated with Herbed Spices. The chicken breast was priced at Rs 475 for two decent pieces and the Prawns at Rs 690 for 4 pieces. The grills are served on a penne base with mashed potatoes and a portion of boiled vegetables. Each of them can be a meal by themselves and quite filling at that. The prawns were especially great! The two Indian dishes were Lamb Madras and Chettiar Chicken, both of which was fantastic and close to authentic chettiar stuff, certified by one of the girls, a true Chettiar herself, the food being like the one in Chettiar weddings. The gravys are served with one piece of appam/2 pieces of paratha/2 pieces of idiyappam or 1 portion of rice, so you invariably have to order more of these. The appams were superb and so were the parathas, but we did not try the others!
Next comes the worst part, the desserts. We ordered a creme brulee, lemon sponge cake, chocolate fantasy and fruit platter. Only the fruit platter was good, because apart from cutting the fruits they had nothing to do with it. The sponge cake was probably old and was hard, the chocolate fantasy which is some form of chocolate cake was bad except for the vanilla ice cream and the creme brulee.....the lesser said, the better. Any one who has had creme brulee anywhere else, do not even attempt at ordering this, those who have not, well, this is not creme brulee, so forget it! All the three had the smell of egg, similar to the smell we get when we bake cake at home, suggesting an amateur cook's work! The desserts spoilt what was otherwise a fantastic meal! They were courteous enough not to charge the lemon cake and the creme brulee because not more than one spoon was consumed.
Service was alright, was good before you place the orders, but had to wave a million times to get their attention to refill our glasses with water. Food was served pretty fast, about 15 mins after placing our order, which is decent by any standards .
I would not mind going there again for the grills and the main course and if someone else pays the bill! The meal for 4 without the two desserts and no alcohol cost us Rs 4350. However a restaurant specialising in South Indian and Continental was kind of unique to me, to see Lava Grills and Indian Specialities, without any other offerings. Unique indeed!


Ambiance 8/10
Food 7/10, Desserts 2/10
Service 5/10

Pergola is located at 164 feet above sea level, on the roof top of the Accord Metropolian Hotel on GN Chetty Road, opposite the Apollo Cliniq, about 1 Km from the Anna Flyover!