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. 

If you want to propose to somebody, or add some kick into your marriage, here is a place to head to! A beautiful pool, a pool side bar, very very well done lighting and cool breeze! The small inside setting is well lit and has this European decor to it, but the pool side is the better half of this resto.

I must say that this was one of the best eating experiences of my life (US included)! The food, the ambiance and the services were simply out standing. I know this is a new hotel, but i hope the service stays this way!

The menu was a set 6 course Greek Moroccan Lebonese meal with unlimited mocktails and pita bread. As usual we stuffed ourselves with the wonderful pita bread, though the waiter warned us that we will be full by the end of the meal, and by the time the main course arrived, we were pretty stuffed. We took a nice long walk and came back to have the main course.

The pita bread was baked to perfection and served with herbed mayo, plain mayo, onions in vinegar, green olives and a spicy tomato dip for you to make your choice and stuff with whatever suits your taste buds! Among the mocktails, the iced cappuchio was a revelation. It was something unique and blend was a new taste altogether! The apple and cranberry was alright, but the litchie martini was out of the world!

The food is served in typical French Style, with large plates, small portions and a dash of reduced vinegar on the sides of the dishes. I am not sure if Greek and Moroccan food is served this way, but Lebonese food is definitely not served this way, so it was interesting to eat such food in French Portions! But do not let the portions fool you, as by the end of the meal, you are more than stuffed!

The chef decided to serve us some complimentary 'pre starter' as we were waiting for a few friends. It was a tiny pancake stuffed with something inside which was pretty alright, but that size is what fooled us and made us gorge on the pita bread!

For starters you have a choice of hot mezzie something and cold mezzie something. Both were heavenly, a kind of bread stuffed with minced meat and served with dips.
The moroccan lamb soup was like our dhal, served with minced lamb, but it was tasty nevertheless, but just a bit more familiar. The salads served were a mixed seafood salad that had squids and prawns, the chicken salad stuffed in pita bread and a minced lamb in Humus paste (Humus is a mediterranean, Arabian dish, a kind of a garlic paste). The humus was simply amazing and with the small amount of minced lamb cooked to perfection, it was a revelation.

This was followed by the grills. We had a choice of Chicken Shwarma, Moroccan Lamb, Asian Turkey (or chicken). We were offered the option to take a mixed grill which is a small portion of all of the above and needless to say that is what we chose! The schwarma was alright, but the chicken and the lamb were out of the world. The lamb meat was overcooked, but it retained its flavor and with the herbs on top, it was amazing. The chicken grill was definitely not bad and was fully consumed by us!

The chef then gave us a kind Greek Alcohol that is supposed to ease the tummy. (When we told our waiter that he was right about the quantity and that we were getting full, this was served). I do not know what went into that tiny serving in a large wine glass, but it was again, heavenly. For all I know, there was some sonf in that sorbet and it really eased out our tummys and made some space for the others to follow. Apparently it is called Ouzo and is some famous Greek drink!

This was followed by the main course. We had the Prawn something, the Sear fish, Chicken something and Lamb something! The prawn dish was the best among the four choices. It was some kind of a 'puffs' stuffed with prawn and some kind of a sauce that goes extremely well with the whole dish. It was served with some rice and some humus paste. The sear fish was alright and so was the chicken, but again, the lamb was cooked to perfection here. Everything seemed like perfect.

Desserts were served next and we had the mixed platter and we served with semolina cake, baklava and some greek cake. The baklava was simply superb while the others were not bad!The meal ended with Greek coffee which was not bad either, but nothing special!

The service was extremely good, attentive and friendly. The waiter took the pains to explain each and every dish that was served to us!The meal set us back by Rs 1600 per head, but it was worth every penny that was spent.

All in all, it is a great place to go to. Full service will be available from Feb 2009 with a choice of international wines and the full menu.

Food 9.5/10

Ambiance 9.5/10

Service 9/10

Price 8/10

Kefe is the roof top pool side resto at the Taj Mount Road, located on the small road opp Spencers Junction.

Here's a complete review of the Sunday Brunch (Dated Jan 2007)

EXPENSIVE!!!! 375 plus tax, it cost us Rs 840 for two!!!!
Book In Advance!!! Good that I booked early, because it was full when I went there and only the two reserved tables were free!!!! Its a small place so gets full early and people spend forever there so few chances of getting a table cleared. However when you call to reserve a table, do not be suprised if the guy at the other end of the phone seems lost. However do not judge their service level with the pathetic service on phone reservations. Their table service is in fact very good.

Food

If you like exotic food- 8/10
If you dont- 2/10

The menu is of four parts- The Buffet, The table, The pizza and The egg.

The pizza and the egg are made to order and they are not bad...Not great either!!!

The buffet
Its a good spread.....The grilled minute steak was AWESOME!!! I could live my life on it....Try it with the brown bread and its bliss...Had a huge helping of that!!! The honey roasted chiken was impressive and very well made....The mushroom crepe was GREAT!!!! Lots of salads are available and a choice of 3 breads....The pita bread was brilliant with most of the dishes!! The dished vegies were a pass...infact they were bad!!! But the other items more than made up for that!!! You wont be able to eat a hearts filling of everything coz there is tooo much!!! My friend said that the fish starter was great, but i am not too much of a fish eater so i did not try it, I was happy with that steak thingy!

The Table.
For the main course, the principle table orders are the Schwarma and the Falafel....Its not the full shwarma and falafel but shawarma pockets and falafel pockets, so they are small in size (you can order as many as you want to). Both were good but nothing extrordinary!!!But good to eat!!! Tea and coffee at the table too!!

The desert part!!!
Well you can have pancakes and waffles served at the table. The ice cream, cakes, muffins and mousse are at the buffet...Get the waffle to the table and rush to the buffet to put icecream with honey, chocolate sauce, ice cream and mousse on it and you wont mind dying the next day!!!!! Simply superb!!!

You have a choice of iced tea and a fresh juice at the buffet!! The service
Simply impeccable!!! Prompt, very very courteous and always smiling!!! Do i need to add more??

Final Word
Worth the money.

Cedars is located on Kotturpuram High Road, bang opposite the Adyar Villa.