We've seen Marina! Not the beach, but the restaurant. Lovely place, isn't it?. And then there is Lagoon which is Marina on steroids! While Sri Lanka is known for sea food, didn't except a scene like this in a 5 star hotel. I mean there was a full big Sting Ray on display! Phew. 

Simply the size of the fishes and crabs on display were mind boggling. The restaurant being packed, we were happy to be seated outside by the mini stream filled with fishes and the air with fishy odour. I guess that set the tone for the dinner and the evening. One poor guy who was vegetarian for that night (or month) was stuck with us and while all of us felt sorry for him, no one wanted to give him company.  He did enjoy some Kala Kung with some green curry on his own.

Back to the plot. Our host in Sri Lanka went all out on his orders. Cuttle Fish batter fry, crabs, lobsters and prawns were on the table. I think our friend's heart was also on the table, though we couldn't see it, we all felt it. Our brains didn't, though.  He said that for the torture we were giving him and for his sacrifices, he is surely going to heaven. And he was equally sure that we were headed to hell! Like straight! 

The Cuttlefish batter fry was an instant super hit and was washed down by all! The fish had a slight squid-ish texture which was lovely for a batter fry, so while the batter had the crisp, the fish was chewy and together gave us a nice combination of textures. The prawns and the lobster thermidor were the usual with a nice garlic butter marinade for the prawn and the usual thermidor.

The next hit dish was the crab. The crab was not monstrous, but was large and the photo doesn't do any justice to the size. It was about 1.3 kg and at (LKR) Rs.700/100g, it wasn't cheap. The chilli gravy in which it was cooked had seeped into the crab and lended its flavour a little bit to the crab!

We finished off sharing three desserts, a simple chocolote brownie and two different custard puddings, one with their traditional 'Seeni Sambal' on top! The meal cost our host about Rs. 35000 (LKR) which is about Rs. 16,000 for 7 of us. Yes, expensive! 

Lagoon is at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo at one level below the lobby, by the swimming pool and fishy garden! 

The last time we had the Saturday brunch at Focaccia, Roberto was around. It was a client meeting and he stunned them all. The meeting went well. The two times I went after the chef left, I came out feeling, 'I miss Roberto.' The risottos and tiramisu and the things he could do were simply excellent. He is an Italian after all. I was excited when I heard the another Italian chef is going to take over Focaccia. Being the only Saturday brunch in the city, Focaccia has a clientele that is hard to take away. I mayn't be able to understand why the newly expanded brunch came before the new chef, but I guess it was time. You had to make up for not having Roberto.

So my friend from Germany, who with his wife is a self proclaimed Italian specialist with their vast eating out in Italy, joined me for brunch. It looked fabulous. There were crabs and fish and large prawns for the grills, an extensive dessert counter, a mellowed down cheese counter (actually no Italian cheese that I can remember seeing), a live pasta station with varied colours of pasta, frittatas and nice main course counter. Everything looked good on paper and definitely lived up to its new name, Il Grande Pranzo. It was definitely grand! And big! OK, same thing in Italian.

I was hoping I won't miss the old chef. It didn't start off that way, though. The pizzas weren't great. The frittatas were cold and dry and definitely not what I was expecting. Cheeses weren't exciting.

Then some good stuff came along. A couple of salads and starters were excellent. There was a nice little glass of chicken with zucchini which I loved and some beef that was tender. Grilled meats were nice. Then very good stuff came along. A fantastic roast lamb that was placed on the main course was yummy. There was a lot of basting sauce for you to make as saucy as you like and we loved it. The cannelloni was excellent for me too and along with the potatoes were the nice things in the main course.

Then came the excellent stuff. The risotto. Now, good risotto is a rarity in Chennai and the old chef was a master at it. Every risotto that we had that day were excellent, so I guess the chef making it live was good at it and mayn't have been by chance. I had one with chicken that was perfect. It had the bite to it and the sauce was yum. My hard-to-please-pseudo-Italian-German-settled friend finally had a smile on his face. His pastas was excellent too and I certainly did not miss Roberto here.

The dessert counter is so big that you can't go wrong. While classic Italian stuff like the Tiramisu, which didn't have enough coffee hit, and Panna cotta without that wobbly texture weren't great, the tart was excellent and the poppers on the stick were great. We filled a plate with dessert and were happy.

For me, this was a large Saturday brunch and because its quite large, you will find enough stuff to make it worth it. As of now, its the only Saturday brunch in the city and does get filled. At 1350 plus tax which ends up around 1600, it is certainly not expensive compared to the overpriced Sunday brunches in most places. But I still miss the old chef and I am looking forward to the person who is going to take his place. 

The most common question I get about eating out in Chennai is, "Where is the best buffet?" Before I answer, there are conditions to the buffet. Lots of non veg dishes, great quality food, good ambiance, good spread, some live counters and if possible with alcohol. As my mind starts wandering, the next condition comes in. "Max budget is Rs. 500." So when Ashwin used this oft repeated problem in his stand up comedy, it came as no shock. "Dude, you have to create one yourself," will be my thought process. But looks like one dude has actually made it happen.

Apparently 195 countries are registered with the United Nations and therefore the name, Avenue 195, the brain child of Chef Vijay, who has been cooking around the world and has finally decided to bring his skills to Chennai. He couldn't have found a better place than the khana road of Chennai and has set up shop amidst various restaurants aiming to serve world cuisine. His menu is a good testimony to his vision and his buffet caters to all of his vision at an enviable price.

On a weekend you get 14 starters to your table! Yes, 14! The thing is it changes almost every day, so you could go on Saturday and Sunday and end up eating lots of different food. We had a superb nachos, shaped round! Shape didn't matter as it was quite nice, but grossly missed sour cream and guacamole. So it wasn't exactly the Mexican nachos, but a twisted one with baked beans instead of refried beans, but a very good one at that. Apparently the dish of the menu has it all, but for a buffet nachos, this was quite nice. I also totally loved the chicken shashlik sticks that was served and the dragon prawns, while though the batter fried veggies were thick with batter, it was quite nice as the batter was super smooth. We also had a round of chaat which was much better than I expected to be served in a buffet. Being a chef from England I expected a classic fish n chips, but while this was far from classic it was closer to being an outstanding dish. Super thin slices of fish in a crumb batter and fried to perfection. I had at least four slices and a couple more later. Too many starters to even remember the rest.

And then the main course. I distinctly remember the super tasting pesto grilled fish and the slightly soggy, but still tasty stir fried potato fingers. And the live pasta counter with a choice of three pasta, add your own veggies and chicken or fish or both. I added pesto sauce, chicken, zucchini and broccoli.  The pesto used here was not basil, but coriander and mint with olive oil. It had a distinct Indian taste to it, but was excellent. Those who tried the cheese sauce and tomato sauce said it was good too. I was too stuffed to even try out the live noodles and rice counter. Same process as the pasta and you can get your own version of rice and noodles. And I didn't even attempt the Indian breads with gravy as my stomach was close to bursting. Desserts weren't great, but the mousse cake and the rasagolla was enough sweet for this meal.

The menu changes everyday, so what I had might not be on the menu when you go there and so it is very difficult to rate this place with one episode. Priced at Rs. 575 plus tax (Rs. 623 nett/) and about Rs. 70 cheaper on weekdays with a reduced number of starters, this is a killer buffet, not because of the number of dishes, but the quality. The fish I had was not basa, but imported Sea Bass. The promoters' ideology is to provide good food and more importantly not to pass off anything as the original. The restaurant is only two weeks old and I don't know how they can sustain this quality at this price, but right now, this is the best value for money buffet in town. And it is on Khader Nawaz Khan Road (actually end of KNK Road, below Zaitoon, opp Apollo Children's hospital.