Rarely do we get to eat in the same restaurant twice in three days.

Rarely do we get to see Indian food served in style in India. Possible, but rare.

Rarely is it celebrated outside of fancy hotels.

Salt is one such place. I am sad that I did not get to visit this place earlier!

So, we were late for shopping and early for a 1030 movie and hence after a 5 minute wait debating between the known devil, ID and an unknown angel SALT, we went for the new one, Salt. The restaurant was packed at 10 PM, but luckily the rest of those waiting were in larger groups and we got seated needing only two seats!

Loved the decor at first sight. With olden Indian style (South Indian, definitely) chairs and teak looking tables, this is a modern eclectic set up deep in roots. The pinnal chairs (I don't know how to say this in English, but it is a type of woven chairs in wood), with the book shelves and quirky interiors, but a very English outdoor was a refreshing combination of decor. Very Indian and very stylish!!!

Dessert first, so we asked for the Elaneer Payasam and then browed the menu. A quick bite is all we wanted and were glad to see the words, CHEF'S PLATTER SELECTION. The waiter said that we will have to leave it to the chef, but agreed to request the chef for one dish of our choice in the platter. The Zaffrani Chicken Kebab. A spiced chilly potato to add and we got ready for dessert.

The payasam was thin and full of flavour. The flavours of Elaneer (tender coconut) were clear, almost felt like drinking Elaneer with a little spike! Thoroughly enjoyed it and were primed for the super spicy potatoes and quite liked them. The chef's non veg platter was really nice. While, I am not a big fan of basa fish, the chicken zaffrani with more than a hint of saffron and the nicely flavoured, but slightly dry mutton sheekh kebab was nice.

Our damages were Rs. 1050.

Two days later we were at the mall again and this time after a couple of hours of walking, we were reasonably hungry. Walked straight into SALT again! FISH WADA, 'Our take on the English Fish n Chips', was a nice description and we went for it. I loved it, despite it being BASA. It was indeed a nice Indian take on the Fish n Chips, with it really resembling a vada. The Fish Kofta Biriyani from their Coastal Food Festival menu was really spicy, but quite nice too! Platter for dessert and this time the Elaneer Payasam that was part of the platter was thicker. The first time, it was thinner with more Elaneer flavour, this time it was thicker with more coconut milk flavour. I think I preferred the thinner one. Carrot Halwa and a very home made brownie finished the platter and we were quite happy!!! Damages were Rs. 1250. The festival biriyani was expensive at Rs. 445!

Service was outstanding both times. Waiters had a reasonable knowledge about the menu and checked the status of our food and if we liked it, but without being intrusive.

I would really like to visit Salt more often and try out their other stuff on the menu. May be I missed it all along, but it does seem like one of the most under rated Indian restaurants in Chennai. Combing the decor and the food, this is must visit when in Chennai!

SALT is the Indian restaurant in the second floor of the Forum Vijaya Mall, Vadapalani.

This is going to sound weird.  A food festival in a mall? Rather in a mall food court. OK, before we move on, let me announce that I am not a fan of food courts. I try and avoid them as much as possible. I hate having to pay in some place and take food someplace else and I hate.....well, lets keep it simple. I hate them! So when I was invited, my first inclination was to say no.

But.....a food festival in a food court? What can it be? Curiosity got the better and I dragged along my cousin who offered to drive to eat in a food festival in a food court. Clearly curiosity got the better of him too! What else can explain the guy driving on a weekday, on a weekday traffic, to Vadapalani for food!?!

The concept was simple. Every outlet had a special menu. Outlets had a one or two dishes that were being launched as part of the special menu, while their regular menu was available at a lower price and with various combos. Nothing interesting till now, but it gets better! Like any food court, the food during the fest was a mixed bag. But the excellent part of the mixed bag, more than made up for the ugly part of the mixed bag.

We started off with a very nice cooling chat platter from Kailash Prabath. They have been reasonably standard for a long time and this platter was cooling and super nice. KP then served a very bad dish - some veg patty. It was dry and tasteless! Wasted it. This was followed by something that was quite shocking. A pizza from Quiznos. I know they have pizza and that is a thin crust pizza, but this was not their usual pizza. A chat with the owner revealed that this is exclusive to this outlet. They even have burgers apparently, but this pizza was tasty. It was gone in sixty seconds.

While I am not a big fan of Wang's Kitchen anymore, the dragon chicken that they served us was outstanding. Both of us loved it. This was followed by the first (and only) difference of opinion - Mayo chicken served by Arab Kitchen. My cousin hated it. Just hated it. While I took a couple of bites, he was like, 'dude, eat the dragon chicken, don't fill your tummy with that crap', types. I don't know what I liked, but the slight tinge of coconut oil flavour with a crispy coat outside caught my tongue's attention. I ate two pieces before the next dish arrived.

Salt in Forum Mall has a very good reputation, I believe, and as stupid as this sounds, I have not visited the place. A trip is due soon and I will update, but the reason I bring this up is that they have two stalls in the food court under different names. One is Pandi Kadai, an outlet for South Indian food. We got two starters, both names which I cannot recall, but both were excellent. One was made of 'Vala Poo' I think and the other was definitely lamb, but I would go back just for those. But the other outlet by Salt, I forgot the name, sent us a Stuffed Parota. Bad. Let's not discuss that further.

Besides, good and bad, there was one ugly. It came from Kobe Sizzlers.  Their 'signature' chicken sizzler. While I ate the soggy potatoes and struggled to go beyond a piece, but cousin didn't touch the dish beyond the first bite.

And then the dish of the day - Banana Dosa from ID. Stunner. End of Description. When can I get my tongue on that Banana Dosa again. Pretty please!?!

This festival is on till the 14th Dec.

Dasaprakash was a landmark that not too many Chennaites will forget, but strangely for me, the mention of Dasaprakash takes my memories to Mysore because during my childhood, the annual Ooty, Mysore, Bangalore holiday had the Mysore stop at Dasaprakash and I still remember the crisp masala dosa. Briefly there was a mini Dasaprakash in Kilpauk which folded off soon and to see the Dasaprakash in a whole new 'fine dine' avatar at EA mall was quite overwhelming. From English speaking staff to an elevated dining area within the restaurant to the expansive window side seating; everything was new about the place.

And I had a few grouses as well. But the food, was excellent. Mysore Masala dosa, pongal and sambar vada was our order and I quite liked them all, but I must add that I am used to a different 'Mysore Masala' and this one was a simple masala with lots of podi inside. Tasted good nevertheless. I am not a big fan of pongal, OK, I quite hate it, but I was told that it was good. I then tasted it and it was edible for me and 'edible pongal' coming from me, that must have been quite good. Sambar vada was well.....sambar vada.

Ok, now the grouses. I understand a restaurant serving plain dosa and not having masala dosa, but here, you get masala dosa, but no plain dosa. Ditto with sambar vada - no plain vada. The place is quite pricy, but I get that, especially with the beautifully done interiors, an attempt to create a 'fine dine' vegetarian concept, but I don't get why you can't serve plain dosa or plain vada. Beats me. 

Service was polite and attentive and the restaurant is massive. I don't know what the cover size, but it looked like it could seat about 150 and inside a mall, that is quite large. A meal for two will cost about 1k. 

3.5/5 for me. 

I've pretty much come to expect nothing from mall food. I mean, outlets that are generally good seem to just take mall crowd for granted and they get this, "You don't have much options so just eat the food without complaining," attitude. Slowly even the stand-alones inside the malls, the ones outside the food court have started to get this way. So as much as possible, I try not to eat in a mall, unless it is something I know is really good. A CPK for example!

So, I don't know if it was the very low expectations or what, but the pasta and iced tea at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Phoenix Market City was quite good. The berry iced tea, unlike the diluted tea and berry essence in most 'mall shops', was quite good here. The balance between the berry flavour and the tea was just right! The pesto pasta with the garlic bread was quite enjoyable too.

A place like this should ideally have a stand alone in the city, like in Nungambakkam! I would go more often if they did, but while if in Phoenix Market City, this would a choice to go for a quick bite, I won't be driving all the way there for this pasta! But this time I only sniffed at their Tea Leaf, the next time I am there, I will try to get a whiff of the Coffee Bean!

3.5/5

CBTL is on the ground floor, I think. The mall is too huge for orientation!