Way back in 2009, my friend, who by the way now has a German passport, took me to a restaurant in Frankfurt and summarised German cuisine in one line; steamed pig between the buns and a beer! Clearly, there is so much more to food in Germany that my poor little friend didn’t try. Now in 2017, he understands a lot more about the food. Even back then, there was so much to try in Germany, from schnitzel to street side steak, but I didn’t have a chance to go back to Germany. In Colombo, a German pub has been getting raving reviews and I wasn’t going to miss it.

Pubs, apparently have to be German or Irish. I believe everything else is a derived from these two pub forms. While there is no real way to establish that statement, the Bavarian in Colombo has a distinct German feel to it. The way the tables are arranged to the colour of the dim lights and the (rather expressionless) waiters, it did feel like being transported back to 2009. With the arrival of different beers in different (or rather their respective) beer glasses, the ambiance was complete.

The food was definitely more than steamed pigs between the buns. The fried camembert cheese with stewed apple and chutney was a fabulous start to dinner. This fried gooeyness with sides was so good that we ended up ordering two more for the table of five. That was because the portion size of the mains were yet to be revealed. All of us shared some Beef Goulash soup, a soup with chunky beef in a thick mildly spiced broth.

When we saw a 400g Woodcutter steak on the menu, we knew it was large and decided to share one between us, but our friend said he was hungry and he ordered one for himself. A ‘Tuesday vegetarian’ friend got himself a potato roulade, and beef stroganoff with noodles for the fifth person completed the order.

The beef steak was huge. Our 6’2″ friend who ordered one for himself finished it, but had to be rolled out of the restaurant. The two of us who shared another, barely finished it. The steak itself was beautifully pink, with a thick mushroom sauce to complement it and some veggies to complete the plate. I only had a bit of the roulade and while I don’t remember the flavours I do remember commenting that it was good. I also don’t remember if I really liked it or if I said that to console my ‘Tuesday vegetarian’ friend whose eyes I noticed were staring at all our plates. The stroganoff beef dish was similar to the steak, but the beef strips was well done. The noodles that came with the stroganoff was funny, it felt more like a cross between pasta and potato than noodles and was bland, but to its credit it did complement the stroganoff.

I know we were full, but we binged on dessert here. Crumbled Apple stew was beautifully crusty and the full flavour of the apples coming through with ice cream cutting the heat, was the dessert of the day, followed closely by the Snicker Mousse that was thick and decadent with various combinations of chocolate. A couple of ice creams with macadamia nuts completed our dessert.

Our host foot the bill and so I don’t know what the total damage was, but the dishes were priced reasonably well (for Indian standards). The woodcutter steak at about LKR 1650 (about INR 750) and the starters at about LKR 950 (INR 400), the final bill should have been around Rs. LKR 15,000 (about INR 6500) for five people. With large portions, a German like ambience and nice peppy music, Bavarian should be a must visit while in Colombo.

Bavarian is in Kollupatiya, Colombo. 

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Pretentious! That's the word that pops up when pubs in Chennai are spoken of! Are you wearing a collared shirt? Are you wearing covered shoes? Well, I understand that maintaining law and order in a place where you drink to lose your senses can be tricky, but that doesn't take away the profiling that happens!

Then Radio Room arrives! Walk in with your undies if you must! OK, that is taking it a bit too far, but they allow casual dressing. Shorts? 3/4 trousers? Slippers? All are welcome! OK, I'm sure profiling happens here too, but it appears to be less about 'rules' and more about the actual 'keep things in order.'

The setting is beautiful! Loads of old radios stacked all over the counters and a beautifully relaxed seating. Of course, I was in on a Tuesday, so I don't know it will be on Wednesdays and weekends when most places have shoulder to shoulder standing as a prerequisite to be called a 'happening place.'

Pub Grub is a cuisine by itself, but except maybe Plan B and Sera (Zara's), no other place in Chennai really has good pub grub. Radio room sets itself apart with a small and easily priced menu! Most starters are priced at Rs. 220 and most mains at Rs. 320! Easy when you are drunk! ;-) No fancy plated large dishes, just easy to eat ones.

OK, I am getting to the food! Fantastic. Vegetarian food was equally fantastic! Broccoli kebab which are usually served in most places with store bought cheese slices poorly melted, Radio room serves it with Parmesan and crunchy broccoli. Tastes great! The mushroom steamed buns was the dish of the day! Super soft buns with super tasty mushroom mix! Reminded me of the stuffed buns at GO GO Ramen!

The fish n chips should be called chips n fish! French fries are such a simple dish, but one that is rarely done correctly. Either they are over cooked and crispy or dripping with oil without any flavour of potato left, but here the chips (most of them) were brilliant. Soft without too much of oil taste and the flavour of the potatoes going right through the palette. The fish was nice, but it was the crumb fried fish while I would have liked the tempura fried. This is off the menu but was recommended by the waiter so we went for that! I guess I should stick to the menu!

I wanted to try out the sliders. Yes, even burgers are small plates (three pieces a plate for Rs. 320), but there was no combo. You could choose either fish, chicken lamb or beef, but all three will be the same. Great for sharing though!

Dessert! Nutella with Maltova Crumble. A simple yet beautiful dessert with loads of Maltova crumble. The beauty? Normally the crumble is only on the top layer, but here they give some more on the side so till you finish the dish, you can take some of the crumble! Loved that part!!!

I don't know about the drinks since, duh, I'm a teetotaller, but the wife ordered a Berry Mocktail which had a cocktail of berries with lemonade. Not my kind of drink though!!!

Oh, this is a great place for celeb spotting. We spotted loads of them!

I guess, I've found my pub!!!!

Radio Room is on the ground floor of the Somerset Serviced apartments in MRC Nagar, pretty close to Leela Palace! 

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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. 

When you drunk, would you like to feel like a kid again? I'm not sure, but then how would I know? Then there are those who don't get drunk and want to feel like kids again. Not just anywhere, but especially when they eat out. Like kids running around in a restaurant. I mean....yeah. Having stuff to play with. So imagine a place where you have some adult toys....ok, that did not sound right. Imagine a place where you have some toys. In adult sizes. Much better description.

Hoppipola is one such place. As soon as you enter, the giant JENGA catches your eye. If you are not sure what that is, sorry. There are other toys for you to play with. Like a mini golf that is extremely difficult even when you're sober. Actually, the place looks like a little play area and definitely not like a bar or a resto-bar or anything that has bouncers outside. Its almost like proving you're an adult to the guys outside and then becoming kids again! No stags allowed, so just like when we were kids, you need to have company. Not just any company, well you get the picture!

The only problem for me? The food wasn't great. My 'drinker' friend says that their drinks are pretty good, though, so I guess, drinks and games (not the pool but board and JENGA games) are their focus. The golden fried prawns were poorly peeled and we had a tough time negotiating it in the mouth. The crumb fried chicken breast was way overcooked. The little pieces of lamb on a small roti were alright. The pizza was blah. The banofee pie was a little too sweet and the chocolate dessert was the only one that was really nice and thats the only one name I forgot. The food wasn't bad, just the ambiance and the service and the games and everything set the expectations higher.

But surprisingly, we didn't come out too unhappy. Despite only one being drunk (okay partially drunk. OK, just two drinks drunk), and the other three being sober, we tried our hand at JENGA till it came falling all over us. This is a HUGE JENGA and the photo doesn't tell the real story! We tried some golf and the drinker tried a tee off shot!!!! No damage done though. The service is friendly and even when the huge JENGA came down or when the golf ball went all over, no one batted an eyelid. Maybe they are used to it. Prices are reasonable and a meal for two without drinks will come to about Rs. 1500. This place is a fun pub and when I went they had just set up, so I hope their food gets better.

Hoppipola is the new pub in the basement of the Spring Hotel, on Valluvar Kottam High Road.

A stand up comedian, from Bangalore, a year or so back, cracked a "jokes", "You take a guy from Bangalore and put him in one of your five pubs in Chennai....................." He wasn't very funny even otherwise. Chennai has come a long way since then and pubs are mushrooming all over. However only a few of them stand out though. Maybe the comedian was right.

And Plan B will probably be one of them. Sometime back, my friend asked me if I had the steak at Plan B. I was like, what? Where is that? "You're a foodie? Really?" she snorted. And ever since then I've been wanting to try out Plan B, but never got the chance to, until last Friday. The place was packed to the brim so the three of us got seated right at the very end, next to the bar. And the fun began.

It all started off with the two mocktails and a whisky marmalade which my friend was praising all through the week. Apparently it was fantastic. I wouldn't know. My mocktail wasn't great. And then three fantastic starters as we were ravenous. Loaded Potato Skins! Yum, would be an understatement. It had a sort of crispy sogginess and loaded with chicken. They're quite generous with their meat as we found out during the rest of the meal. Beef Chilli Fries. While I would have liked fries loaded with beef chilli, this was the other way around. A handful of fries loaded with beef chilli. Again. Loads of meat and apparently the fries are just meant to keep dipping into the beef chilli.  And another fantastic starter, the Fiery Chicken. While I loved it, our drinker friend was getting happier . Not sure if it was the whisky speaking, but he was like, "man, this is like the perfect side dish," spicy and juicy and yummy he went on, till the main course arrived.

The burger arrived. Called the Jucy Lucy, it was presented extremely well. My whole body started to salivate just looking at the burger. The patty looked nice, the bun had crispy onions on it and the egg was inviting. Slowly, I took the bite. And. Then. It. Came. The disappointment. The burger, though called the juicy lucy was a little too dry for my liking. I should have ordered the one that had beef chilli on top of the patty. The Beef Steak was the exact opposite. Loaded with beef, it hid a beautifully smooth potato mash beneath it, the plating wasn't great, but the beef was just excellent. It was juicy, yummy and the sauce was very complimenting to the beef. Loved it. "What's a sandwich that doesn't have ham and cheese," said our drinker. He enjoyed his ham and cheese on his own as the other two don't eat pork. He was all praise for it!!!!

They have only two desserts, a 6 layer chocolate cheese cake and a chocolate tart cake. I can't believe I forgot the name of the chocolate cheesecake. Its a crime because it was decadent. The chocolate tart cake was fantastic, but the other one was just a tad better. Actually, no. Both were equally good. Actually no, the tart was better. Okay, final verdict. Both were excellent.

The pricing here is brilliant. A superb steak for about Rs. 350 bucks. A meal for two without drinks can be had about 1k or so, which is brilliant, considering the ambience! Rustic, music filled, happening and seems to be some sort of a melange between a loud bar and a quiet pub!!! Nevertheless, a great place for a Friday evening once you navigate the nasty road to get to it!!

Plan B is off Greme's Road, Egmore. Take the road opposite Sea Shells on Egmore and you'll see the sign boards.