You want to introduce a new cuisine to a city? What do you do? Open up a fancy place, blow on the interiors, huge marketing campaign and then shut shop after a few months if it fails!?! Wrong!

The approach of the owners to introducing Ethiopian cuisine to Chennai has been marvellous. Small place. Experiment. See if the crowd likes it. Already having a few restaurants helps, especially if they are all in the same place. Along with Batlivala and Khanaboy and Meena Tai, the complex now welcomes Chennai palates to try out Ethiopian! And what better way than a small 10 seater place to introduce it.

The interiors are symbolic with what I guess is a replica of Ethiopian interiors. The tables and the stools are set for a community eating which we found out later is the way of life there! Your group eats from one plate!

Actually, it may not be so difficult to try it out because the flavours are so so similar to Indian. My only twist with Ethiopian was at a buffet in Vegas, so I don't remember those flavours at all, so this post is from the POV of a novice in that cuisine! The Injera is something I remember vividly, though the name and the flavours were a refresher course for me. The dosa type thing, rather a large ragi dosa on which the curries are placed is aptly positioned for community eating! My friend was invited to the restaurant and he tagged me along, so we were served their biggest meal, the community mezze platter (think it is called the mezzoz here). Priced at Rs. 4199, it comes with a soup, this big bad @ss set of meals, unlimited injera, dessert and coffee for four people. Going by the sizes, I think it could feed three couples! It is almost like ordering a full meals! Sit back and eat!

The injera (the ragi dosa) in unlimited! While the original injera is supposed to be made with a iron rich teff flour, here is it a mix of ragi and teff, till they find ways to import teff is large quantities. Yes, starting with a 10 seater is a wise idea indeed! So the injera is on a plate, like our banana leaf and all the gravies are placed on top, but the only difference is that the injera is also edible. I don't think we eat our banana leaf! And it is like all of us eating from one banana leaf! OK, you got to experience this!

So among the ones that were served, a lamb cooked with channa was fantastic and the minced beef was excellent. Everything else was pretty good and had an uncanny resemblance to our food. I obviously don't know if it has been extensively Indianised or if the Ethiopian flavours are so close to Indian flavours, but there was no palate shock for me!

OK, I take that back. There was a palate shock. Right at the end when they served Ethiopian coffee with butter, salt and sugar! Definitely a palate shock. Forget palate, it was a brain shocker! Coffee with butter? And salt? And Popcorn!?! The butter was smelling heavenly and was dark, so clearly this wasn't Amul butter. Apparently in Ethiopia, they first drink coffee with butter, then with salt and then with sugar! The espresso was indeed enjoyable with the butter, but after a few sips when the brain registers it! Oh, there was dessert before this and it was this cake made of teff flour! Tasted like a ragi cake with chocolate inside, but went well with the theme of the meal!

Abyssinian is on the first floor of the complex that hosts Meena Tai and BK, just off Kasthuri Rangan Road, a few minutes down the road from Tangerine. 

That night was magical. While, it felt like entering a fort with its high walled security entry, the moon light on the bridge that runs through the property was truly magical. It was serene. The view of the pool from the bridge was intriguing. Like a blast from the past.....I mean well past, like a few civilisations past. The pool like the Harappa and Mohenjodaro pool. With the moonlight on it.

Some things change for better, I guess. After a long long wait for the property to be up, the sprawling resort on ECR is up, but in a new avatar as the Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort. While not really a beach resort, the beach is walkable. The place has an intriguing feel because of the way it is built. It feels like it has too many characters. The lobby is eclectic. With straight stairs going up to the extremely well planned out bar with a spacious outdoor space, a royal indoor space and a modern side to it, the lobby and bar alone seemed to have multiple personalities.

The rest of the hotel is even more confusing. Built around squares, it has a really ancient feel to the design but an extremely modern feel to the decor. The pond almost entirely covers one half and the swimming pool and garden form the other half, split by a walkway. The bridge is on top of the walkway. That night, courtesy the moonlight, it was magical, but I wonder how this place will look at daytime. I have to go back there to stay to find out.

We were here for the food. What's so special in a resort's buffet, I thought. It wasn't the buffet. It was a 7 course meal. Who does that in the all day dining? Well, here they do. Aimed at those staying for long and don't want to do a buffet everyday and those willing to drive down from Chennai to celebrate a special occasion or to impress the woman of their lives (or hope to be), this was a showcase of Chef Ashish, who is here from Anandha, Himalayas. When I saw the words 'Ash potato' on the menu of the day, I was wondering why they didn't notice that mistake and was actually looking forward to the mashed potatoes.

Freshly baked bread with the dips were so good, that we took refills all along the way. It looked great, it felt great and tasted excellent. This was followed by an amuse-bouche, a melange of vegetables. Then the excellent scallops and duck with cauliflower puree, but I am rushing to the next course, the soup. This was a green peas soup, full of flavour served in tiny coffee cups with a wafer of bread with parmesan. This was just fabulous! It was small enough to keep us wanting for more and reminded me of the mushroom cappuccino served in similar portions at a favourite restaurant of mine. This though, was a cold soup and that added to its complexity. Loved it.

This was followed by an excellent prawn dish. Poached in orange juice with curried pop corns and miso, this was a melange of flavours. All familiar, but not together. The tinge of orange with the miso and the little bump of pop corn was excellent. This was followed by the baby Sea Bass, with a citrus salad, that wasn't on my favourites' list. But then, I am not a big fish fan, so that opinion to be taken with a pinch of salt!

This was followed by the spelling mistake. Tenderloin with potatoes, but there was no mashed potatoes. The chef came on to explain how he got the 'ash' on the potato. It was indeed Ash potato with the beef!!! Flummoxed! While I loved the potatoes and the beetroot puree and the beans, I didn't fancy the beef so much, that day! The next course, dessert more than made up for it. Five textures of chocolate with the fabulous banana ice cream was a feast for the eyes and palate.

Buffet is priced at Rs. 1499 and 1799 plus taxes for lunch and dinner, while a 7 course meal like what we had is priced at Rs. 2500 plus taxes, with a few hours of advance notice. A friend said that their breakfast was excellent, but I am yet to try any other meal there. Waiting for the other restaurants to open and then plan a mini holiday there. Will update on how the stay and rooms are, real soon!

Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort is on the way to Mahabs, about a dozen or so kilometres before Mahabs! 

For a price point of about 650 bucks, the standards that ABs sets is unbelievable. From being the best chicken wings in my opinion to doling out fabulous starters and desserts, ABs has got it right. But when there is a festival menu doing the rounds there for which CFG organises a bloggers table, it is hard to resist. Meeting up with old blogger friends was rather fun and was enough to make the evening fun, but the dinner here was a story to unfold.

Service being the usual super friendly super efficient, they went out of the way to tell us that each dish was made just for the festival. Their usual fantastic prawns were the same, just spicier. The fish was similar, the other starters on the grill were all similar, but spicier. I was starting to wonder if the festival was just an increase in the spice levels. My favourite chicken wings was missing and I wasn't smiling. For almost 20 odd minutes, we were eating spicier version of their usually fantastic starters. Not good. They kept telling us that the marinade was different, but I didn't taste it. Except, of course, being spicier.

Then slowly, but steadily the good stuff started coming out. Their usually awesome chicken wings had taken another equally awesome avatar. Super flavour. Juicy. Yummy. Then, the featured dish, their Leg of Lamb. With a spicy, but super nice (what they call) the Carribean marinade. The lamb was cooked to perfection and we all loved it. Two more festival special dishes, a baked type of fish and cutlet together finished the line up. And then, just before we forgot that we ordered mocktails, they bring this pineapple with a straw stuck to it. While the drink was pretty good, the visual appeal made it so much better and more than made up for the lacklustre starters. And it really captured the popular image of the Carribean!!! And in true Carribean style, the waiters launched into a dance at about 8 pm much to the amusement and applause of the guests!!!

Like I usually do, most of us completely skipped the main courses and I even skipped their wish grill as I was full with the overdose of new starters and dived straight into their signature dessert, the Paan Ice Cream. Though the guy advised against it, I added sprinkles and chocolates to it and loved every bit of it. The fried watermelon was a nice try and was pretty good, but you can go to ABs, eat just the grills and dessert and you would have got more than your money's worth.

Unfortunately we went on the last day of the festival, so its gone and you won't get the lamb leg piece now, but hopefully next time, I can visit these festivals early enough to blog about it before it gets over!!! Chao! 

What more can you innovate at On The Rocks? Its been five years that the restaurant is going strong, with them putting on a chef hat on you, giving you a rock heated to 400 degrees and making you cook on the table. Conceptually, practically, gastronomically OTR has been brilliant. But when there is news that they are doing something new, it is intriguing. What else can you do? Can you put salt on the rock? Can you put pepper on the rock? Actually, they put a pot on the rock.

But much before that, the bread that is served to all tables was excellent. So, its a nice soft round cut bread inside a pan, with a nice chutney on the side, but with a cut garlic roasted and dipped in oil which can be squeezed on the bun. We loved it. We loved it so much that we ended up asking for two helpings of the bread. Actually you don't have to ask, if the bread is over, the will replace it till the starters and the main courses come. Then we got an appetiser, chicken, the name that I forgot which was excellent too. In fact everything that day was excellent, so I'll just describe them and not comment! The chicken was like a mini sausage with fried garlic and greens. And then a fabulous prawn. The prawns were on top of some mini noodles and together were a nice combo for the tongue.

And then the main course. Normally, we'd go for the the package here. It comes with a soup, main course and ice cream, but this time, it was all a la carte! The hot pot is like a melange of flavours of whatever you want. You get all the meats you want. You can keep adding more meat for an extra price. We had all three, chicken, mutton and prawns. There are noodles, garlic, lotus stem and some fancy stuff and you can keep putting whatever you want, how much ever you want into the pot and let the pot cook on the rock. Unless you want fried fingers, don't dare touch the rock!!!!  So, you can't blame the chef for the taste. You decide how much you want of all, but the chef goes around every table assisting in flavours. You can keep checking the soup. So, this is like a fancy ramen or bibimbap!!!

Like everything else desserts were awesome too. Triple chocolate which had white chocolate mouse, chocolate crust and melted chocolate on top, but I love the creme brûlée here. Normally, they will flame it with alcohol, but this time we took it without the flame. One of the best creme brûlée in Chennai and probably the only one that has the perfect crust on top.

A set meal will cost from about Rs. 1500 per person, which has the soup, main course on the rock and ice cream, but cost can go up if you choose pricy fancy cuts of meat. A-la-carte will cost about Rs. 4000 for two without drinks. Its amazing they have a lounge down for chatting out and then you can go up for dinner. And because its a lounge, you can sit there forever. Whenever we go we end up sitting there for at least 3 hours!!! Relaxing.

On The Rocks, is the fantastic lounge at Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, which was previously called Park Sheraton.

So, how do you write about a place that has been written so many times? It has been done and dusted.  It has been praised. It has been pulled down, but consistently, the place is packed. And reservations are difficult. If I have to be different, I have to write bad things. But, nope, I am not going to try and be different. In Bangalore, I loved it. In Chennai, I was there for their pre-opening and I loved it. Went back after so long and still loved it!

The surprising thing is their consistency. Chicken wings. Now, I hate chicken wings. Hate it so much, that even in Buffalo, I had one piece of Buffalo Wings, and then had the boneless Buffalo Chicken with Celery. That's how much I don't like wings. Now, I ate three pieces of wings here! It was brilliant. I struggled to eat, but I ate. Loved it. Their starters are consistently good! The prawns were awesome, the Sheekh Kebabs were surprisingly good and their fish was super nice. Starters are just super nice! The cinnamon dabbed pineapple and the super crispy corn were a nice vegetarian complement to the non veg overdose!!!!

After 45 minutes of starters, there wasn't much space left for main course. The wish grill with shark, rabbit, quail and a bunch of other stuff is really not the difference between other table top grills and ABs. There is so much more, but yes, the wish grill does stand apart. Besides these, they had a fabulous sweet bread with minced mutton which I had two helpings of! Loved that too!

The best dish though was the dessert. While we have a few stone cold ice cream parlours, no place serves stone cold ice cream mix the way ABs does it. Their paan ice cream has to be the best stone cold ice cream in Chennai!!! Service, though, was a little better in Bangalore and something was amiss here, but the food was so good that service didn't matter. Service wasn't bad, but in Bangalore, it was outstanding.

Yes, getting a reservation is tough, but if you go early, you can squeeze into the quota for walk ins. AB's is located on GN Chetty Road, opp the Indian Oil Fuel pump. We were a bunch of 9 people and we paid Rs. 5500. While water was mentioned, iced tea wasn't mentioned and though we asked for one, we weren't charged for it. The iced tea was pretty bad, so, gladly it wasn't charged!

When someone tells me that there is a vegetarian version of a non veg dish that I must try, I look up. When it comes from a hard core foodie who is a pure non vegetarian, then my brain is deciding when, how and who to go with. When the guy says he is going back there two days in a row and is willing to drive me, I'm sold!

And that is how I was introduced to Nicky's Fine Baking and Cafe. The dish in question here was the Pao, which I think they call Bao. Or maybe there are two ways to pronounce and spell it, I don't know. When in Hong Kong, my friend told me that I must absolutely taste the Pao/Bao and I took a trek to try it out from what he said was a great place for Pao! I had the veg version there because they ran out of chicken and the other option was pork, which I don't eat, and OH MY GOD, it was awesome.

So after my friend placed order for the Pao, my eyes wandered to the counters which had delicious looking food. The one thing that wasn't delicious looking was the sandwich. The chef/owner who was besides the place then walked over and suggested we try the sandwich the next time. My friend and me looked at each other and thought, why come back, let's do it now! And so the sandwich landed on our table.

So, here is something that needs to be told. Nicky's, at least now, is a cafe that is very Swiss, but vegetarian. Dishes are not completely tweaked to suit our South Indian palate yet, but on the flip side gives a glimpse into how simple street side cafes in small town Swiss towns are. The perfect example was the size of the sandwich which immediately brought back memories from Switzerland. Quarter size breads, simple, but tasty fillings! The pao arrived and it was simply awesome. Baked to perfection, the flour was soft, just right with the sweet (yes, it is slightly sweet and that is how it is supposed to be) and the filling was fabulous.

For dessert, we were debating between two desserts and a very French (I think) dessert, called St. Llorine (I think), which had a nice shortbread crust, some mango, some choux pastry and caramel, won the debate. The chef was quick to say that this is not the original version and that the original version has something else instead of the short pastry and the caramel is dipped..........well, it doesn't matter. The dessert was nice. The bill for the above and a nice macron was Rs. 425.

I plan to go back and try the rest of the stuff and also learn a little more about the chef who has trained in Switzerland. Wonder if he can make a fondue! Wink Wink. The menu is very interesting as they do stuff on order and they make profiterole and macaroon towers like the ones we see in Masterchef Australia! Wooooo.....

Vegetarian cuisine is not been getting justice in Chennai and places like this show us the there is so much more to veg cuisine and I am very glad! OK, this is not pure veg as they have egg based stuff, but still........

So buffets sell. OK, big buffet priced reasonably sell. OK, if located near some IT company, they sell well. Take all of this and add discovery channel to the buffet and it is bound to take off extremely well. BBQ Nation thrived on treats and office lunch types. Take that and pump it with steroids and you can then imagine what Absolute BBQ is all about. Located a little away from the Eco Space building that houses more than handful of employees from over 10 corporates, Absolute BBQ has hit the sweet spot and throws something extra.

Essentially, you have the grills on the table with unlimited starters, a wish grill located at one end of the restaurant which has exotic meats like Emu, Rabbit, Octopus, Quail etc and a buffet at the other end. The starters were a mixed lot. I didn't like the lamb sheekh kebab as it was too dry, I didn't like the chicken grill, but the prawns, the fish and another chicken was quite nice. The cinnamon grilled pineapple was a nice addition that I took multiple helpings of. But the waiters noticed that we did not eat some of the starters, asked us what was wrong and brought new dishes out of the menu. That was an amazing gesture. So the lamb sheekh was replaced with a super juicy and super tasty and super soft lamb, while the chicken was replaced with chicken wings. As much as we wanted to say that we didn't like the chicken wings, we didn't because we feared they will bring another dish and force feed us. One short sweet bread was amazing and we had multiple helpings, even a little bit with the dhal makhani.

Next stop, the wish grill. For this you have to go to a common grill, albeit veg and non veg separate, choose your meat, choose your sauce, your style, add rice/noodles if you want and the guy will give you a token that you place on your table. Your choice of 'wish meat' is delivered to your table. All of us like the rabbit cooked in an Indian sauce, but for the rest, the taste was very similar and I don't think emu goes well with Indian spices. I didn't like it. My friend tried a completely different variation for the rabbit meat, ignoring the chef's advice and we ended up quite liking it.

The main buffet has 4 non veg gravies, a decent mutton biriyani, a choice of veg gravies, a very good dhal makhani and the usual salads. With an overdose of spices with the starters, we were gulping down curd to cool our protesting stomachs. Beyond the cold stone ice creams, which I enjoyed because I added a lot of crunch and cake to my ice creams, the desserts were nothing to speak of. 

If you go before 7 PM, you get a complimentary beer and Rs. 180 off on your final bill which is awesome. So we paid Rs. 720 nett, which is effectively the lunch price. That way you finish early and the next round of dinner reservations at 930 don't get affected much. Service was very personal and attentive and in fact a little too attentive if you like to have your space during dinner. 

A great start to this restaurant and only time can tell if they can sustain this!!!! 

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.

Its been quite a while since we visited Mouthful so on Saturday late evening, we headed there for some exotic stuff. We were just the two of us and decided to stick to just some specialties! For a Saturday evening, the place was pretty deserted and we were wondering if the place has lost its sheen.

So, we ordered half Lebanon Grill Chicken, a Chicken Schwarma and one Raan (the lamb leg) cooked Moroccan style. The Lebanon grill chicken is served with kuboos, some hummus and veges, while the lamb was served with the same and the schwarma with just some veges. The Lebanon grill chicken was amazing, with the perfect flavor, but the kuboos and the hummus were pretty bad. The Lamb leg was not as tender as it used to be sometime back at Mouthful (or when it was Mouthful, its Flame Grill now)! The schwarma was pretty ordinary too!

Service was ok, and the ambiance is pretty ordinary. The place has definitely lost its sheen over time, and though some dishes here are still excellent, I have a feeling that the overall quality has dropped. The group has started two new restaurants on RK Salai, called Wild Amazon and Al Arab, so maybe they are focusing their energy there! But the lebanon grill chicken was just awesome! Half chicken was priced at Rs 180, the schwarma at Rs 70 and the Raan at Rs 950.

Food 6/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 5/10
Price 7/10

Flame Grill is located next to Green Trends on Ragaviah Road (Parallel to GN Chetty road, take a right at the Rohini Hotel Junction when coming from TP Road)

A pretty unassuming restaurant, located quietly in small bylane in T.Nagar, Mouthful does conjure up some mouth watering exotic dishes without burning deep holes in your pocket.

As you enter the restaurant, almost nothing catches your eye. A small ice cream stall outside, a tandoor counter and a few people waiting are all part of most restaurants today. A pleasant waiter seats and presents the not so outstanding looking menu and looks at you till you politely remind him that you do not know the menu by heart and that you need sometime to make your choice.

Open the menu and BANG. Quite a few 'exotic' names come up. The Raan being one of them. There are a couple of other restaurants in the city that serve pretty good raan, but I have not seen any of them offer a choice of marinades. Most restaurants marinate one piece of the leg piece (a lamb's leg piece mind you) and hope that they sell off, so if some one has ordered a raan, then you have to try your luck the next time. However mouthful offers you not one, not two, but three different marinades of raan-the Moroccan Spiced Raan, The honey glazed raan and the Afghani raan. We were told that on that day, the lamb was relatively smaller and that they could give us one for half the price and we took one Moroccan and one honey glazed raan. The menu offers a range of whole cooked chicken in the same flavors and a few more exotic dishes. The places also serves mukthaba (a malaysian paratha), regular western frontier foods and the usual multicuisine (read, does not belong to any particular cuisine) too.

I am not too sure about the authenticity of the Moroccan flavors as yours truly has not travelled to Morocco, but I assure you that the Lamb Leg tastes great. Succulent, juicy, tasty are all the adjectives that you can use to have a taste of this lamb 'Leg piece'. The honey glazed raan was equally tasty and the fact that on a weekday, I saw quite a few of these leg pieces move from the kitchen to various tables, does testify its taste. The honey glazed chicken was equally tasty and is served with some sweet pulao. We also ordered some butter chicken masala and another house special gravy and an assortment of naans, parathas and roti's.

Talk of dessert and again a few exotic names come up. Burj-Al-Arab and Amazon forest are two catchy names and live up to expectations as well. While the Burj is a large tower glass with four scoops of ice creams and nuts and the works, the Amazon forest is tall, but flat on top bowl, with six different scoops of ice creams, again with the works.

The place also serve Tandoor Bakra which is a WHOLE ROASTED LAMB. Costs about 4k, but you have to place your order atleast 8 hrs earlier with 50% advance payment. Would love to try that!

A pretty satisfying meal and with the bill coming up to Rs 1894 for 6 people, it is not a bad deal at all!

Service is not five star, but very polite and courteous at that. The matron does know the dishes well and the tastes match what he explains.

Food -8/10
Ambiance- 5/10
Service 7/10
Price-8/10

Mouthful is located in T.Nagar. take the road bang opp, the Rohini internationl on G.N.Chetty road, take the first right. It is about a 100 meters into the road, next to Green Trends.