TechieFoodie

AB’s opens shop in Velachery Absolute Barbecues, fondly known as AB’s opened at T – Nagar couple of years back with a big bang. 2 years on, they’re still consistent with their top notch service and the ratings in Zomato are proof to that. To make AB’s more accessible to the bustling IT crowd, AB’s recently opened an outlet in Velachery. It’s located quite close to OMR, the IT nerve center of the city, bang opposite Taramani TCS. I was pleasantly surprised when I got an invite for a weekend dinner at AB’s and was happy to learn a bunch of my foodie buddies will be present as well. Naturally, I accepted it and started looking forward to the fun evening. Starting off the grill Their starters are the key to AB’s success and I was glad to see the same quality being offered here. We started off with drinks, and I particularly liked  Chennai Summers , a blend of Yogurt, Strawberry, and Coconut set a pleasant tone on the palate. Starting off with succulent Paneer Tikkas ,  G...

Food Blogger’s Meet at Coal Barbecues It was a fine Friday evening when a bunch of food bloggers (Yes, someone told us we’ve to stick to that fancy term) decided to meet at a blogger’s meet (Now you know why we stuck to that term :P) organized by Coal Barbecues, the fancy new BBQ restaurant in Velachery. The food was on-the-house, however the review is my personal opinion based on our experience. (PS: This is kinda late review, as our visit happened almost 2 months back – Blame it on my hyper-busy RL 🙁 ) Quite a few BBQ restaurants have been cropping up in the city of late and Coal Barbecues is another addition to that ever-growing list. Located in the so-called “Manhattan of Chennai” (Dei, Anna Nagar with our tower is the heart of Chennai da :P), it’s bound to attract a lot of folks and is easy to spot as well. It has got ‘ample’ parking space for about 4 cars, so you can most definitely pack your bags and land here without packing...

I was here last week, on the opening day of Luxe Cinemas. After watching a movie, I was feeling a bit famished and was craving for a nice coffee. And I happen to come across The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf inside Phoenix mall. The name itself attracted me, so I decided to give it a chance. I placed an order for Iced Vanilla Latte with Whipped Cream and Hummus with Lavash Bread. The positives: Decor Pricing: While I wouldn’t exactly call this place cheap, it was not too pricey either. The pricing was normal, considering it’s located inside Phoenix Mall. Quantity Hummus with Lavash bread, while it was charged 75 bucks, the quantity was well worth it. Taste I love Hummus and I loved it even more here ! The Negatives: I didn’t find any cons here on my first visit. Overall: Quantity: 4/5 Taste: 4/5 Cost/VFM: 3/5 Ambience: 3.5/5 Overall: 4/5 Will definitely try this place again.

I’ve wanted to try Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) since the time they opened here. But I was always spoken out of it by my companion, until today. We originally went to try Sphagetti Kitchen or Noodle Bar whichever was open. Sadly, both of them were closed today. So, we ended up on HRC by chance and I talked her into joining me here. We were greeted cordially at the entrance and were given the choice of our table. Mr. Ashok greeted us with a friendly smile on his face, explained to us about HRC a little bit and even suggested some mocktails for us. Even through the course of our dinner, he visited us often, to check if there was anything we needed and if we were comfortable with the food served. His hospitality really impressed me and left a decent impression of HRC on my mind. Being a fan of light music, I found that I was quite comfortable with the rock music being played, as they knew which ones to play and the perfect ambience to maintain there. A big OK on that side as well. Oh yes, the foo...

We went to California Pizza Kitchen last week. It was a different experience. Our order consisted of: Berry Mango Smoothie, Tuscan Hummus, California Veggie Pizza, Garlic Cream Fettucini, Red Velvet Cake. The Positives: Yummilicious food, good quantity, pleasant(and a bit over-enthusiastic) service. Berry Mango Smoothie: Our steward suggested us to take a 1/2 portion of this and when this arrived, we were glad we took his advice. If you see the attached pic, that’s how the half-portion looked like after I had tasted it. I wonder if I would’ve felt full if I had taken a full one. And the taste was divine. Tuscan Hummus: Another divine item. I loved it. (Yeah, am a huge fan of Hummus). California Veggie Pizza: This was loaded with veggies and we enjoyed it. In fact, I should say it was over-loaded. It was pretty good. Garlic Cream Fettucini: I loved the pasta, but it was a little too bland. We were later informed that they typically make all their cream pastas bland, unless the customers...

I was little hungry, happened to be around Velachery and came across Haven Sampoorna, which I’ve always wanted to try out. Grabbing my chance, I went in here. I was greeted with the Bon Appetit on the door and the Vegetarians are Awesome, Sexy and Brainy banner. I immediately fell in love with the place, as I’m a vegetarian and proud about it. Next came the decor. The ambience, though a little noisy with all the customers, was pretty impressive and fitting for a fine-dining place. Now for the foodie part. As I had gone alone, I ordered for a Tomato Basil Soup, a haven pasta and a yellow bird lighted mocktail. My hunger took control of me and I couldn’t capture the soup or pasta. I did, however, manage to capture the mocktail before I finished it. Soup: I enjoyed the soup. It was not very thick, but wasn’t watery either. It was perfect and tasted good. Haven Pasta: The waiter must have thought me to be a novice foodie because when I ordered for Haven Pasta, he repeatedly asked me if am ...

Went here when I was very hungry. It was just getting started, so there wasn’t much of a crowd here. We were accommodated into a nice corner table with a view of the busy Tharamani Link Road via the Glass Wall on the front(Sarcasm unintended). Placed our orders for a Cream of Mushroom Soup , Paneer Fingers, Vegetable Biriyani and Veg. Chettinadu gravy. Cream of Mushroom Soup: It was very good. Thick and yummy. Paneer Fingers: For the price they were charging for this one, I was surprised to find the quantity and taste exceeding my expectations. Vegetable Biriyani: I was reluctant about this initially, as Buhari primarily a NV place, I thought their Veg dishes wouldn’t be up to the mark. Again a surprise here. It was very good, among the best I’ve had. Veg Chettinadu: Now this is something that was a slight let down. There was nothing ‘Chettinadu’ about it. Very average. Finally, we ordered a caramel custard for dessert. It wasn’t exactly out of the world, but it wasn’t bad either. Tota...

Went to the Pind, a Punjabi dining place at Velachery. When I entered, I was taken back with their ambience and service. A pleasant ambience and courteous staff impressed me as soon as I entered here. We chose the tables with the bamboo chairs to sit and placed our orders for a Cream of Mushroom soup, Stuffed Dhingri(Stuffed Button Mushroom), Paneer Takatak(It was a recommended item by the chef), Stuffed Naan, Roomali Roti and Tawa Ghee Phulka. Individual reviews are as follows: Soup: Too sweet. Way too sweet. I literally emptied half of the pepper and salt shakers that they had kept in the table, and it was still too sweet. They told all the cream soups will be sweet, but it wasn’t the case in the other fine dining places I’ve been to. The sweetness spoiled the taste of the soup. Stuffed Dhingri: No complaints here. It tasted well, not too spicy, not too bland, just fine. I liked it personally. Paneer Takatak: I guess I expected a little too much from this dish, because it had the “Ch...

When we went here, We were the first guests for the evening there. The stewards were ever so courteous, they helped us with our orders, as it was my first visit to a proper Chinese joining and I’m not familiar with the foods. Being a vegan, I went for the sizzlers, corn fritters and vegetable dumplings. They surprised us with a complimentary spring roll, which was followed by corn fritters. The fritters were ok, not much to talk about them. They were followed a little later by the sizzler. And I must really say it was awesome. My girl, who was accompanying me, had been to a few Chinese joints before including Wangs, Wonton and Mainland China and her feedback was that Dimsum’s sizzlers tasted better than the ones she had at these joints. Then came the vegetable dumplings. They were something of a let down actually, considering that they charge around 185 bucks for the dumplings, they are supposed to keep more than 6 pieces or at least have a better filling. They were something like the ...

First restaurant to get 5/5 from me! Chef Arora has nailed it! Went with my girl here. We ordered an Ambi Panna and Matha for Aperitif, then the Tadka Talk Kebab Tasting Menu(I always fall for the Tikkas and Kebabs) initially. Ambi Panna tasted great. But the speciality was Matha. I never knew Buttermilk could taste so good,especially when you consider that am a great fan of Buttermilk and I’ve tasted it almost in every place I’ve been to, provided they serve it. Then came the Kebab platter. And I was like OMG! The kebabs were the best I’ve ever tasted so far. They make one’s mouth drool just by looking at them. Then we ordered a Lahori Subji Biriyani. It arrived promptly and I was surprised to see so many side dishes like Raitha, Papads, Pickle and Onions being served along with it. I mean, most restaurants serve only the raitha, that too, only a small quantity. But here, it was sufficient for two people. During all this, Chef Arora himself visited us twice. Once to welcome us and the...

Decent food, but the service is among the poorest I’ve seen and the thali that we were served had couple of items missing. The waiter never brought them though we called him and pointed this out and requested for it and didn’t come near our table till the time to serve the bill came and even then didn’t even look at us, just kept the bill on the table and went. Overall a very bad experience for us. Only good thing was the food. Food 4.5/5 Ambience 4/5 Cost 3.5/5 Service 2.5/5 Originally posted 11 months ago on Zomato:  http://www.zomato.com/review/nRZyK