Southern Aroma - Residency Towers

It's been a while since I attended a CFG bloggers' meet, the last one being Southern Spice at the Taj. And after having some really mad evenings at work, I just wanted to break free and thought this would be the perfect way to unwind. The last time Aaroo, Shadir and I were at the Crown, Residency Towers, it was a brilliant experience and therefore, there was some expectation.

It was a rainy evening and the foodies were present along with their gadgets.

 We were supposed to check out their new menu and the dosa fest. Unfortunately, there was neither a new menu nor a dosa fest. We were served dishes from the regular menu card. And the dosa fest apparently starts from Monday (22-Jul-2013). There were plenty of non vegetarian dishes, and me - the lone vegetarian - was left uncared for.

The vegetarian fare was minimal. The veg starters included malli vada, kalaan fry and allepey home made paneer. The malli vada was dry and the Sr. Sous Chef said that's how it's supposed to be. The Kalaan fry was marginally better and though shaped like a mushroom, we really couldn't see any mushrooms inside. Minced, perhaps? The paneer was soft and succulent. While this was on the table, there were at least 5 non vegetarian starters that made their rounds.

It was now time for the main course. The non vegetarian dishes started flowing one by one and I was left gaping at their plates. Despite repeated reminders, the vegetarian dishes arrived only towards the end by which time I neither had the appetite nor the inclination to eat. There were at least 7 non vegetarian dishes that were on the table, compared to the measly 2 vegetarian dishes that arrived quite late.

The kadamba kurma was good enough while the methi beans curry was bitter from the methi and certainly not a combination with dosa / parotta. There was no rice, no idiyappam or aappam. The dosa was dry and saltless, much to my annoyance. The parotta though was flaky and good. And finally, as we all decided we've had enough to eat, a vendakka fry landed on the table. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, this was perhaps the best of the lot.

We rounded off the dinner with some delicious rasamalai.

This dinner leaves a lot to be desired including some mismatched prices on the water bottles, which the good doctor promptly spotted. Service was slow, which is fair enough if you have something on your plate to eat, but when the rest of your friends are eating and you have to watch them do so, well.. what can I say!

*This is part of Chennai Food Guide's Bloggers' Meet.

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Southern Spice - Taj Coromandel

When you are invited by the Taj for a hosted dinner (as part of CFG Bloggers Showcase), there's this feeling of exhilaration, a feeling of royalty. True to that, we were treated to the maharaja virundhu. (or maharani in my case ;-) ) As we waited in the lobby for someone to escort us to the private dining area of Southern Spice, we observed that security had been beefed up. As we wondered which VIP was staying there, we saw a line of Sun Risers Hyderabad players walking across the lobby towards the elevators. Waqar Younis, Ishanth Sharma and Dale Steyn (<3) were those that I could see :-)

As we all seated around the table and made ourselves comfortable, fresh wet turkish towels placed in front of us to freshen up. This was followed by a little explanation of what was special about this meal. A glass of ginger punch marked the beginning of this elaborate dinner. A plate of munchies with 4 types of chutneys were available.

The first dish on the plate was a mini idli, an idli so adorably tiny. This was followed by a banana dosa of sorts, slightly sweet and tasted excellent with the chutneys smeared on top. For the salad, the kosmalli (Injipuli koshambri), a mixture of grated carrot, coriander and urad dal wrapped in lettuce leaves made a lovely crunch.

A tiny shot glass in white was placed to the right side of the plate and was filled with the most aromatic and tangy mysore rasam. The teeny bit of jaggery in this rasam tasted well on the palate and was not overpowering at all. The final dish of the starter course was the molagu adai.

It's now time for the main course. The group indulged in a friendly banter and conversation ranged from various types of fish and from where each fish is imported to retaining the freshness of the gravies. Chef Anand stopped by to find out if we were happy.

The gold plated plate was set with little bowls decorating the top portion of the plate. Edomame Kurma (Pookose urlai kurma), Asparagus Paruppu usili, Zucchini thenga curry (Zucchini kaara poriyal), vegetable stew (Pachakari ishtew) and Channa gravy (Kadala gassi) constituted the vegetarian sides of this menu. A south Indian touch to international vegetables - the Japanese Edomame, the Mediterranean Asparagus and the Italian Zucchini truly makes one wonder if this is how food can unite the world! The mains included a parotta, idiyappam (string hoppers) and the fluffy aappam.

In between all this, my concentration was on the brilliant yet unobtrusive veena instrumental music curated specially for Southern Spice. I was lost in some of the brilliant renditions, especially Chinnan Chiru Kiliye. The ambiance calls for a special mention - compelling paintings of the kings whose kingdoms' kitchens  were instrumental in what is part of the maharaja virundhu this evening. 

We were beginning to get stuffed. And then they announce that there's going to be more. Rice with the quintessential paruppu podi with gheeeee (er..), small onion sambar (Arachivitta Sambhar - a recipe from Chef Anand's home) and more of the mysore rasam - were delightful. And no meal is complete without the thachi mummu (the one and only curd rice). This was served with a little manathakkali vethakozhambu - totally droolworthy and if you were like me, you wouldn't mind licking your fingers even at the Taj. This food is meant to be eaten with the hands and was sure finger lickin' good.

How can I forget the curry leaf juice spiked with vodka - ha! *sheepish grin* This was one of the best desi cocktail concoctions I've ever had.

Now for the dessert - the elaneer payasam - a hand-me-down recipe from the Mammens of the MRF family was absolutely a perfect way to end the meal. Also were served a Godhi-bella ice cream (banana jaggery ice cream) and belgian chocolate mousse cake filled with lentil, jaggery and coconut (Chocolate purnam mousse). Yum's the word for the chocolate mousse cake.

At the end of it all, if you want me to summarize this dinner, I can only say - Wah Taj boliye! 

* This meal is priced INR 5000 + tax. If you'd like to pair this with an Indian wine, it's priced at 8000 + tax and upwards for international wines. If you want a simple thali, it's priced at 2000 + tax.

* This was a hosted dinner. This is part of the CFG Showcase

* Southern Spice is part of Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai. 

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Ayna - Hyderabadi Food Fest

Yet another bloggers' meet at the Hilton. I'd already missed the first one, and wouldn't miss this for the world.

This is a live blog and I will be posting as we eat. Shadir, Karthik and I are already here. Doc Waz just reached. We are waiting for Divyan to join us. Mr Karthik (Ayna) is here to help us and walk us through the menu and will assist us through the dinner.

The welcome drink arrives - Sherbat-e-Shahi. This has dates, cashewnuts, gulkhand, almonds. Cold and refreshing, this is a perfect drink to start the evening. As we start, the Chef is here. Chef Vijay is going to send the starters now.

The veg starter is Dahi ke Kebab - Boy ain't I impressed. Succulent, slightly sour from the curd, soft and tender, melts in the mouth and any other yum adjective that I can think of.

The pick of the non veg starters is Lal Mirch ka Jinga. :)

Next to arrive is the bharwan mirchi - molaga bajji molaga stuffed with corn and peas. Not spicy at all, but tastes yum with the tomato garlic side. This is followed by the ambada (gongura) paneer tikka. An interesting combination I must say. I really couldn't feel the taste of gongura but it sure was mildly sour. 

We were asked to try it with lal mirch rotis. Doc asked me to try the zaffrani paranthas. These are made with fine flour and saffron, topped with poppy seeds, almonds and pistachios. Crunchy on the outside, soft and perfectly cooked on the inside, slightly sweet but perfect! 

Doc Waz is eating and the plate is snatched taken away :D :D whattay! ;-)

The main course arrives. 

Sabz Milano (no, not that Milan), Panneer Tamatar and Kheri Dal, with Indian Bread. :) I really can't explain how tasty each dish is. Just that this is a Hyderabadi festival but the food is not SPICY. The Chef explains that the foreigners find it too spicy and hence he had to tone down the spice!

The dessert arrives. Meantime, we were discussing on food blogs :-) And the non vegetarians took on the poor ol' veggie me (the lone lady) with all the teasing - but hey, what's a CFG meet without a little fun! :P :P

Khubani ka meeta (stewed apricot with cream) and shahi tukda - a little too sweet for my liking. And all of us felt that way! 

And we are done.  Chef Vijay Singh is open for feedback and accepts our comments gracefully rather than defending why he made the dish a certain way. Wasim is explaining what he loved. And explain what I loved in the veggie lot. 

A happy lot we are.Doc gave the vote of thanks and we now thank every one else and almost about to step out! Thanks to Karthik - Ayna's manager - for obliging to my request for getting me an internet connection. :) 

This fest is on until next Sunday (10th Nov). Don't miss it! 

I loved blogging live and I'm super kicked about it! I hope I can do this more often :-) 

Adios from Ayna! Thank you for a wonderful experience!

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Crown - Residency Towers - Jewel

The breeze ruffled my hair; almost a lover's gentle caress over my cheeks; as I close my eyes, I can almost feel you, so near, yet so far! I open my eyes to the vast expanse of the horizon, the water gurgling along in the infinity pool and I wished you were here!

That's exactly what this ambience does to you - the breathtaking view of the city coupled with the lovely weather makes you yearn - for the food! (no.. I really wished you were here :-) )

CFG Bloggers meet at The Crown, Residency Towers proved to be yet another delightful evening - good food, great company and icing on the cake - the weather. Few days of heavy rain made for a cool evening and up on the 14th floor, the breeze is unmatched.

Shadir, Aarti and I couldn't stop raving about how beautiful it was.

Mohan from Red Consulting was there to help us with the seating. He remembered me (although incorrectly :P) and Shadir from Fusion 9. We were earlier briefed that it was going to be a navratri festival, but apparently it wasn't! It was a menu put together to cater to a smaller budget. This menu is on until the 28th of this month.

At INR 500, the veg menu included a soup, choice of paneer / vegetables / dal, rice and rotis, and desserts and.. and... 1 cocktail (choice of whiskey, brandy, rum or vodka). The non veg menu is priced at INR 600.

Chef Sakthivel runs the kitchen. With his vast experience and knowledge, he has revamped the entire menu and now is looking to improvise and build a better customer base.

Usually it's us that bombard the chef with questions; this time around the Chef had a question for us - not being from the catering background, how do you write about the food! So, we launched into an explanation of how the customers aren't from a catering background, and while we may not go into the technicalities of preparation, we do write about the experience, the service, the pricing, the ambience so on and so forth.

Alright, now let's dig in. The cocktail had vodka (30 ml), orange juice, orange rind (a little too much that the drink refused to flow through the straw) and some mint; the first sip hit straight and then Aaroo and I realized that it wasn't mixed properly :D At some point, we asked the waiter to filter the drink and bring it.

The starters (note - this is not included in the set menu) arrived - the mushrooms were succulent and  beautifully cooked. The paneer and cauliflower were as they should be. The hara bhara kebab was good. But the potato was the sore point. Almost a wet flour-y texture and perhaps mashed too much is what we felt. The chef explained that it was coated with roasted gram (pottu kadalai) powder. If I were to go again, I wouldn't order this one. 

The continental starters included bruschetta, stuffed zucchini and a round piece of mozarella on another round slice of tomato. My pick - stuffed zucchini. The cheese, however, was a let down. Last to arrive was baby corn fried with tomato and spring onions and loads of curry leaves. This was sooper duper and is on my list of repeat order! 

The main course arrived in style - 3 types of Indian Bread - garlic roti, plain roti and stuffed kulcha (I think) - with 4 sides - dal makhni, one cauliflower gravy, one paneer gravy and one mix veg gravy. My pick - dal makhni - rich and flavorful! The paneer was rubbery and the mix veg gravy was a tad salty. Having eaten authentic biriyani, I thought this one was okay. Quite a bit of ghee and I loved the fried onion on top! 

And finally, the desserts. I told the chef I didn't want vanilla ice cream, so he sent butterscotch :-) 

Rasmalai, Kala jamun, blueberry cheesecake, mud pie, sizzling brownie and apple cinnamon crumble was on the table. 

My pick - Rasmalai and Apple cinnamon crumble. Rasmalai was excellent and if you love apple & cinnamon flavor - then this is a perfect dessert.

Sizzling brownie was a let down - there was very little chocolate sauce, the brownie was dry and the butter was salty! Kala Jamun was good. Mud pie was dry and bland. And the blueberry cheesecake (after having eaten Aysha's & Sangeetha Potty's cheesecakes) was more of a mousse, with blueberry jam. 

The Chef was there with us, during every course, explaining various nuances, talking about food, business, crowd, improvement areas and ambience among other things.

Bottomline - we may not be catering students or from a catering background but we do know our food, and how each dish should / can / may taste, having been cooking for friends and family over the past 8 years. And we learn everyday from experts like Chef Sakthivel and others, with whom we've had an opportunity to interact during our cookouts / workshops and Bloggers meets.

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