Crimson Chakra - For the nth time

So, CC launches a new menu and having been asked to be part of a group to give feedback on how this was, I can only say I was impressed.

There was a good number of vegetarian dishes, a lot of paneer amongst that. I loved every dish on the menu except the basil vegetable fried rice - which I loved a little less for want of more basil :)

The menu card was neatly rolled and tied with a satin ribbon. We began with a drumstick charu. I quite thought it was going to be like sambar but was pleasantly surprised that it was very light on the palate.

There were three veg starters, all of which had paneer in them. The paneer was soft and delicious and CC has nailed the paneer dishes.

On to the main course, the breads were soft even when they weren't hot, so much so that some of them couldn't wait for a fresh serving and gobbled the not-so-hot naans and kulchas. The veg jalfrezi was excellent and we ate a whole bowl without the breads. The pita bread was fresh and the filling sumptuous (more paneer)

The dessert was the quintessential Indian kulfi. Need I say more. It was the perfect end to this delicious meal.

As a side note, CC @ night caters to those night owls who stay up late and have a midnight craving for some amazing food. I've ordered from them and have had a fantastic experience. You can reach them on +919962996116. The menu is available here.

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CHAO - Pan Asian

Yet another CFG showcase; only this time the sole vegetarian (that's moi) was treated with great respect. That's one thing I constantly look for these days. After a miserable experience at another restaurant earlier last month, this was a refreshing change.

The ambiance was soothing and calm; not to mention the plethora of Buddha statues everywhere. We were guided to the private dining room in the basement.

The dishes served for this meal are not on the menu and you'd need to make reservations earlier and mention that you'd need the chef's special. This would be for a group of 10 or more, priced at 1500 upwards depending on the dishes.

And so the dinner began - Soup Sayur - a rasam kind of soup with lots of ginger - a perfect beginning to a rainy evening. It was spicy no doubt, but that spice is something you'd want to savor.

The crispy corn and spinach was crisp and delicious. It's the usual crispy corn but there was something to it that I couldn't really put my finger on. This was a clear winner even with the non vegetarians.

This was followed by poached Pok Choy with garlic and when they said garlic, you'd hope to see some bits of garlic here and there. But boy, this was doused in garlic, enough to feed an army. And no, there was no pungent taste and was quite mild on the palate. How? The chef wouldn't say!

Broccoli is my favorite and I've said that so many times on this blog. The braised broccoli with Tofu was excellent (notwithstanding the fact that I don't like tofu much). Next up was the drunken noodles with bang bang salad. Yes the noodles had a bit of alcohol, a teeny weeny bit. And the bang bang salad was a chicken salad. A variation without chicken was served for the lone vegetarian. This gesture is much appreciated. A variation of coconut rice was also served to round up the meal.

The portions were just right; the plates were wiped clean and that says a lot about the food.

Finally, chocolate mousse with orange chantalay and strawberries in reduced red wine - well what can I say! The berries in red wine was just too good. We even got a small bowl of dark chocolate to smell and taste. The chef explained how the red wine reduction was made and even suggested a couple of recipes to go, as I discussed how I made this at home a few weeks ago.

Overall, a double thumbs up and another visit is in order soon.

CHAO is located in North Boag Road, TNagar, Chennai 17.

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The Baker Showcase - League of the Legends - Anniversary Special

A year since the Home Bakers Guild started; A year since my knowledge in cakes, cookies, frosting, fondants and all those terminologies expanded; A year since I made some good friends and a year since I started experimenting with small bakes.

Most of all, a year that saw oodles of talent, tremendous perseverance, some great knowledge sharing, instant brownies to elaborate wedding cakes, bouquets to theme cakes, appreciation, encouragement, record breaking likes and comments - the Guild saw it all. It's now that time of the year, the Anniversary Showcase special - The League of the Legends.

10 talented and experienced bakers come together for the largest bake sale ever. For those of you who have already been part of these events, I need say no more. For the rest, don't fret that you've missed the earlier editions. Be there on the 22nd, at Sandy's, Ganapathy Colony, Off Cenotaph Road, Chennai at 4 pm. The venue is one of my favorite places in the city - great food and a fantastic property.

I'm super proud to have been associated with this event as a blogger and volunteer ever since it all began. KP Balakumar - Thank you for the opportunity and here's wishing you the best! You've been doing a grand job and we know the amount of crazy background work it takes to set up the event and run the guild. You deserve all the success.

Here's a quick look at some of the bakers that are going to whip up a storm

Maaria Kulsum Tanveer - Adoniya

Does this lady need an introduction! An expert in theme cakes, Maaria is mighty thrilled to be part of this showcase. She has been part of many other bake sales but this is her first time with HBG and she claims she's in jitters (like we all believe that). 

Cup cakes, Ferrero Rocher cake and my favorite Espresso Cheesecake brownies and Red "Velvet" cakes are also part of this showcase. 

Karthika Shravanthi - Bakeman Begins 

The IT Pro turned future Le Cordon Bleu Pastry Chef is all set to wow us at this showcase before she heads off to learn the nuances of pastry making. 

Her last showcase was a sell out. And she plans to add healthy and gluten free bakes to her menu this time. Says Karthika "I've worked on all the feedback from the last showcase; so hopefully this one is going to be much better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed". 

Well, so are we. Good luck for the showcase and we hope to see you soon in a different avtar.

Rose Anne George - Oven 180 degrees 

The ever-smiling soft spoken Rose is famous for her French macarons. I've had the chance (the advantages of living close by) to taste her Dulce de leche cheese cake and May I say I was hooked. 

She's bringing some summer fruit flavors this time, eggless and otherwise, cheese cake platters, tarts and a lavender cake among others.

All the best Rose. I look forward to grabbing those blue macarons :-)

Divya Ninan-Eapen - Tangerine's Kitchen 

This gorgeous baker is bringing a whole load of twisted / braided / stuffed breads, not to mention the hot favorites - the choco chip cake and cream cheese cake. The vanilla bean pound cake, which I am eagerly looking forward to, is going to be on the menu. 

Mini quiches, mini cheesecakes and a little kiddie counter are going to be her specialties this time. 

Divya has her home-studio where she paints on sarees, stoles, tee shirts and the likes. You can check it out here - https://www.facebook.com/Rachel.HandpaintedFibreArt


Can't wait, Divya. All the best and see you soon

Neha and Sapna - The sweetest thing

Sisters in arms, Neha and Sapna are participating in their first showcase. This maiden venture is going to see them bring an assortment of "sweetest" things, with the specialties being chai cup cakes and bread and butter pudding. 

They say that "the sweetest thing" is to make their customers happy! :-)

All the best girls. Bring it on.








Watch this space for the post event pictures and articles on the 22nd of this month. If you don't make it to the venue, all you can do is drool at the pictures :-)

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Spoonbill - Exotic Street Food

2 months later, after having managed to inch closer to my weight loss target, I decided to go ahead with one of the CFG Showcases at Spoonbill, Alwarpet.

It was great to meet the bunch of naughty fellows from CFG and that was something I truly missed.

Without further ado, let me present to you Spoonbill.

Charlie owns and runs Spoonbill. It's a resto-cafe and is open from 11 am - 11 pm. A few more branches will be opened in Chennai, before Charlie ventures into other cities.

As Charlie explained the menu, the gang was super hungry and waited impatiently for the food to arrive. Afterwards, it was literally "digging in". The crepes were torn apart, the burritos butchered and the desserts were squeezed within an inch of their lives.

I cover the veg menu here. Overall I loved all the dishes (or items as Faz called them), except that it was a general opinion that the fillings were a tad salty. Perhaps we are used to less salt in our household?

The first to arrive on the table was the Piadina (OTC & Cheese), followed by mushroom crepes, corn and spinach crepes. We then moved on to the Indian menu - hara bhara kebab and palak paneer kebab. The mexican burritos had a lot of beans and not enough salsa to compensate, so the flavor was lacking. The mozarella + jalapeno empanada from the Portuguese menu was piping hot but again a tad salty.

We then dug into the Turkish falafel salad. The bread (Brötchen) that was served with the non vegetarian dishes was to die for. Slightly hard on the outside but super soft on the inside, it was THE accompaniment.

The nutella and ice cream crepes made the perfect end to the meal.

The dishes are priced Rs 110 upwards on the vegetarian front. The desserts are priced at Rs 180 upwards.

*This post is part of the CFG Showcase. 

** Spoonbill is located in TTK Road, Alwarpet, opp Samsung Showroom.

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Aromas of China

It'd been an insanely bad week and I was really looking forward to this dinner. Sometimes, you learn the hard way, to not expect.

Located in the heart of the food junction of Chennai, Aromas Of China boasts some really cool neighbors. The usual CFG gang landed at this place and by 730 we started dinner. The menu was sent well in advance.

Well lit ambiance, white crockery and stylish cutlery are just some positive aspects of this place. The seats weren't that great, especially the sofas and some even compared it to a share auto.

I quite didn't like the jasmine flavored tea that was served.

The eight treasure soup lacked flavor. I couldn't find one treasure in the soup, leave alone 8. The soup was too corny, er, I mean, too much corn flour in the base. (Aarti - your effect is rubbing off ;-) )

The crispy chilli corn pepper was crisp. A decent starter. The vegetable konjeenaro dry was terribly dry, tasteless and crisp. If we were able to manage spoonfuls of any of the above, it was largely due to the chilli sauce. It tasted yum and we almost finished 3 - 4 cups of this sauce.

A veg momo appeared on the plate and I really don't have much to say about this.

As we waited for the main course, we almost lost patience and considered stepping off to Haagen Dazs for some desserts. The chilli butter noodles was decent on the palate while the dumplings in soya chilli sauce and mix veg sichuan chilli sauce left a lot to be desired.

Given that the meal so far was a complete let down, we were hoping the desserts would save the evening and save they did. Hot chocolate rolls, Almond flaked Darshan.. er.. darsaan (Jenny - couldn't help it :D ) and vanilla ice cream were good. The vanilla ice cream though, didn't seem to have any vanilla in it.

Unless I'd lost my olfactory senses this morning, I could neither sense any aroma nor was there any China (except of course the mandarined lanterns and the fact that they were trying to celebrate Chinese New Year of the Snake ;-) ) in this place. And surprisingly, it was full for a Thursday evening.

For the first time, I am going with a rating mechanism here

Food: 1/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Service: 2/5 (I am tempted to say 1, but there were moments when the service was okay)

* This is part of CFG Showcase. Food is subjective and your taste buds are different from mine. 

* A meal for two would cost around INR 1500+ - each dish is priced at 300 upwards

*Aromas of China is on KNK Road, opp Kryptos By Willi.

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