Blog Archives
Hawkersan – 7 course meal Vegetarian Food Review
Hawkersan, a Pan Asian restaurant located in the Somerset Greenways in MRC Nagar serves 4 course, 5 course and 7 course meals in a fine dining environment. There are not many restaurants in Chennai serving course meals. The restaurant serves only 7 course dinner but options for all the 3 courses are available for lunch. The menu changes everyday and the same menu repeats only once in 10 days. There is also a la carte available but we felt the course meals were better and gives us a lovely dining experience. We loved the fact of a fixed menu for the course as it gives us an opportunity to explore exquisite menu items. Special thanks to Mr. Ram, the staff of Hawkersan were sweet enough to explain us the menu and its specialty. Open only for lunch from 12 to 3 PM and 7 PM to 11 PM, the 7 course is priced to Rs.995/-, 5 course at Rs.795/- and 4 course at Rs.495/-. Now to the menu we had, it was a 7 course dinner with salad, soup, starters – rolls, steamed and grilled, main course and dessert.
Desi Di Poes Garden Vegetarian Food Review
Desi Di has opened in Poes Garden, Chennai with selected menu items with a focus on celebrating local ingredients. The intention can be seen in the items we ate, specifically the Sweet corn Drumstick (Moringa) soup, Veg Cutlet chops with Beetroot, Corn based Butta Kebab etc. Other interesting aspect is that the Chef Aaron Coutinho has gone that extra mile to bring in regional touch to the menu. The menu has almost 50% vegetarian items. Thanks to the chef for being a vegetarian for 3 months to understand what it means to be one and the difficulty we face in getting variety during our restaurant visits. Now on to the items we had and as usual vegetarian items – Masala papad is always our choice but here we had it with a twist – khakra with paneer burji. A great way to start the food journey, it was served with another novel drink – litchi jamun drink.
Royalasthan for Authentic Rajasthani Thali and A La Carte Vegetarian Food
Decent Vegetarian Rajasthani Food Experience at Royalasthan
We start this post with a positive note that Chennai is seeing opening of more vegetarian restaurants. It is encouraging to see restaurants of specific cuisine and we have a new addition serving Rajasthani food, Royalasthan, located in the street next to AVM Rajeswari marriage hall in Dr.Radhakrishnan Road. The restaurant is not a newbie, it is revamped to serve only vegetarian food. Earlier it was a non-veg restaurant. The Rajasthani restaurants that we are familiar of are buffet restaurants, and this restaurant has a a la carte menu and thalis for lunch. A look at the menu confirmed that the items are affordably priced and half portion option is certainly value for money.
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Vegetarian Buffet – Kerala Food Festival till 30th June at Regenta Central Deccan Olives Restaurant
Kerala Vegetarian Food has its own class and we got an opportunity to have it on a sumptuous buffet spread at Regenta Central Deccan’s Kerala Food Festival by Chef Saraswathi from Trichur. The food got a home touch with her personal involvement in every dish and her passion talks volumes in the food. She has brought in specific spices from Kerala to give that authentic touch to the festival. It is simply STOMACH capacity that forces us to stop.
Another interesting factor is the tholi (skin) use in the dish. The dish is made with kidney beans and nethran skin finely diced and trust me, it was simply awesome. We simply loved the zero waste policy. The chef personally visits us and interacts with us to understand how we enjoy the food. That is a personal touch which feels like Home.
A Visit to Kanchipuram: History culture and tradition
Chennai to Kanchipuram Travelogue
There are very few places in Tamil Nadu that I have visited. Kanchipuram is one of them. I always tend to associate this ancient town with the most exotic silk sarees and exclusive idlis. It was only when I visited the town, that I discovered its real treasures. It was a weekend family trip and we booked a licensed and verified Chennai to Kanchipuram cab. It was only 80 Km from Chennai and was perfect for a day trip. We took NH48 and reached in less than two hours.
One could call this a temple town, with its apparent appearance. As we neared Kanchipuram, the city welcomed us with ancient stone temples, each with the finest carvings and sculptures.
I learned that the establishment of the city dates back to the 6th century when the rulers of the Pallava Dynasty made it into their kingdom capital and ruled from here for two centuries. They created great stone monuments in the neighboring town of Mamallapuram and magnificent temples in Kanchipuram. Some of the temples were later added by the Chola and Vijayanagar kings. As such, the temples of Kanchipuram were not only religious sites but also had historical significance. Most of these places of worship are dedicated to Shiva, Shakti, and Vishnu. There were nearly 50 temples in and around Kanchipuram but we had time to visit only a few. So we went to these three most popular and sacred temples in the city –
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Raining Offers in Dineout app – Do not Miss it
Chennaifocus is a Dineout member and has benefitted quite a lot by using the app. The app offers 20% cashback when we pay through the Dineout Pay option. The process is not extensive and cumbersome. Having been a regular user of Dineout, we were thrilled to see exciting offers, guess it is running only for a few days. Knowing Dineout, we can expect good campaigns and offers from time to time. This is certainly our own personal review of Dineout as a user, and we have always been true to our experience.
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Summer Fest at the Piano Restaurant at the Savera Hotel, Chennai
Indulge in Offers from the Savera on their Summer Fest at the Piano Restaurant
The Piano restaurant is celebrating this season with a SummerFest with specialized food and beverage counters and irresistible offers. It is a buffet and as usual, we reviewed the vegetarian section and the food covers South Indian, North Indian, Continental, Oriental and American dishes and there are more than 15 items for vegetarian alone. The offer is
Come as 3 and pay for 2 and Come as 5 and Pay for 3 only, irresistible indeed. Details of price at the end of the post.
Can A You-tuber Be YOUR Fitness Trainer…?
From the beginning of the 21st century, Media and entertainment entities have been constantly metamorphosing in tune with evolving mediums, with availability of video cameras and CD drives earlier, independent content creators started emerging on various topics including fitness. Now almost two decades down the line with YouTube and rabid availability of smartphones anybody is free to create their own content and go online with fitness not being sparred. Unfortunately, social media audience are being entertained through certain YouTube fitness channels, but unfortunately fitness is no mere entertainment. So here is the one crore rupee question (“Million Dollar is too old school”)
Can a youtuber be your fitness trainer…?
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Café Central – The Place where Food makes Heart Do the Talking
This is a review of a place we have been addicted to in recent times. The restaurant, Café Central located in T.Nagar has enamored us in more than one way. The big plus is the restaurant has given us an option to dine in a hangout trending place as a family with varied tastes. Just a bit of elaboration here, a trendy college going girl with latest taste, a typical south Indian palate and a moderation of both is our family taste. It is certainly a tough call satisfying all of us under one roof and saying that this place has become a favorite place is no exaggeration. Now to the food we had, we already have been there twice, but we just managed to try out just a wee bit of the menu.
Kokkarakko – A must try place for Veg and Non-Veg lovers
Kokkarakko, a new restaurant with no frills was a surprise package for us. The homely ambience and the service confirmed that we will be having a great experience. These days quality food alone does not suffice, we look for service and ambience has taken a new form, we look for a place which is not noisy that we cannot hear our own voice. Kokkarakko gives us a homely feel and the food that we tasted also gave us the same. No preservatives, no stored vegetables ( all are procured fresh), and traditional spices made our dinner a good experience.
Given the list of items available, it is a haven for non-veg eaters with Khadaknath chicken – we were told, it is a specific exotic variety of black chicken procured from Madhya Pradesh, and many other items. Vegetarian food was no less, we had a good range of starters, main course and desserts and yes, the pricing is another big plus. Quite affordable, Kokkarakko has unlimited vegetarian meals of 24 items for Rs.149.
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A Roadtrip to Pulicat and Sriharikota
Have you ever thought of replacing the traditional New Year celebrations with something different and more exciting? After a night of partying, drinking and eating our hearts out, we needed to do something refreshing on the first day of the year. That was when I landed on a documentary video of the Pulicat Lake. And something told me that this is what we should be doing instead of huddling into a room full of loud music and free-flowing beer. Luckily, some people in our clique are wildlife enthusiasts and absolute nature lovers. The immediate next thing was to book a decent cab from Chennai to Pulicat the next morning. And there we were, on our way to an unusual bringing-in of the New Year!
Sumeru Launches Desi Gourmet Dishes Curated by Indian Michelin Star Chef Alfred Prasad
Sumeru Launches Desi Gourmet Dishes Curated by Indian Michelin Star Chef Alfred Prasad
Sumeru is a household name in Frozen foods and we have always found them a good alternative to present those French fries, cheese balls, vegetable nuggets that my daughter so loved, at home. Sumeru in the quest for healthy alternatives have brought in 14 times Indian Michelin Star Chef Alfred Prasad to curate gourmet dishes that is mouth watering and lip smacking. The products were launched in a grand event at Crowne Plaza with Peepul Capital, Sumeru Team and Chef Alfred Prasad. It was a well-planned event and we had the opportunity to taste the dishes and true to all the efforts, the vegetarian dishes – Super millet kichadi and Coromandel Shahi Paneer (based on Andhra chili chicken, chicken replaced with Paneer) were awesome. The other non-vegetarian dishes include Coromandel Roast chicken and Signature pepper chicken.
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Chennai Focus – A Lifestyle Perspective 