Vrat Thali at Mast Kalandar

It is Navratri time and people all over are busy preparing for the festivals, gearing up for the holidays and planning their weekly menu. 

While the South Indians abstain from eating onion-garlic during these 9 days and have only tiffin items for dinner, the North Indians fast in a different way- they abstain from eating rice, wheat [any by product of wheat], grains and pulses as well, apart from the no onion no garlic diet. This makes it quite difficult as there are very few items available for one to cook with or eat during this fasting season. 

Mast Kalander, one of the leading North Indian veg meal restaurant have taken this into consideration and put together a meal that address the various issues and concerns. For the Navratri season, they have created a Vrat thali which consists of Puris, pakoda, side dishes and sweets made with ingredients people are allowed to eat.

The puri is made with Kuttu [ water chestnut flower], kela chaat [ banana chat] similarly the dessert is coconut laddoo, there is also a paneer sabzi where the paneer is not cooked, but just scrambled by hand in a very light gravy and chole gravy as well. All of these dishes are made with Sendha namak [ rock salt as people dont eat table salt during this vrat phase]. There was also another dessert we tried, which was  Makhana kheer [ lotus seed kheer]. The highlight of this meal is that the entire thali is priced at Rs229 [dine in] and Rs149 [take away mini vrat thali].  The puri was dark in colour and tad crispier than our regular puri [ but apart from this there was no major taste difference]. I quite liked the paneer sabzi [ they had used ajwain even though most people who fast dont eat ajwain, but for need of flavour this spice had been used]

If you are not the kind to experiment, you can always pick up the Utsav maha thali combo, they have one very similar to the vrat thali, but the puri is made with carrot/beetroot puree to give it a rich colour, there was a daal with cereals & lauki, kofta gravy a gulab jamun and a small serving of pulao as well. If your sweet buds are still not satiated, you should try their malpua- it is sinful and heavy duty [with sweet rabdi poured generously on top]. With all this food and sweets, I needed a glass of Chaas to wash it all down :)

The highlight of the meet at Mast Kalandar was we got to meet their CEO Mr Gaurav Jain and get a glimpse into his journey, and his experience with Mast Kalandar. They are also the only restaurant to have 65 outlets across the country.... 

To know more , visit http://www.mastkalandar.com/

You can also read about Gaurav & pallavi's journey here

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)

Entree, Express Avenue once again...

There are very few restaurants that I go to more than once, and this is one of them. I am talking about Entrée in Express Avenue, in the E Hotel.  We were back there for a nice lunch on a beautiful Sunday. The 4 of us got a table near the entrance, far away from the big family that was celebrating a special occasion or just getting together for lunch. Even though this meant the walk to the Buffet spread was longer, it gave us a space that was quiet and secluded.

Since the Chinese New Year had just gone by, they had included a few Oriental dishes in their menu. Priced at Rs525+ tax, this buffet is quite the value for money. During my past few visits, I have always made a beeline towards the Thai curry and noodles which stands out among their dishes. Today, I was staring at dishes that were new and looked interesting. Even though the list of vegetables that are used in vegetarian dishes is limited, it is good to see the variety on offer.

The meal began with a light Chinese soup, which had a lot of greens and few slivers of vegetables. Soon after, we saw a plate of baby corn fritters arrive served with a chilli garlic sauce, which was quite good. Moving on, we wandered around the buffet, picking up a spoonful of ratatouille, a veg risotto, vegetables cooked teppan style, burnt garlic noodles with bean curd Chinese veg gravy. There was also the delicious vegetable augratin, which had plenty of broccoli, apart from other vegetables. The buffet also had a range of salads, mushroom pulao, plain rice and curd rice which was served alongside pickles and mor mulagai vathal [dried chilli crispies]. Just when we were thinking of checking out the desserts, we were served a portion of Pasta- Fusili cooked in creamy cheese sauce that was lip smackingly good and paneer quesadilla of sorts [forgot the name] but it was quite good as well.

The assortment of desserts in the buffet included a cake, a pista based sweet and 3 different flavours of ice cream. Once again, we were privy to a few interesting desserts- chocolate made 3 different ways- one was orange flavoured chocolate, another dark chocolate and one more was chocolate with a nutty flavour. There was one more which was a variation of the walnut tart. The highlight for me was the baked yoghurt which was served with a few slices of strawberry, melon and kiwi.

This restaurant is ideal for those who are in the mall and looking for a standalone restaurant serving up vegetarian fare.  Oh and the menu keeps changing, so go for it and let me know what you thought of the place! :D 

The E Hotel also has 3 banquet halls upstairs, and rooms across categories- the normal double occupancy and the suit [which connects to a regular room]. The other interesting feature here is the Pub that is nearly ready, Elixir, which hopefully should launch by March.

It was a good lunch, as always!! And I knew I would be back here once again for a meal…

Address: 

Entree

E Hotel, Ground Floor, Express Avenue Mall, Whites Road, 

Royapettah, Chennai

Ph-   044 28463333

Disclaimer:
The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember that restaurants and eat outs sometimes change with time, so does their food and service. So, kindly consider these factors while visiting the places. Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit  :-)