The Gateway comes to Chennai..

REFRESH... F5 ... those were the key words for the day! Why? Well, it was time to refresh the hospitality sector in Chennai, time to welcome a new entrant, accept the fact that Chennai had also arrived.. 

We walked into the open lobby and instantly I noticed the piece of art on the wall- it was from Kailashnath temple in Kancheepuram, and the seating area beyond that had another section from the same temple. And suddenly there was sunlight streaming in, a long pathway that led to the banquet hall flanked by the swimming pool on one side and a restaurant on the other. We then entered the hall and it took us a minute to get our eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Straight ahead was something that resembled a stack of honeycombs. There were 7 in total with people sitting in them. There were a few with musical instruments and 2 ladies who looked like dancers, one on the top grid and another below. The performance that followed was beautiful, soothing and captivating! So, what was the event? The Gateway was opening its doors officially in Chennai!! 

The Taj Group launched The Gateway Hotel IT Expressway Chennai, the first hotel under the Gateway Hotels & Resorts brand in the city. The brand unveiled in 2008 caters primarily to the upscale segment, welcoming business executives and travellers alike. The rooms here range between  Rs 4,500 and Rs 8,500. 

The group plans to set up 20 more Gateway hotels over the next 2-3 years pan India -Tirupati, Corbett, Pune, Raipur , Kolkata, and Faridabad with an investment of Rs 50 lakhs a room.  During the launch meet, Prabhat Verma, chief operating officer, The Gateway Hotels & Resorts said "Eight more hotels will come up in the next 18 months and we will have 40 plus hotels coming up in the next three years and double this number in six years". Wow, that is quite an overwhelming number!

We were also introduced to the chief Chef- Natarajan who spoke about how Tanjore cuisine is going to play a big role int he food served in the main restaurant. And then we were given the grand tour of the place. First stop was the Sian - the restaurant offering Oriental cuisine.  it has been elegantly done up in simple colours and comfortable seating. 

From there, we meandered through the lobby towards Swirl, the bar.  Long and spacious, it was quite bright unlike most other pubs/bars we see in the city. Looked like a cool place to hang out with a bunch of friends.  The walls across the corridors were done up aesthetically with art work reflecting out tamil culture and heritage. We were then shown to the elevator and headed upstairs to take a tour of the place beyond. We saw a few rooms, the conference halls, the gym, the spa and wound up with a view of the beautiful swimming pool.

And then, Lunch was served. There was a strange looking barrel filled with ice with glass bottles filled with water like liquid in them. Discovered these were flavoured water- some had slices of strawberry, while others had thyme, and then there were a few with cardamom pods and sabja seeds in them. The one thing that impressed me about the entire space was the use of natural lighting. It makes such a big difference, both visually and aesthetically. It is always lovely to sit in a restaurant that is naturally lit against one filled with light fixtures. The restaurant offered buffet lunch, with dishes spanning from  India [both North Indian & South Indian], Italy and to other parts of the world as well. 

There was quite a spread- breads, juices [bitter gourd and gooseberry], different kinds of cheeses, olives, cured meat, salads, mini starters, lasagne [single portion size in circles], naan daal, vathakozhambu Knol kol curry to exotic dishes as well. There were some interesting desserts, some of which had fresh figs, kiwi, strawberries and other candied items on them. 

The  buffet is priced at Rs 850 +tax and is ideal for those who are looking for something that is away from the city. And if you happen to visit, do take a look at the art work around the place :-) 

Address:

Rajiv Gandhi IT Expy, Sholinganallur  Chennai, TN 600119
Ph- 044 6680 2500

[Recipe] Celebrating International Chocolate Day - Chocolate Pancakes

To be honest, am not a big chocolate fan. Am not the kind who will rush to grab that last piece of chocolate or attack the bar once someone hands it over. I don't opt for chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake, i always reach out for the apple pie or anything with berry in it. But then, one morning I walked into my kitchen, pulled out pretty much all that sat in one particular shelf in my fridge and discovered there was a bag of chocolate chips.. That was probably a sign from above asking me to make something with chocolate! Who am I to disagree..

I ended up making Chocolate Pancakes for breakfast and they were yummy..

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tbsp Milk
1 egg
2 tsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
Handful of chocolate chips[Ghirardelli]

Process:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients
2. Now add the wet ingredients and whisk well
3. Take a pan, add some oil/ butter and add dollops of the batter in small circles. Allow them to cook for 2mins on each side and voila, fluffly soft delicious pancakes are ready..

You can pretty much add anything you like to the pancakes. I have made using fruits, once with cheese and jalapeno as well.

I had these with honey!!

And guess what, today is International Chocolate Day! Who would have thought :-))

Preparation time: 5mins
Cookigg time: 5mins

Tuscana.. un'altra [once more]

 For someone who has been bitten by the travel bug, am one of those who enjoys visiting new places everything I plan a trip. But since I was not really travelling, but just revisiting a familiar cuisine, I was ok to head back to Tuscana in Wallace Garden. This is a slightly smaller place when compared to the one on Chamiers Road. 

I have been here quite a number of times, sometimes with friends and other times for a meeting. This is the restaurant that introduced me to thin crust pizzas and panna cotta. From then on, I have had these dishes numerous times and quite like them. 

Another thing that was going to be different about tonight was that there was a new lady in the house, Neha had left and Priyanka was in her place. She wanted to meet the gang and introduce us to some of the new dishes that had found its place on the menu.

We were seated in the room near the pizza oven, which had quite a rustic interior. The walls were covered with paintings made by specially abled people and were up for sale. And then suddenly the  place was pitch dark, power had gone. But luckily restored in a few minutes! By then all had arrived and finally the evening was on its way. The 1st to arrive was an appetizer of sorts- a plate with crisp pizza base served alongside a tomato dip and some cut veggies. We were all quite hungry and the plates were polished within moinutes. Next up arrived the hot juicy garlic bread, it was called Baguette all’Aglio and was oozing with butter and garlic.  We had quite a few of these, which shows how hungry we all were.

Thankfully, there came along plates of fresh salads- Insalata Caprese and Insalata Toscana. the1st was a salad that we all loved- fresh slices of mozerella cheese, tomato, basil, and crisp chips. The other salad was a total contrast, it had heaps of lettuce, olives, crunchy pears, cheese and a splash of Chives.   

As the conversation flowed, we went through one more round of black out and then came the pizzas. There were quite a few pizzas, one with a variety of veggies- colour capsicums & onion, then came the Chilli pizza which I felt was quite spicy [ couldnt even finish the 1 tiny slice I cut, the heat of jalepenos was a killer in this] and I have lost count of how many glasses of water I gulped down. Phew... 

Along came the pastas, showing off their flavours and hogging the limelight.. First up was the Alla Norma (Gluten Free penne).. Next up, put your hands together for the show stopped, the winner of the evening- Aglio Aromatizzata, fettuccine that was filled with oomph. What a way to end the meal.

 Oh wait, i see something squarish small arriving on a plate. What is it? it is a chocolate cake? or was it a tiramisu.. Yes, it is a tiramisu, served alongside some gooey custard it was heaven. Unfortunately I cant say the same about its friend, the expresso panna cotta- dint like it too much, and the texture was tad weird as well, we literally had to cut through it to take a bite.  

And with that ladies and gentlemen we shall draw the curtains on yet another evening.. Was it good? Was it bad? well, it was definitely somber, the entire evening was missing the usual buzz and energy.. wonder why!! 

Tuscana is a place you to go for the thin crust pizzas and interesting salads. 

Add:

Wallace Garden 3rd St, Thousand Lights

Chennai, TN

044 4503 8008

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  :-)

Tadka Talk- Sunday Brunch and set lunch!

Here I was, heading back down the road that had by now become familiar. Sunday 12 noon  and I was headed to Tadka Talk [Situated behind Chennai Business School, in road opp TCS on Velachery Taramani Link road] for their Sunday brunch.

I had been here earlier  few months ago and felt the place was alright, there was nothing that stood out or made me want to go back! But then there is always a 2nd time, always a "maybe there is something different" circumstance, which is what led a hunch of us to land here this Sunday!

I walked in, grabbed a table and looked around the place waiting for the others to stream in. I noticed there was a change in the interiors, the artwork on the wall and so on. The Brunch was laid out in Buffet format, and there was also a separate counter in a corner for Pani Puri.

The menu is quite extensive-

We started the day with paani puri, and they were good, I did wish the puri had been crispier, maybe they had gone soft since they were kept in open in the AC restaurant. Moving on, I grabbed a glass of Lassi [kesar pista wali lassi] and then tried the cranberry juice. Also sipped some Shikanji which was very good, quite refreshing! 

Hunger bells began ringing in our bellies and we made a beeline for the starter section- there was a hariyali tikki [1st batch was very good while 2nd had overdose of salt], malai gobi [which was dunked in mustard sauce], paneer tikka [good], mirchi bhajji [I died and spent a good half hour in hell after the 1st bite, normally we make this with the light green big chillies, but here they had used regular green chiliies with seeds and all , which led to my state] there was also an assortment of bhajis [potato and few other veggies]. These were served alongside sweet chutney, spicy sauce, tomato ketchup and mango chutney. 

I braced myself for the maincourse and went ahead and asked for a few Indian breads [naan/kulcha] and took a spoon of the side dishes-  Aloo capsicum, kadai paneer and kadi pakoda. I quite loved the kadi pakoda side and had it with a hot naan. Did take a spoonful of the Peas Pulao, but felt it was tad oily and veggies were overcooked. Since am not a big rice eater, I went ahead and tried the Kulcha. There was also pickle, a boondi raita on the menu.

I was tired, hadnt sleep and all I wanted to do was get back home and crash! But not before trying their desserts- had a bite of the Gulab jamun which was very good, and also tried the Phirni- taste was good, but texture was funny [almost custardy, like they had added gelatin]. 

Somewhere during the brunch, we were told they had a set menu lunch for Rs199/- and a sample plate was shown. it looked good enough, infact I have realised that most times the set lunch looks small but is more than enough..

I had had a crazy night and so wasnt really myself, which when combined with barely any sleep showed in my eyes and overall feel of the day. Friends infact commented that I was withdrawn, quiet and dint spend much time yapping with them. I wish the food had perked me up, but alas.... Looks like this will be my 2nd and last visit to this restaurant. Plus, let us not forget the distance and time it takes from home!! 

Notes:

I request the chef to relook at the recipes, get the staff to follow it to the dot if they want the salt/flavours to be consistent.

The rotis need to be softer [even though they were hot they werent soft.] 

Price:

The Sunday brunch is priced at Rs 450+tax

Set lunch menu- Rs 199/-

Address:

#6 & 7, Baby Nagar First Main Rd, Ramagiri Nagar, 

Velachery  

Chennai - 600042
Phone: 044 4321 3838

Tadka Talk is located in the narrow lane right opposite TCS Velachery, it is behind Chennai business school.

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  :-)