Rajdhani, Express Avenue, Chennai

The 1st time i visited this restaurant was on the day of the launch. Was at EA with 2 friends and we hopped in for dinner!! It was divine.... I enjoyed the food but felt i couldnt do justice to the number of dishes served...

The 2nd time i took my grandparents & parents here for lunch and watching them devour the food, savouring every bite was worth the visit...

3rd time, yes i've been here numerous times which shows how much i enjoy the food.. this time it was my Bday dinner with close friends... :)

And the 4th & most recent visit was on 1st Jan with entire family, we were about 10 of us. I called ahead to make a reservation, but the man who answered politely told me they dont take bookings and that waiting time is only about 5-10mins...

 The food is a fixed thali menu, one that changes everyday and is served as many times as you like.. Yes, it is unlimited. As soon as you walk towards the hotel, you can see the number of people waiting outside.. but trust me when i say the wait is no more than 10mins, no matter how big a group you are... If you notice, on the window is a shelf with a Thali displaying the Menu for the day!! :)

From the minute you are seated to the signing on the bill, it is all done so seemlessly, i was amazed the 1st time i saw the whole process unfold.. The waiters are not yelling to each other, there is no talking, heck, no calling out to others. Each one is assigned to a particular dish and they keep bringing it around. If you tell them you want a particular dish, all they do is signal in the air and within seconds you are served. From the Dhokla, Corn kachori to Kichidi, side dishes, everything is piping hot. I love their Daal, Gatte ki sabzi, rotis, mithai, and well everything else in between as well. The food is not only filling, but also light and filled with flavour....

Oh, not to forget, the thali comes at a very affordable price.. Around Rs350 per person, incl Tax!



Ambiance -4/5
Service -4.5/5
Price- 4/5
Overall Rating -4.5/5


Address: 
Express Avenue Mall, 3rd Floor- End of Food court on right, 
Whites Road, Royapettah , 
Chennai- 600014
Phone:  (044) 28464422 , (044) 28464433

Recipe- Crisp cauliflowers

It had been raining, plus the weather was chill.. One of those days when we wanted something hot to nibble on! Grandparents were watching a Carnatic concert on TV while I snuck into the kitchen and started looking around for something to make..

Raided the refrigerator, found a cauliflower.. Also managed to find Maida, Cornflour, and Rice flour.. Here is what I made-

Cauliflower-1 - cleaned and parboiled
Maida- 2tbsp
Rice flour- 1tsp
Cornflour-1tbsp
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Water- just enough to bind the mixture
Oil- to fry

Process-
Boil the cauliflower florets after a thorough cleaning..

Mix all other ingredients in a bowl.. Should be thick enough to coat the vegetable you have chosen..

In a Pan, heat up required amount of oil..

Once oil is hot, start popping in the cauliflower one by one and let it turn golden brown before taking them out..

Serve it up hot with ketchup or Kasundi(mustard sauce)..

Was divine and a nice surprise snack :)

Caffe Crush, T Nagar

Located across the road from One MB, the Chat house on Habibullah Road, Caffe Crush is one of those places that you might miss if you dint know of its exact location. A small entrance that opens into a fairly large space, Caffe Crush is quite the coffee shot. Dont be conned by its exterior!! 

 

We seated ourselves in a sofa near the entrance as almost all other seats in the inner room were taken. Ordered a Hot chocolate, a Capuccino and 2 Sandwiches-one chicken and other was peas & corn in brown bread, all of which were delightful and Hot.... There was one guy behind the counter who seemed to double up as the waiter and manager.

Dont expect any frills or fancies here, but you can be assured of good service and yummy eats and drinks.  The items on the menu were also priced reasonable. Our bill came to Rs140, incl tax and tip. The room inside had more sofas, and seemed ideal even for official meetings. 

It is only the road outside and the pavement that seems rickety, plus there are no good parking spots nearby, you need to park across the road or further down and walk to the Cafe.

The decor is minimal, but i quite enjoyed the little posters on the walls. One of the narrow walls on the other side had many post its in the shape of cup n saucers, where people had written their comments and opinions. All this added to the ambiance. There was a table near the counter that had an assortment of little curio items, including African figurines, snow balls and few other little dolls. The sofa was quite comfy, with a nice brown cushion with a simple pattern on it..

All in all, a good place for a cup of coffee and light eats!! Will i go back, most certainly!!

Price- 8/10
Ambiance- 8/10
Service- 8/10
Overall Rating- 8/10

Address:

72 Habibullah Road[The road opp Vidyodaya School], 

T.Nagar , Chennai

Phone: 044 42606931

Peta Wrap

It had been a long and tiring day, plus i was unwell, sniffling away to glory. Towards evening, i could hear my tummy rumble as i was heading back home.. Took a small detour towards Anna nagar, knowing i would find something interesting to bite into and voila, saw the vibrant yellow coloured PetaWrap booth.stall[call it whatever you wish] and instantly pulled over and grabbed a channa wrap.. its my favourite wrap and it was
divine!!

The guy at the counter took less than 5mins to whip me up the wrap, and it was neatly wrapped in a tissue...
They had quite a few options, and i noticed the wrap came in Methi thepla kinda chappati, which added to the flavour.

Only a few days earlier, i savoured a Channa wrap outside AVM Sound Zone after a brief stopover to check out the DVD/CD sale... 


 Hot, yummy, filled with flavour and quite filling as well... Perfect!! This is the 2nd or 3rd or 4th time that Peta wrap has come to my rescue!! :)