Avenue 195, Greams Road, Chennai

[image courtesy-www.ocr-it.com]

No, no I am not learning a new language, but infact just telling “hello” in different languages. You might need to know this before you step into Avenue 149. This is a restaurant, it is an address, it is all about global cuisine.

If you are the kind who loves a good buffet, then this is the restaurant for you. They have quite a spread, and it is quite the value for money, if you ask me! Even though a buffet is a spread that I am not likely to head straight for, I was very keen to check it out here. All thanks to the kind of food offered and the service and price factor ofcourse.

The buffet starts with the soup, a few salads, 4 starters, quite a range of main dishes, including the live counter for pasta, Chinese noodles, and rice dishes, and then there is the elaborate dessert section. From the Indian gulab jamun to cheese cake to not one but 4 flavours of ice cream, you have it all.

Talking to the man who helped set up and kick start the place, Chef Vijay, we learnt quite a few inside information about all that goes into setting up a kitchen. It was very interesting, insightful and fun discussion. He spoke to us about the different ingredients they have used in the sauces and dishes, for example, their Pesto is made with Coriander+ mint+ pistachio as against the traditional basil and pine nuts.  The main concept behind this restaurant was to introduce people to different cuisines and offer good food, nothing more~!!

When I questioned him about the name and the style of the name board, he explained that "195 countries in the world are registered with the United Nations and therefore the '195', the 'Avenue' was cos it was used to denote an area, an address." The name board is in the shape of an arrow, just as it is all over to denote the direction. What a cool thing! 

And over the weekend, the menu contains not 4 but 14 starters. Yes, you read it right.  What makes it all so exciting is that menu changes nearly every day. So even if you were to visit the place more than once in a fortnight, you are in for quite a few new dishes and surprises.

I had the Minestrone soup which was good, lots of vegetables followed by a mix veg tempura [ though I felt the outer batter was bit too much], then came the gobi Manchurian which was quite good. And then came the big bowl of nachos with baked beans instead of refried beans [ the 1st thing I noticed was that these nachos were round unlike the usual triangle]. While the non veg starters were devoured with a lot of Ooh aah, I enjoyed the veg starters as well. Then came the two chaat items, both of which were really fresh, crisp and filled with flavour- paani puri and dahi papdi chaat.  

Oh, and I also tried veg sushi [ it was good, but bland and needed the soya sauce to add some zing to it, I missed the wasabi]...By now, I had lost track of how many starters we had. And that is when Chef asked if we wanted to order something to drink- we each chose a drink- I chose the carrot & apple pie juice, and while others chose the banana honey juice and the other one was simply divine [ blend of orange, pineapple, strawberry and something else- it tasted divine indeed]..

And then came the main courses, we took our sweet time wandering around, exploring the buffet, choosing the pasta, veggies, the sauce [ I tried the fusilli pasta with broccoli and zucchini cooked in pesto] and also took sample of some of the other dishes on the buffet. I loved my pasta [though i felt the pasta had been cooked a few seconds more than I liked] and going by the reaction, others did too. There was tomato sauce and cream sauce as well for the pasta. Was fairly stuffed and so did not try the Chinese rice/noodles live counters, reserved it for next time.  I declined the request for Indian breads and steered clear of Indian gravies.  We spent some time chit chatting, building up an appetite for desserts. I tried the tiny gulab jamuns, a small scoop of strawberry ice cream and the cream with kiwi sauce.

So, if you are planning a family lunch or just a casual meet with your friends, this place would be a good choice. And don’t go expecting to see all that I have mentioned, remember I told you the menu changes…

Timings: 12 to 3 pm and 6.30 to 11pm

A meal for 2 would work out to about Rs 1200/- on a weekday and about Rs70 more over the weekend. 

Address:

13/33, Shafee Mohammed Road,

Opposite To Apollo Children's Hospital & below Zaitoon

Nungambakkam,

Chennai- 34

Ph: 044 43195195, 044 28290195

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 :-)