Old School dishes, familiar flavours… at Mamagoto

The Old School Menu

Fresh orange juice and crisps

Crispy corn

Stir fry- Mushroom & baby corn

Dimsums

Chop Suey

Buddha Bowl

Sponge cake with caramel sauce & coconut ice cream

It had been a while since my last visit.. The place had changed quite a bit, mainly with ref to the interiors. It felt lot more spacious and peaceful!! Today, it was time to take a ride back in time, to Mamagoto where Mama who was going to cook up Indo-Chinese favourites for me… It is always good to revisit the old, especially when it consists of dishes and flavours you are familiar with and love. 

At Mamagoto, they have put together a menu with a few select dishes that will have you reminiscing about the good old days .. You have the Mussoorie Mall Road Spring Rolls, Bombay Club Sesame Toast, Chop suey [Crispy noodles] , Stir fried Broccoli in ginger sauce and many others [ veg & non veg ].. I had a meal that consisted of crispy fried corn, a tangy stir fry of baby corn and mushroom, followed by delicious discs [4 diff kinds, the Buddha bowl, Chop suey and finished off with a simple sponge cake served with warm caramel sauce & coconut ice cream[ it is usually served with plain vanilla ice cream]

My favourite among these was the mushroom baby corn stir fry and Buddha bowl.. The chop suey was good as well, fun to eat the crunchy noodles with the hot sour sweet sauce, wiping it off your chin as you try to stuff one big spoonful into your mouth.. They were dishes I havent had in a while and one that not many places serve today! I infact have friends and family who love these dishes and keep talking about how not many places serve them anymore.

Even though this menu is slated to be around for a short duration, they just might extend it based on the demand and popularity… 

Address: 

Mamagoto

Shop No. 9, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, 

Nungambakkam, 

Chennai - 600034

For Reservations call: 044 33999610

www.mamagoto.in

https://www.facebook.com/MamagotoFunAsian/

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 :-)

Food Trials at Wok a Toque

Practice makes perfect, right? And this phrase applies to pretty much every aspect of life, so why food be left out. Restaurants these days test the waters before opening the doors. This is not only to make sure the food they are serving works, but is more than welcome and is well received as well. Just as at home when we make a dish for the first time, we call our friends or family to be the guinea pigs, restaurants invite people they know and bloggers to run their trials on. 

Where am I going with this? I wanted to share the experience of a Food trial I was a part of that was held recently. Wok a Toque is the name of the restaurant and it is located within Hotel Chariot on Thirumalai pillai Road, opp Vidyodaya School. 

I have seen this Hotel quite a few times but never ventured inside. So, when I was invited to be a part of the Food Trials, I took this as the opportunity to check the place out. We were received by the Manager who told us how the group has taken over the F&B in the Hotel and is opening a restaurant "Wok a Toque" and a bar/pub "Elevate" here. 

The giant door is what you see as you get onto the 1st floor, and the decor inside is beautiful to say the least. Simple oriental light fixtures, textured wall, subtle art work is all you see. The music playing is also Oriental and quite mild. The main dining area is divided between the Lobby and 1st floor, with the 1st floor offering Lunch Buffet and dinner a la carte, while lobby offers only a la carte. They also plan to launch a Breakfast menu and Midnight buffet eventually.  The tables were dark brown with a beige sofa against the wall and red plush chairs on the other side. 

Moving on to the main aspect of the evening, the food. It was Indo- chinese, as is everywhere else but the food served was quite good, I loved it.

All the tables had a plate with three bowls- pickled vegetables, peanut based snack and Kimchi, except here Kimchi had a lot of sesame seeds on it. These are again typical of most chinese restaurants [atleast the ones I've been to]. We were then handed a makeshift menu that ran to nearly 9 pages. Quite an extensive one at that, and I also noticed the vegetarian items were just as many as the non veg [earlier it was very few veg to a lot of non veg items]

I chose the Burnt garlic soup and woah, it was divine. Loved the flavour of the burnt garlic and the sweetness of the chinese cabbage in the clear broth. Moving on to the starters, I once again opted for a dish that I havent tried before- Stuffed Lotus stem fritters that was served alongside chilli honey sauce --> The fritters were sinful, there was a stuffing of sorts between two lotus stem slivers and it just melted in my mouth. 

While the non vegetarians devoured the various meaty starters, I began scanning through the menu looking for the main dishes. There it was, new ingredients yet again. While we decided to order Kwai Teow Pad Thai Wheat Noodles, and a Ginger-Capsicum fried rice, for the side dishes I chose the Bamboo Shoot and Mushroom in Chilly Bean Sauce and Mapo Tofu. The former was a hit with all, we couldnt get enough of the dish, the latter was alright- tofu is an acquired taste and not many like it. 

The non vegetarians went rampant and ordered Duck, Chicken, beef and pork. They enjoyed some while they felt others were similar to the starters. By the time they were done, it was time for me to leave, I had a movie to catch and so I skipped desserts. Did hear from the boys that there were about 3 desserts which were decent. 

The doors opened on Monday- 24th June and I wish them all the best! If the food we had during the trial was anything to go by, am sure they would be a roaring success.. 

As for the price factor, most dishes are priced between Rs 250 to 400, while items like Lobster and crab were priced higher.  Am guessing a meal for 2 should work out to about Rs 1200 - 1500. 

Address:
The Chariot
#4, Thirumalai Pillai Road, T Nagar, 
Chennai- 600017
Phone: 044 2834 1212
URL- http://www.thechariotchennai.com/

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  :-) 

The Curry Club, Chennai

 

A tinge of violet, an inkling off Indigo, a generous dash of blue, a pinch of green, a sprinkle of yellow, a shade of orange and a final swirl of red- all these come together to make a beautiful rainbow. Even though not all colours are clearly visible, they all join hands to shine in the sky. Why am I talking about colours when writing about a new Multi cuisine restaurant in town? Well, I kinda feel these restaurants are like the Rainbow. They have so many different cuisines, some shining bright, while others lay low.  

Where was I headed this week? It is to the new restaurant in the city, in the post locality of Haddows Road. If you drove down the road and took the last left, 2 doors down on the right you will spot the huge signage "The Curry Club". Yes, MASH was here earlier, but now has been replaced by this swanky place. 

With a seating capacity of over 100, the restaurant also sports a nice conference/banquet hall on the 1st floor near the open area. It comes with dual lighting options, a pull down screen, and options to fit in a projector for those presentations. Or host a private party in this hall with upto 20 people and enjoy the cosy evening. 

Rohit Zachariah is the man who owns MASH in Besant nagar [on the beach] and The Curry Club as well. While chatting with him, learnt that he along with his cousins opened MASH as a place for them to hang out, casual and comfortable. This was back in 2007 and the place is still home to many who come to spend a few hours on a lazy Sunday. The Curry Club on the other hand is a place that offers different cuisines- North Indian, South Indian Chinese and Continental. 

We tried dishes from their South Indian & Chinese sections and they were quite interesting. Started with the veg Manchow soup, I also tried the the mushroom pepper fry, which was cooked in a tomato based sauce, then there was the aachi varuval [ which was cauliflower bhajji of sorts]. For the main course, I opted for their "Choose a curry and get Unlimited Dosa/Idiyappam section". The staff recommended the Nilagiri Vegetable Khorma for the idiyappam. The gravy was made with spinach and herbs, haven't had something like this. They also had a dish called "pal katti  pattani masala- I was very curious on what this pal katti was. Discovered it was the good ol paneer. :-) They also had few other veg side dish options, felt good seeing there was equal importance given to veg as well as non veg. I did sneak in a few French fries and roasted veggies from the Non veg orders. They were yumm.. 

And for dessert, I tried a spoonful of the phirni, one of the Crème brûlée  and the sinful Mud pie [a brownie that was hot and gooey chocolatey]. Oh, how can I forget, the mud pie is served with a scoop of pan ice cream. I don't eat Pan, but the ice cream was brilliant. 

Should visit them once and try the dishes from other sections as well. 

A meal for two should cost around Rs700- 800

You can view the Menu on Chennai Food guide portal

Address:

3/2, Haddows Road, 2nd Street, Nungambakkam, Chennai-34

Ph- 044 28211555

Aromas of China in Chennai

Yet another Thursday evening amidst friends, and this time we were at a new restaurant on Khader Nawaz khan road. Over the past few days I’ve noticed that quite a few places have shut, but a few new ones have cropped up. “Out with the old, in with the new” I guess and wondered how long these new places will survive… But that road has changed drastically over the years, it has become a landmark locality of sorts in the city. A road known for the “poshness”, high end shopping, eating and lounging.

Ok, so I headed up the elevator to the 2^nd floor and noticed Aromas of China on the left and Khansama on the other side. They both belong to the same group of hotels. At the entrance was welcomed by a giant Buddha face on the wall and a lion near the maitre de’s table.

Slide into the space on the sofa, was a tad tight, but what the hell... Chit chatted and while waiting for the soup, nibbled on the Kim chi and tried to pick a few with chopsticks and must say I succeeded. Yayy!! Along came the soup, veg sweet corn soup- it was bland and felt empty. I added quite a bit of Chilli in vinegar water and soy sauce to add some flavour. Reminded me of the good ol days when Sweet corn soup used to taste exactly like this[bland that is].  I wondered and joked that maybe the guy who orders the spices was out of town or gone missing!!

 And then came the series of Veg starters- 1st came the momo, tried picking it up with chopsticks and did succeed. Was reminded of Kung Fu panda where Master Shifu & Panda train with a bowl of momos..This momo was just about alright, I've had better, what was missing? Flavouring, n it was nothing like the momos i've eaten [heck I even make em at home] !! .Anyways, back to food, there were quite a few corn based items- one was corn cooked in white sauce with other veggies; another was crispy corn which i liked, and finally came the Crispy fried veggies[ an assortment of veggies- cauliflower, carrot and baby corn]. I ate these with ample chilli sauce, and the mustard sauce. There was another sauce which was dark in colour, nearly black, a black pepper sauce [if i remember right]

In between mouthfuls we caught up on life, and everything else, while some were busy photographing the place and the people. For a Thursday evening the place was nearly full, which had me amazed [Chennai people do get out, amazing] The main dishes began coming out, one by one. The 1^st in line was Noodles [which was quite good, esp since i prefer noodles over rice any day]. It was served along side a mix veg gravy [don’t know the name], it had cauliflower, snow peas, baby corn, capsicum and onion [tasted alright, like any Chinese dish]. The other dish was Veg dumpling, which had a flat cutlet kind of dumpling in soy based sauce. I liked it..especially since the other one was very bleh. I noticed the restaurant slowly filling up, and buzzing with customers. Always good to see a packed house :)

Then came the Schezwan Rice, it was red in colour making me wonder how spicy it was, but with the 1^st spoonful I realised it wasn’t spicy at all. The rice was just about cooked and had a generous splash of spring onion, i wondered if perhaps they added colour to give it that scary look.

Ok, so where were we? Ah yes, food. We waited and waited, laughing, catching up, cracking up and some more when suddenly there were the waiter serving us some yumm looking desserts. The 1^st one was Daarsaan [ flat noodles deep fried coated with honey and served with a few chopped up almonds] and vanilla ice cream. Now, I am not a big fan of Vanilla ice cream, but I did like this one and it went well with the dessert.  The other one was a spring roll of sorts, it resembled a cigar, except this had gooey chocolate inside and was HOT. Lip smacking, so much so that I had a 2^nd piece and another dollop of ice cream to go with it.

Well, even though the food is Indo-Chinese, the kind we get almost everywhere, and even though I've had better food, if one was to go by the crowd piling into the restaurant, I’d say the place was a roaring success. They are doing something right.. whatever that is!


Ambiance: The only quip I have is the sofa seating was very uncomfortable, getting in, sitting and the cushions, almost got backache, request the management to change the cushions
Price: A meal for 2 should cost around Rs1500 [little more if you are Non veg

Address:
Aromas Of China 
2nd Floor, #15, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, 
Nungambakkam, Chennai- 34
Ph- +(91)-9962379494 | 43178111

The place where Mocha was, it is  opp the building with Kryptos/Atmosphere.

This was part of a CFG Showcase that I attended and was conducted by Chennai Food Guide.

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  :-)