Waterside - All day dining!

The Waterside is the 24 hour all day dining restaurant as part of Feathers, Radha Hotel located in Manapakkam. The outlet serves both Ala carte and Buffet and we as a bunch of foodies were invited to have a shot at the Sunday Brunch.

The place appeals instantly with it's wonderfully carved out woodwork which gives a very pleasant and soothing feel. The lighting is abundantly bright and the showpieces stacked across ignites a magnum presence and showcases itself to be a royal and ritzy affair. It's also well spread out with a large dining space and the musical duo belting out classics only adds further to the rendezvous. The water front at the passerby area adds to the surrounding environment.

Coming to the spread on offer, it traverses the length and breadth of divergent cuisines from across the globe bringing to the table an extensive and elaborate multi cuisine deal. They played the game safe by ensuring that something or other is available amongst North Indian, South Indian, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, Arabian, Middle eastern cuisine etc. The positive was it didn't seem like just making up the numbers and there was really a generous fare prevalent to please everyone's palette and appetite.

Listing every item in store would end up meaning to write a dossier and hence I would like to mention some of the key dishes pointing to the affirmative and a bit of the let downs which perhaps requires a tinge of amelioration. I must confess to immensely taking a liking to the Mexican Fajita rolls which were delivered beautifully and packed a punch with the right dosage of Mexican ingredients. The pita breads and the hummus dip along with other condiments too was a huge win. The Pizza's which were part of the live counter also hit the brownie points by being done up really well with the mix of exotic toppings on a thin crust base. The red sauce spaghetti pasta was amazingly flavourful and creamy and the continental based Mousakka also won the accolades by having the right content in taste and stuffings and satisfying expectations. In the starter section, the panneer tikka was top notch being served on a pan with plenty of juicy pieces which were super succulent and extremely delicious. The Arancini veg balls too were well presented with a dash of red marinara sauce sprayed along judiciously. The dessert draw was a complete masterpiece with virtually every item on the shelf being of high quality. The red velvet cake as well as the chocolate opera and the pista based chocolate pudding were delectable. There were also a reasonable mix of Indian sweets too to entice for the sweet cravers.

On the flip side, the opening encounter viz tomato and vegetable soup was a bit pedestrian. It was too watery in content and loaded with a bunch of veggies and the tomato in the name was just the flavour added and nothing more. It wasn't a great start to be frank but the things which followed more than made up for it. The starters were generally good but the jalapeno cheese balls could have definitely been a touch better if served with some kind of dip preferably of the chilli mayo kind. One other disappointment was largely on the North Indian curries which really didn't seem appeasing both on looks and taste. One surely expected more on this front considering the oeuvre was quite larger compared to other cuisines in the fray. And on the Italian side though the White sauce pasta looked tantalisingly classy and creamy, the taste was a bit sour lacking on the salt content and lack of flavours.

Overall however the good side of things far exceeded the negatives making it pleasing dine out at the end of the day. Despite disappointments, some items stood out shoulders above the rest forging us to go repeat on the same. The service was amiable and hospitable. At all points of time they were by our side and easily accessible and acceding to our requests. As the event was over an invite, pricing goes out of the question. However this is a solid buffet spread for the price which you wouldn't be cribbing too much upon.

Taking the large picture into equation, it ended up being a good little brunch meal ticking most of the boxes which you would usually expect. Most bases are well covered and some additional care on certain nitty gritties will only elevate the experience in dining out at the Waterside in Feathers Hotel.

Cappuccino @ Crowne Plaza - Coffee never goes out of favour!

'Cappucino', the all day dining restaurant at the 'Crowne Plaza' is up and about with it's newly launched menu titled 'Unconventionally Conventional'. It's basically a twist to their existing menu along with adding selective special dishes from across the globe. Some of the stuff fall under the radar of 21 dishes to try during your lifetime. It's pretty exotic and curated to bring the best of the Western world right in front of you.

We were here on an invite to sample some of the items from the new menu. We began our journey with an immensely refreshing litchi cooler. The tall glass had a lovely frothy layer and a gulp of that sweet drink was energising. Then our tryst with food began with the super food salad in the mode of a waldorf based one with plenty of apples, berry tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, lettuce and roasted flax seeds. It was dressed up with honey and mustard which had a subtle essence to it. The tanginess and flavour of apple diluted the spread but the taste of the salad made it's presence felt. Then we moved on to the Asian summer rolls comprising of a unique mix of crisp vegetables, ragi, vermicelli, sprouts and being covered in thin rice sheets. This seemed pretty opaque with a glassy layer and for company was the sweet chilli sauce. It felt a tad different from the regular spring rolls and lacked the usual crispiness but had a hint of sweetness to it. It's hard to classify if this will be lapped up and I personally found it pretty nice but not extraordinary by any means. Then came one of the show stealers of the day in the form of the Pesto and Garlic toast with a cup full of cheese fondue as condiment. This three cheese fondue was totally drool worthy and possessed the ammunition to melt waftly in the mouth. The breads were superlative and it was a delight squishing those crusts in that melting layer of fondue and crunching it over. Just as we were relishing our breads dipped with fondue, came the roasted garlic tomato soup which was well delivered having a lovely smoky aroma to it.

One of the highlights in the main course section was the gargantuan one metre pizza being made in a length of over 3 feet and comprising of 5 variegated toppings of both veg and non veg. It was massive in size and a major star attraction on the night. And further on main course, we tried the Orcheeti Al dente pasta. These are pocket sized pasta sheets with a saucy layer inside those conch shells and the interesting thing about them is that the sauce never remains on your plate when you eat these thumb pressed delicacies. We also had a crack at the eggplant zucchini which had a tantalising layer of cheese bottled up over a bunch of veggies with a strong odour of the egg plant.

Desserts section we literally had a ball and got to savour one after the other bombshell. The presentation was immaculate and especially the Hazelnut creme brulee and chocolate cheese cake were the silver linings and stood out from the rest of the pack. The blueberry muffin like cake was also fantabulous but the Tiramisu missed a little of the zing.

The ambiance is very coffee book style. It characterises a free open style ambiant giving it a very laid back and breezy feel. The decor is cozy and comfortable and overall it's designed in a very inviting manner. The open kitchen also adds to the mix. The service tended to be a little slow but it was because they wanted to take extra care of the proceedings and I must say we felt really hospitable dining at Cappuccino.

Taking the full ensemble into equation, Cappuccino works on a number of fronts and I can confidently say having had a fair share of the sample from their new menu that the outlook points towards the right direction. As a vegetarian, my choices were a wee bit limited but still I loved most of what I had. For the meat lovers this menu is gregarious and an absolute largesse with exquisite stuff such as Shepherd's pie, Cichetti and many more as part of the deal.

Cappuccino is a nice little restaurant to dine and can be categorised as an ideal place to have a relaxed and whole hearted meal over some easy confabulation.