Hawkersan - South East Asian with a Twist!

Hawkersan is a fairly new restaurant which has sprouted up in the front end area of the sprawling Somerset hotel in MRC Nagar. As the name suggests, it's predominantly Asian cuisine with a distinguishing feature.

The concept works on the model of a course meal and you have 4 & 7 course meals for lunch and 5 & 7 course meals for dinner. There is no separate menu as such and the option for you is to have a full fleshed course meal based on the number of items which you wish to choose.

It is pretty elaborate and their course meals do touch upon every item you would look forward to while consuming a wholesome Pan Asian meal. There are starters, soups, salads, momo or bao preparation, main course and desserts.

I tried the 7 course dinner meal and it felt thoroughly justified. Started off with a juicy watermelon cooler as a welcome drink to start proceedings. Then arrived a delicious corn lentil starter infused with spices which was filled with aroma. The Lung Fung soup was delightful. They also served a wholesome spring rolls in a attractive presentable manner. It contains all the essentials to make one fall for it. The jackfruit based bao I felt could have been a tad better. The texture of the bun was super smooth but however the stuffing could have been a tad better.

In the main course we got a soupy noodles bowl and a rice with thai red curry. The bowl of noodles was filled to the brim consisting of different kinds of chinese veggies and was kind of nice to slurp over. The real winner however was the thai red curry which was simply sensational. The essence of coconut cream will no doubt bowl you hook line and sinker. We ended our course by polishing a couple of dessert jars one comprising of water chestnuts and fruits soaked in coconut milk and the other an evergreen chocolate offering.

On the whole, it was a very pleasing meal. The service was ever friendly and also the intervals of time needed to bring the next item in the fray was just spot on. The pricing seems quite competitive for such an expansive spread. All in all, if you're looking for a lovely chinese meal without thinking too much about what to choose and what not to, you can certainly try this specialty offering of Hawkersan which has the kind of wholesome spread that can surely cater to your needs.

HuTong - Smearing the aroma!

Hutong greets you with a kicking smearing aroma as soon as you land up at this place. The Chinese aroma is in all its splendor as you get in. The place is shrouded in a peaceful locality in the Seethamal Colony at Alwarpet.

It is a pretty small space with limited seating arrangements. In our recent dinner experience there wasn't anything to crib at all and everything went on expected lines. It's a Chinese outlet and the menu sticks to that.

What really felt impressive is they seem to play their cards close to the chest. They just specialise in what they are good at and that came out very vividly. It's a very selective menu with a few soups, starters, main course and desserts. The mains especially are in the form of bowl where your rice and noodles come with a gravy.

The aromatic veg broth soup contained the requisite veggies and had a very appealing taste. The lotus stem starter was crispy and crunchy. The presence od red chillies and roasted groundnuts certainly elevated it. The mushroom bao buns were decent and I felt it could have been a notch better.

For main course I tried the butter fried veg garlic rice with a blackened veg gravy. It was very good with the rice being really flavourful and the side gravy went along well with it containing tofu, cauliflower and few others. Ended dinner with a refreshing glass of chilled milo which was actually very nice.

On the whole, a really pleasing experience. The rates are really reasonable and absolutely worth the price. The service was quick witted and we got our dishes well on time. In essence, a really lovely Chinese alley down the side of Alwarpet.

Stix - Chinese Premier!

The Stix at Hyatt Regency happens to be one of the premier Chinese restaurant's in the city. The ambiance feels very pleasant with the dim lights just about ideal for a private fine dining rendezvous. The decor is super comfortable and cozy. It is one place you can go without any inhibitions as the end result will most likely end up pleasing you.

We were here on an invite to try out the Business Lunch menu. I chose the veg option and the choices happen to be pretty good. There is no soup and we straight away got on with the starters. The good thing here is that unlike the usual expected bets, there were some unexpected twists. Lotus stem was something radical for a starter which I immensely enjoyed. It was slightly tangy and it was enjoyable consuming this which had the right juice and spice. The momos were more of the expected stuff and it tasted how it should. And on the slightly spicier side, we were provided a chilli based spring beans titled as "Dou Ban Jiang". It was nicely seasoned and pretty flavourful.

On the main course side, the 5 spiced fried rice was quite good having a strong essence of various spices and it was a little sticky in texture. The pan fried noodles was quite a meal by itself with benevolent topping of szcheuan sauce on top of the crispy noodles along with veggies for company. And for company we had a broccoli and lotus stem made in black bean sauce which went really well with both the rice and noodles. The chinese style chilli vegetables also proved to be able foil being curried nicely with plenty of different veggies.

The food was overall very good but the best part was reserved for the last with the dessert fare. We also got to sample a few from the nearby Italian neighbour Foccacia and they turned out to be absolutely wonderful. From the attic of Stix, I absolutely fell for the Fried Ice cream which was rolled like a blanket quilt with vanilla ice cream oozing from the inset with nuts and raisins decorated at the top along with a touch of raspberry jam and a maple dip for company. The whole delicacy was both chunky and crunchy. The berry cheese cake too was no slouch by being rich on taste and melting like marmalade on the mouth. It was definitely one of the better cheese cakes which I have consumed.

From the larger picture, the meal was a sure shot win. It covered most grounds and also ended up being good on most fronts. The service was amiable and friendly. They didn't take too much time in between dishes and they were ever courteous and acceding to all our requests. As the meet was over am invite, I will refrain from commenting about the prices. This business lunch is certainly a good deal put up by Hyatt and is certain to satisfy your taste buds.

Asia Kitchen stirs up a Chinese Buffet!

There isn't much to fault with Asia's kitchen by Mainland China. The ambiance is chinese centric with a powerful presence of red and black colors, lovely little woodwork with chinese script inscribed at places. There are also beautiful portraits showcasing Chinese culture in all it's splendour. The lighting is mildly dim and just perfectly apt for a dine in restaurant of this kind. Being situated as part of a hotel, you also have the advantage of having a shot or two of cocktails. Apart from this the seating arrangement is very comfortable with a number of 6 seaters placed exclusively for families and the open kitchen with the smelling aroma adds a beautiful buzz to the surrounding.

We were here on a weekday afternoon and I had a swish at the lunch buffet priced at 565 bucks. The options were plenty in number and it felt pretty reasonable consuming high quality chinese food for this rate. The soup which was a 8 treasure Island one was more in line with the sweet corn one but with much more veggies to the fray.

The starters which were served directly on the table was my most favourite of the lot. The veg spring rolls were wonderful to eat with the sweet chilli sauce, potato kafir lime which were loosely fine thin french fries based with a dash of lime was delightful. But what took the cake was the crispy vegetable chilli plum which had such a delectable confluence of a tangy taste with a bit of sweetness infused to the mix. Equally jaw dropping were the basil dumplings which I thoroughly enjoyed which had a beautiful veg stuffing inside those soft and juicy greenish momo's.

The main course section was kind of decent. They had a veg hakka noodles which was nicely flavoured and a usual veg fried rice which was more run of the mill stuff. The sides had a nice variety with the broccoli corn water chestnut in chilli garlic sauce and the vegetable dumpling chilli soya sauce. On the less spicier side there was stir fried chinese greens.

The desserts were a good way to end the meal. There was darsaan, hot chocolate rolls, cake, mousse, fresh fruits and ice cream. The darsaan had a nice sweet tinge to it. The rolls were cute and stuffed with chocolate sauce. The cake and mousse was par for the course and in ice cream they had 3 different flavours - vanilla, butterscotch and strawberry.

On the whole, it was a pretty good meal and very much worth for the price. The service was quick and they did a good job in refilling the plates. They were always available at our beck and call. Other facilities like parking is not an issue as they have valet facility.

Overall, a good place for trying out Chinese cuisine. The buffet especially is a very good choice for those looking to hog a lot without striking a hole in the pocket.

Flower Drum - Vegetarian Chinese at its real best!

After enticing crowds down the years with it's vegetarian chinese cuisine in Egmore, Flower Drum opens shop now in Adyar. It is located in the Mahatma Gandhi main road and is perched in the same complex which houses ICICI bank.

There aren't any restaurant's serving a full on vegetarian chinese cuisine anywhere in the city. It's a given in most places to have Indian chinese stuff thrown in the mix but Flower Drum is perhaps the only one purely serving deep dish vegetarian chinese and also Thai food.

Having never tried their Egmore outlet, this was my first tryst with Flower Drum and I must say I was quiet impressed. Most of the bases were covered ensuring we had a lovely fine dining evening.

The menu is pretty elaborate and they have 4 sheets containing a Dimsum, drinks, kulfi and the main menu comprising of the food. Options are plenty and most of the items we had on the day seemed faultless.

The Dimsums were steamed well and went along nicely with the 2 types of sauces. And it was enjoyable having the broccoli and the cottage cheese version too along with the usual tried and tested veg based one. On the mocktail side, we tried a couple and won't really claim it to be their forte but nevertheless a good foil to have along with your food. The Pistachio broccoli soup in a Thai coconut avatar was pretty good but the spicy corn soup lacked a bit of the bite and seemed to be a tad too spicy. All the starters be it the corn, potatoes, mushroom, cauliflower and the panneer had the ammunition going for them with the flavouring in chinese style doing them a whole lot of good.

For main course we tried the plain rice with the yellow thai curry. We went on the offside here with the yellow curry being a little off on taste. We expected it to be a milder version of the green flavoured one but somehow it didn't sit well with us. However parity was restored on the Chinese front with the decorative Changai Noodles. These were flat and curried along with an abundance of veggies. More of the chopsuey kind but the gravy on the noodles was much more than expected and it was a perfect dish to have stand alone without any extra side dishes.

On the dessert front, we were served the Drum fruits with ice cream. This was basically a bowl of fruits embellished with strawberry ice cream. This was nothing radical and taste was on expected lines. However what really took us by surprise was the Ice Katchang. This was the show stealer of the evening. Dressed up in a kaleidoscope of colors this ice based ice cream with the essence of condensed milk had a riveting taste to it. It was almost as if the best was reserved for the last. Very unique in presentation and taste and needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall, it was a very satisfactory meal. The ambiance gave a nice feel. The round emclosed sofa's went well in the surrounding and dim lights are always fancy and that was the case here too. The music playing though seemed a little out of place for the setting. The service was fair. It seemed a little slow at times but nothing really worth complaining about. Flower Drum has put a step in Adyar and it looks like the footprints are going to be imprinted firmly in the days to come. The place is most ideal for family dining and lovers of Chinese food.