Summer House Eatery - 80% continental and 20% everything else!

The Summer House Eatery is a well crafted cafetaria which has blossomed on the by lanes of Alwarpet in a really peaceful locality. The outlet is constructed out of a residential home and shares a co working space with a couple of other ventures. There is sufficient parking space available and the place oozes fanciness in terms of it's decor and on the quirk factor.

The space is well bifurcated and there is also a lawn passage outside seating arrangement. It infuses the perfect ambiance and this looks like the kind of getaway spot to head to for cozy laidback lunch offering. It induces the rightful insouciance and appeals on every angle with the way it's done up.

The food, from the monicker can be easily made out to be continental but to widen the radar, they have added along some fusion with an Indian touch as add on. So primarily can be summarised as 80% continental and the other 20% has a mix of Indian, Mexican, Thai et al.

The outlet as such is opening very soon but we were here for an invite to savour some of their benefactors. They are still on an experimental mode and as the days pass along, you can expect a lot of interesting stuff in store.

First up on the appetiser section were the Arancini balls. These were big in size, juicy on the exterior containing dumplings of risotto rice and veggies on the inside. It was presented quite well too over a spreading of a delightful chilli mayo dip. Next up were the Avocado and corn crostini bruschetta. The bread was super soft and slashed along was an interesting slurpy dip called the mexican goddess which is made up predominantly with avacado and other dressings. Sauteed corn was garnished and this one was a winner. And then arrived the Truffle fries. This was a bit of a damp squib as the flavour of truffles didn't come across at all. Felt like eating normal crispy French fries with powdered cheese coated along. The cauliflower taco with thecha and sour cream was passable. They are still working on this one and it'll be served with a salad in the upcoming days.

On the main course section, we got a bite at their delightful savoury crepe options. Both the creamy mushroom as well as the caprese crepe with tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella were done up in sterling style with the taste of the ingredients coming out very well embedded on those loose egg beaten sheets. One area which totally ruled the roost were the pasta's. Virtually each one of them were so enjoyable to consume. If you're a pasta aficionado, the Summer House is like the ideal outlet to gorge sumptuous drool worthy pasta's to your utter delight. They have some really rare creations such as spaghetti with thai chilli jam and shitake mushrooms. This one was a bit of fusion but worked really well with the essence coming out wonderfully. The cacio e pepe spaghetti was another starlet with the garnishing of pepper and parmesan doing the magic. Their aglio e olio was easily one of the best I've ever had. The roasted garlic flavour was beautifully well played. Other than the set of pasta's, we also had a coastal based vegetable in goan coconut curry with steamed rice. This was strictly decent and nothing of the kind to get excited about.

On the dessert section, we tried a number of their sweetened crepes. Going along in line with the savoury based one's, these also passed the test with flying colours. It was just about rightly presented with the spreading of the assortments underneath the layering coming out top on taste. The nutella as well as the caramel one was much sought after. We also had a shot at a few shakes viz peanut butter, salted caramel etc. These were quite normal and lacked a bit of thickness. This is just a selective stock house of desserts and many more will be coming up really soon.

On the whole, it was a lovely lazy sunday lunch with delicious victuals for company to go along with a classy environmental sunlight surrounding. The prices have not yet been finalised and hence will refrain from commenting on that front. On a holistic picture, The Summer House Eatery is a fantastic add-on to Chennai's bustling food circle. And from initial feelers and the way things are already set up, this eatery should surely be enjoying a rosy ride from it's customer base. Wishing the team of 'The Summer House Eatery' all the very best.

Kitchen 187 - Cafe of Creperies!

 I really like the setting of Kitchen 187. It gives a very languid feel and the blend of the colonial style vintage ambient with the new age brushstroke touches certainly points towards the right path. There are cafe's all over town but only some get that perfect laidback atmosphere right and Kitchen 187 falls in the affirmative. It is converted from a quaint old house and is located next to Raintree hotel in St Mary's road and it shares space with The cupcake company.

Brick walls surround the outside enclosure and on the inside is a splash of painted red walls and black sofa seating and lazy wooden chairs. The chess board style flooring adds a rather nice touch going in sync with the surrounding environment and the miniatures hanging are minimalistic and mild music is played at the background.

We were here on an invite to try out some of their offerings. We got to try various sections from their menu with different naming conventions such as All day breakfast, Salads, Sandwiches&burgers, Health bowls, Indian bites, Italia Cucina, Tex Mex, French crepes, smoothies, milk shakes, desserts, ice creams and hot&cold beverages.

The shakes and beverages were up on the mark and I personally enjoyed my Nutella chocolate milkshake having a strong essence of stirred nutella which was lip-smacking. Even the other shakes viz the hot fudge, cookie monster, nutella banana et al all were pretty good in their own sweet way. The lemonade drink in a conical shaped bottle was also quite refreshing.

In the Indian bites space both the onion rings and the Gongura potato were top notch and were stand out performers. The onion rings were crunchy and laced with a dripping of cheese and garlic aioli. The Gongura potato rolls were quite a revelation with an Andhra style mix inside a kathi roll. The salad in the form of Quinoah Tabouleh comprising of parsley, tomato and cucumbers wasn't much to speak about and on the Tex Mex side, the Nachos felt a tad too try with the cheese strangled awkwardly and but for the kidney beans by the side wasn't really too appetising. However the Quesadillas inset with mexican veggies and cheese made up more than lost ground by being remarkable. The Mexican corn on cob were pretty much your usual beach corn kinds with a mexican dressing to boot. We tried the Burmese Broth from the health bowl set and it was quite interesting. I've never tried such a thing before and I fairly enjoyed slurping this up. The fiery Mexican burger was pretty mainstream and managed to serve the purpose.

Both the pizza's we tried competed for top stakes and especially the Tomato basil pizza was one of the finest I've tasted. They nailed the spicy gravy mix which was superlative. The mushroom and cheese version was nice too. For pasta, we preferred the cream and mushroom spaghetti and though the dish was well delivered, that extra zing factor was slightly missing. The crepe lasagne was a master class and again something unique and divergent. And so was the egg in a hole under the all day breakfast category which was an interesting banter between bread, eggs and cheese. The vanilla cinnamon french toast went jocularly well with the maple syrup and the sweetened essence was tapped wonderfully.

The desserts too went in line with the high standards set by following it's predecessors. The nutella crepe with bananas is like your go to dish to satisfy your sweet cravings. Known for their crepes, it must be said they did a great job of it both on the savoury as well as on the sweetened avatars. The ice cream sandwich though hard to crack was regal and rich in taste.

The service was in adherence throughout and we never really had a long waiting time in between the items. Also they were very helpful with all our requests. Pricing is not applicable as it over an on the house. A glance at the rates would indicate they are a little on the higher side but considering the fest on offer seems a fair bet.

To adumbrate the experience at Kitchen 187, the positives far outweigh the negatives. You cannot ask for more from a place having the ideal cafe like setup with some lovely food on offer. If your quest is towards comfort and good food, Kitchen 187 will ensure to have that satisfied for you.

Canadian Crepe Company - For the sweet craving cognoscente!

Canadian Crepe is a small eatery serving delightful crepes and is tucked in a by lane off Greams Road. It brings to light a host of crepes from foreign lands but they have also tweaked it in a way to give a local twist by adding certain flavours keeping the Indian palette in mind.

The place is little but done up really neatly and has a lovely up market feel to it. You have a live kitchen, maple leaves stickers stuck on the spacings, a color confluence of wood, grey and white which gives itself a lovely fresh and pleasant feel. There is nothing over the top anywhere and you just find a little shelf of miniatures and a small box shelf depicting Canada. The open kitchen concept works well here and the whole place gives itself a laidback easy feel about it.

The menu is to the point with just 2 sides to it comprising of a few shakes and juices apart from their signature crepes which have western and Indianised versions both on the savoury and sweetened side. We were on an invite and got to savour a majority of the savoury ones of which most were top notch. The presentation was done up beautifully giving an assured signal and the taste more or less matched the looks. The one's which took the cake were the American based one which contained mushrooms, potatoes and a dash of cheese spread across magnanimously. The Thai flavored with the Tofu, roasted peanuts and coconut cream too was appetizing and the Avacado spread in the Mexican gave it a nice touch. In the Indian genre, it was the Dhak Dhak Dilli with a panneer bhurji slathered along which mild spices which got the Indian tongue excited whereas the Madras Crepe turned out to be a poor man's (rich man's) version of a masala dosa. Also got to try a squashed juice of a real Apple juice which was truly refreshing. The shakes however didn't cut too much ice barring a couple of them and it would be good if they work on it a wee bit. The concoctions just didn't seem to go hand in hand.

Overall, it was a good experience visiting The Canadian Crepe Company. From our brief engagement, we came to know that their's going to be more varieties added to the anvil. The stuff did take some time to reach the table but were made with a lot of care and the presentation and taste justified the same. The staff were very friendly and willing in taking feedback. The rates seem to be bang on competitive. Crepe's seem a great option for a breakfast or evening snack and 'The Canadiam Crepe Company' is now a one stop shop for the Crepe craving cognoscente.