Savya Rasa - Curated cuisine captured from the southern regional belt!

In a nutshell, Savya Rasa proved to be a wonderful experience. The ambiance with touches of yellow indicating an old world flavour was surely on point. The cuisine is largely South Indian and more of heirloom with authentic curated food from the down south belt of India comprising of 7 different regions. Lots of research had been performed and it was pretty evident during our recent visit.

This is sure to be a connoisseurs delight especially for those who've lived and tasted the sensory pleasures of the special food that the regions such as Nellai, Chettinadu are known to whip up. I began the evening with a vetrilai soup. It was a classic rasam soup with the betel leaves and spices combining to give the tongue an exquisite flavour. It surely sounded the bells in the right direction for more brilliance to be hurled at.

Then up in the starters, Urulai Podi Varuval was delightfully done up. The whiff of fresh podi coated over these burly sized potatoes had such a smoky lingering taste. The traditional green leaf gave it that extra punch. The other appetiser namely the pallipalayam kalaan was as superlative as it got. The mild hint of coconut over drool worthy mushrooms spiced up with ground masala and turmeric was indeed quite something. The panniyaram stuffed with chutney inside was also really good and so were the flavour filled vazhapoo vada.

For the main course, we tried the vetrilai poondu saadham. Being a quintessential lover of garlic, I lapped this one up instantly. In the mould of a biryani, the flavour was vehemently strong and possessed a rich taste. To go along tried the Avicha Muttai kuzhambu. This was quite nice too but would have ideally liked it to be a bit more spicier. More in the kurma texture, this contained three big fat pieces of boiled egg. Also happened to try the tamatar pappu which was a lovely Dal creation. Lastly I also wanted to try their egg hopper which wad so fluffy and an absolute tongue twirler. One word I need to mention about their gravies which were super succulent and amazingly rich in taste. You could feel the inherent presence of coconut cream tail gating on to the mouth.

And towards the end of the meal, we tried a number of refreshers ranging from Sharbath, rose milk, vasantha neer, neer moru and kokum mojito. There were all lovely in their own way carrying the necessary essence of flavours. And for desserts, we had a lovely slurp at the elaneer payasam along with the kavuni arisi halwa. It was a super sweet way to end a wholeseome delicious meal. The service was onstead and it's always a good thing when the servers know the menu in and out as their suggestions came in really handy. The rates as expected are a little pricey but since it is guaranteed to give a good fine dining experience, it ain't something really slouching over.

On the whole, a tremendous restaurant serving authentic flavour filled cuisine from down south of India.

Haritam - Forgotten flavours of South India!

Haritam brings to the fore the forgotten flavors of South India. The cuisine is predominantly from curated recipes of Tamil and Telugu with a skosh of North Indian too thrown into the mix. There's a lot of innovation and experimentation in what's being served which helps in distinguishing it from the rest of the pack.

It's located in the Kilpauk Garden road in a big 3 storey complex segregated into a Non AC enclosure, AC enclave and also a roof top dining hall. The ambiance isn't something to rave about but is neat, clean and concise and gives a homely and traditional feel about it. It's a veg only restaurant and is surely a plus point for the green lovers to have a stand alone restaurant serving a varied expansive spread other than the usual well associated names .

We were on an invite were served a truckload of items that almost put us on the verge of detonating. It was a delight having to taste their signature stuff put forth especially for us. We had different combination of soups ranging from Sweet Corn, Horse Gram and Drumstick. The Horse Gram with a tinge of spice was a good foil and so was the Drumstick soup which was riveting. The panneer tikka in the form of Malai and cheese were good enough with especially the panneer pieces being succulent and easy on the mouth. We also had a googly in the form of a mock fries which were brownish and made of moong dal apart from the traditional fare of the same. And one cannot forget the Mushroom fry and Kothu Parotha which again were great starter material. And in between we also had Keera vadai which was really crispy and had a lovely taste to it and Vazhapoo vadai which also followed suit. Behold there was also Rasa Vadai and Kozhukattai to try out. There was just too much to the platter and I must say the majority of the stuff passed the muster.

The main course portion was not to be left behind as we were served a plethora of items on this front too. On the North Indian side, we got a shot at a bunch of Indian breads with a Panneer Tikka masala, panneer butter masala and Dal Tadka for company. The gravies were decent enough notwithstanding a slight overdose on the oil content. The Dal however was a show stealer having a nice sweet twang to it thanks to the presence of cashew nuts. On the dosa side, tried the Kara Masala dosa and a ragi based one. Even on Idli's we had variety with smearing hot ghee podi idli's and the rotund soft Thatta Idly. Pongal also came into the equation and to round off this section we were given puri's not just the traditional one but also in the form of a ragi, palak and tomato flavored ones. It was indeed a spectacular array on offer and must say, most of the stuff passed the taste test with flying colors.

We were just too stuffed after gorging all of the above and for desserts we went a little easy with just a couple of Ice creams and a mint cooler. The fig honey was decent enough and the Coffee crunch had a lovely coffee essence to it. The mint cooler was just about right and put the curtains down on a very satisfactory meal.

The service was immaculate with the management being extremely courteous and receptive to feedback. They were also more than willing to listen and take in suggestions. Pricing is hard to comment as we were on an invite but seems to be fair and competitive. Parking is not an issue as they are located in their own complex with sufficient space available for 2 wheeler's and 4 wheeler's.

Overall, it was an extremely pleasing experience to dine here. The hospitality extended made it all the more welcoming. Haritam seems a great addition to the Kilpauk area's growing restaurant market and is also a great viable option for vegetarians looking for a refreshing change over in the form of a South Indian twist.

Spoonbill - Global cuisine on a plate!

Spoonbill is unique and one of a kind restaurant serving specialty street food from across the globe. It has a very interesting menu with importance given to the country and the popular dish of the nation's choice. You also see hordes of enticing pictures of street food splashed across the restaurant. It has a lively buzz to it with music always playing around and is brightly lit and orangish. You also find logo's of the rare bird with the long beak called Spoonbill which incidentally is also the name of the restaurant. Not sure exactly of the connection the bird has with street food.

It also has an open kitchen setting and you can see the cooks constantly on their toes adhering to the orders placed of food from across the globe. It is based on the self service concept where you pay before you eat and this being more of the fast food types is a good system to follow. Even the drinks in the form of canned juices and iced tea's are kept in a fridge where you can pick whatever you feel like and get them billed. They also give you a small disc like machine which vibrates as soon as your order is ready.

Keeping in line with the tradition of street food, it gets prepared very soon. On this occasion decided to go European with a twist of local Indian flavor and hence ordered corn and peas Empanada and Ragada Pattice. The Empanada was stuffed judiciously with cheese and interspersed were pieces of corn and peas. Make no mistake this really tastes awesome and they give you 3 big pieces of this patty. The ragada pattice too was nice and spicy. Probably not the most authentic but definitely on the taste side it did win honors.

On the price part they are a wee bit on the expensive side but again considering the location and stuff they serve isn't too much of a misnomer. The food arrives in doubly quick time as already harped earlier. The decor with low wooden chairs with small cushions is comfortable and kind of apt for gorging on fast food based items.

They have a plethora of items in store and you will mostly always have something new to try on your next visit. The food seldom disappoints and mostly always lives up to the mark. The happy hours concept is kind of a bonus and also their sunday breakfast is a win. It always attracts a sizable crowd and continues doing so. The innovation and inventiveness goes a large way in making Spoonbill classify as a top bracketed dine out option and rightfully so.