Yellow Chilli Restaurant - A first hand experience !!

Was pretty excited to check out this new venture of Sanjeev Kapoor in Chennai. Checked out the reviews on Zomato and they were kind of mixed ranging from great to bad. What's better than checking out yourself by directly indulging in the food and so here i was today afternoon. They have both Ala-carte and Buffet , I had the veg buffet option , I believe they have scaled up the price since i read that it was Rs.750 for veg and 950 for non veg, but today I got to believe that its the same rate for both costing Rs.1000 all inclusive.

Coming to the place , its located in Nungambakkam opposite the Income Tax office and is on the top floor of the same building which houses Papa Jones and Croma. You wouldn't think the place is so big but when you enter its spacious and pretty grandesque and has a nice ambience going for it. It has comfortable seats and a nice outside view and on the inside there is a window to the kitchen from where you can just about view the Kababs being cooked from a fair distance.

Coming to the food , its not the traditional buffet types and here you get all the food served directly to the table. The buffet comprised of a clear soup which felt good on the mouth containing ingredients such as crushed bell pepper , capsicum etc. It was pretty nicely flavored and then arrived the starters which had Paneer , Mushroom and Raw Banana Tikki. The Paneer was tender and layered with a tomato puree paste (Harippa Paneer Tikka), the mushroom was quite zingy and topped with a mild yellow gravy and grated cheese (Shabnam Ke Moti), the Banana tikki was like a cutlet tasted pretty nice was kind of different to the usual tandoori starters and had Jawarasi as an addon which went well (Motiya Tikki). Also a small word on the round onions accompanying the starters which were soaked with Malai spread acting as an interesting condiment.

Then arrived the main course which had Indian Bread , Biriyani , Papad , Salad - (Baby Potato with Bell Peppers and Boondi Raita) , 3 Main course items and 2 dals. The Roti was the usual fare nothing exceptional about it , the Biriyani tasted decent and the main courses comprised of Veg Paneer gravy which was nicely cooked esp a word about the cottage cheese which was soft and succulent (Mulayam Methi Chaman) , Corn Palak gravy which was thick with the corn finely interspersed in between the Palak (Corn Chatkara Palak) and an Aloo dish which had a mild sweet tangy taste to it (Kashmiri Dum Aloo). The 2 varieties of Dal comprised one yellow (Dal Mizaz) which tasted a touch different from the usual Dal Tadka and a black Dal (Lalla Mussa Dal). The simmering Makhni Dal left a lingering taste wanting you to crave for more. And for desert we were served small pieces of Gulab Jamun floating over a Malai kind of Milk which was delectable. (Gulab-e-Gulkhand).

Overall it was a good first time experience at the Yellow Chilli. The best part was there were quite a few items which truly had a signature taste associated. On the flip side - I would say its quite heavy on the pocket and a price of Rs 750-800 would have been ideal. Assuming they do want to maintain price skimming they should have considered adding an extra starter or two and atleast one more dessert.

Nungambakkam has well and truly become the go to place for Restaurants in Chennai and "The Yellow Chilli" serves another welcome addition to this area's already bustling food circle.