Its like an avalanche of food , food and more food flowing from different cuisines across the globe.
In a nutshell , they have over 60 items on the menu comprising of 2 soups (1 Veg & 1 Non Veg) , 14 starters (7 veg incl. Chat & 7 Non Veg) , 5-6 types of Salad , Indian Bread , Biriyani , Plain rice , Raita , around 10-15 main course dishes , 10 varieties of Desserts (5 European & 5 Indian) , 4 flavours of Ice-cream and on top of this they have live counters of Oriental and Pasta where you get to make them your way ad lib style with the ingredients added of your choice.
Now coming to the food in detail , started off with the Veg minestrone soup an Italian style soup containing carrot, onion, beans, cabbage etc., it was pretty decent and I just had a little bit for taste as i was waiting to indulge on the bigger palate in store. Then started arriving the starters to the table with Chat making the first appearance. There was Bhel Puri, Pani Puri and Dahi Papdi. Generally in most buffets you find Chat just making up the numbers and they tend to taste very average but here it was anything but that and it was a refreshing surprise. The Bhel Puri was really yummy and made well with the right toppings giving a nice crispy taste , Pani puri also had a nice mixture inside and gave a good feel to the mouth and so was the Dahi Papdi chat which was simple yet delicious. This was easily the best Chat i have had at a place not specializing on this genre. And then arrived the other starters - Veg Tempura which is basically your traditional Bhajji with stuffing's of Carrot and Zucchini , Vol au vent which was a puff pastry garnished with a layer of corn , peas and cheese topped with olive ( A thumbs up to this one which made me have extra pieces), panneer tikka was succulent and a small dollop of Masala paste gave it a nice zingy taste and the last of the starters of Veg was Cocktail Samosa which were cute and small in size and on the inside loaded with potato , peas and herbs (A definite winner). I don't take Non Veg but from what I heard most of the items had the affirmative nod.
Just gorging on the starters occupied over 80% of the tummy capacity and so much of the spread was still uncovered. Tried my forceful best to have whatever little of the remaining which had items like Parsley with Cauliflower , Corn and Brocoli Chinese balls , Tandoori Ananas , Herb Potato , Baked Mushroom , Punjabi Chole Masala , Mutter Paneer , Dhal Makhani et al. The former 4 items could perhaps again get categorized again under the Starters bracket and among them the Ananas hit the mark by being juicy and tender. On the gravy side , just had the wherewithal to mildly taste and most of them deserve the brownie points.The salad bar also had some interesting things lined up such as Paneer Corn Bhutte and Lettuce & Egg salad.
Coming to the Oriental Live counter , they give you the option of sprucing up your own and you have 8 varieties of sauces to choose from - Chilli/Oyster/Plum/Soya&Ginger/Red Thai/Green Thai/Hot Garlic/Schezwan. The same ad-libbing style holds good for the Pasta where you not only get to choose the sauce - Tomato/Pesto/Cream/Mushroom but also the Pasta - Penne , Spaghetti , Fusili. Chose the coloured fusili with Cream sauce topped with ingredients of Brocoli , Corn , Bell Pepper and a dash of Chilli flakes and crushed black pepper as condiment. It left a lingering taste and you really felt like craving for more sans your stomach capacity.
Rounding off on the desserts you had a mix of Indian - Rosagulla , Kala Jamun , Bombay Halwa , Tuti fruti Burfi (the latter 2 were enticing) and western which had a green apple jelly and a few others like date cake , blueberry cheese cake (delightful!) et al. And not to forget you had the luxury of 4 flavors of ice cream to go along - Vanilla , Mango , Butter scotch and Strawberry.
Coming to the ambience , the décor isn't extravagant but decent enough and the portraits and hanging wall clocks showcasing the time zones of different countries gives a nice touch. So are the interesting foodie quotes from across the globes adorned on the leaflets.
There isn't much to complain about this place but if you however want to pinpoint a few things , these are some which could be improved :
1) It would be good to have a drink as part of the buffet (I know its asking too much when their spread is fit enough to feed a giant but come to think of it drink is essential and is a good add-on especially with the starters).
2) Felt the oil content to be pretty heavy in some of the items and they could be reduced a bit.
3) Minor issues like it was so hot inside and we had to request them to switch on the A/c's. The benefit of doubt can definitely be given as its a new place and these things get sorted out with time.
Having said this, these are just minor quibbles and the positives far far outweigh the negatives.
And the icing on the cake is the fact that such a lavish , humongous and monstrous buffet at the end of the day costs less than Rs 650 per person all inclusive. Truly value for money !!
Coming to the ambience , the décor isn't extravagant but decent enough and the portraits and hanging wall clocks showcasing the time zones of different countries gives a nice touch. So are the interesting foodie quotes from across the globes adorned on the leaflets.
There isn't much to complain about this place but if you however want to pinpoint a few things , these are some which could be improved :
1) It would be good to have a drink as part of the buffet (I know its asking too much when their spread is fit enough to feed a giant but come to think of it drink is essential and is a good add-on especially with the starters).
2) Felt the oil content to be pretty heavy in some of the items and they could be reduced a bit.
3) Minor issues like it was so hot inside and we had to request them to switch on the A/c's. The benefit of doubt can definitely be given as its a new place and these things get sorted out with time.
Having said this, these are just minor quibbles and the positives far far outweigh the negatives.
And the icing on the cake is the fact that such a lavish , humongous and monstrous buffet at the end of the day costs less than Rs 650 per person all inclusive. Truly value for money !!
There is really so much on the platter that you wish there was a magic trick to increase your intake capacity to 500 % of your original size in order to do full justice and truly enjoy all the dishes to your hearts content :).
Its unbelievable how all these amazing restaurants keep sprouting up on Nungambakkam time and again. And Avenue 195 is another welcome addition and raises the class of food in this area a notch higher through its epicurean delicacy.
Its unbelievable how all these amazing restaurants keep sprouting up on Nungambakkam time and again. And Avenue 195 is another welcome addition and raises the class of food in this area a notch higher through its epicurean delicacy.
