Pumpkin Tales - Surely tells mouth watering stories!

Pumpkin Tales struck the right chords and how. Located in a quiet little shrub off a by lane in Alwarpet, the place appeals with it's nicely done up interiors. It gives a very good vibe and the alternating colours of orange, yellow and red makes it appear aesthetic. The space is well spread out and there is a sure shot buzz around it. A bakery is perched at the bottom where you get to purchase exotic stuff and in the top tier is the restaurant.

They have an elaborate breakfast menu as well to go on top of the fine dining spread they serve for lunch and dinner. They serve a diverse potpourri of eclectic cuisine touching upon American, continental, European, Singaporean in addition to a large fare of bakery products.

We were here for dinner and began our sojourn with the roasted fennel and tomato soup. This was delightfully done up with an abundance of flavours. Certainly a good way to begin proceedings. The cheese mood was prevalent in our meal and for our appetisers we went with a flat bread pizza and a calzone. The former was a roasted veggie version bunched up with zucchinis, roasted tomatoes, floored up by tomato sauce and consisting of a delectable squishy layer of cheddar and mozzarella. The calzone we tried was one containing spinach, mushroom and mozzarella. This one too was decked up with cheese and it was nice consuming this juicy mix of ingredients and the bread was super smooth.

On the small bite section, we had the garlic sherry mushrooms. These were very nice too with the crunchiness of the garlic going well in tandem with softish button pieces of mushroom and the slightly liquid texture also seemed enjoyable. Apart from this also tried one of their bakery products namely the cheese sticks. This was definitely a good bite to crunch along with the aroma of cheese hitting in hard.

For the main course, we tried the rainbow pasta. This was colourful to look at with a flurry of veggies being part of the fray with cheese smeared in giving it a lovely creamy texture. This was quite rich with the addendum of ricotta cheese, cashews, mushrooms, spinach along with red and yellow pepper making it like a swirl of colours and hence aptly titled the rainbow pasta.

On the dessert side, the display had some enticing creations and we decided to go with cheese cake and not one but two of them. First up the chocolate hazelnut was as lovely as it could get with the mellow of the soft cream with nuts luring you in. And then it was time to test the vanilla and strawberry bean one. This too was top notch and pressed all the right buttons.

On the whole, our encounter with Pumpkin Tales happened to be pretty pleasing. The service was quick witted and our dishes barring the calzone reached our tables well on time. The pricing seems a little high for the quantity served. However the quality makes up for it not making you slouch too much. This was a place of plusses and I would love to check out their breakfast fare quite soon.

Durrants @ Welcome Hotel - Old Fashioned infusing the Yesteryear feel!

The one thing which strikes about this bar is you that you don't find places like this anymore. It is old fashioned and takes you back to the good ol days when how bars actually used to be. It does not swarm you with swirls of colours or attractive wall papers but instead works on the old world charm that is so missing these days.

The decor carries a very woody feel. The seating is laid back and the tinge of yesteryear is inherently visible on them. The surroundings are stacked with antiquities and the lighting is dim with the bar at the center serving all kinds of stuff from scotch to beer to vodka, rum, gin and what not. If you're a person of the past, nostalgia will certainly hit you with feel good memories.

Just that it has not moved on like the way the other newbie pubs have adds credibility and it's lovely to see that they have stuck to tradition. The name Durrants is named after 'Charles Durrant' - Madras Presidency's first wine merchant.

Before our evening meal, we stopped here for some drinks and starters. They have all kinds of liquor available including the imported ones. The best bet however is on the superlative deals they have. This is an area where they are really attractive as the offers are fabulous. Lots of buy one get one's, special discounts, summer quencher deals and many more.

I had a shot at a scotch and beer along with some sumptuous panneer tikka and cauliflower for company. This is also a place where you can ideally spend long hours at your leisurely comfort.

On the whole, an old school bar which happens to possess a vintage charm of it's own.

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.