Grilled Vegetarian - The Greenhouse Barbecue

There is nothing new when it comes to the concept of barbeque. It has been a tried & tested model and been in existence for almost 2 decades in the food circle of Chennai. Even to this day, the restaurants serving those grilled stuff over those charcoal boxes have found favour especially for office lunches/dinners or even family gatherings.

However what strikes out in The Greenhouse Barbeque is that they have catered it into an all vegetarian enclosure and it looks like they've been pretty successful going by the looks of things. Must say they have pulled it off really well. Traditionally these kind of barbeque restaurants are more associated with non vegetarian grills making the hardcore vegetarian population a little apprehensive especially the older generation sit in because of the over powering smell of meat hovering over despite plenty of options available on the green side of things as well. So there have always been reluctant starters to this brand of food by a certain section. This has now been addressed with an exclusive herbivorous spread.

Seeing the crowds throng in, it's pretty clear that they have been successful with this foray. It's always difficult to get a table here and they operate in different hourly shifts during both lunch and dinner. Apart from the plethora of starter options which is brought to the table, they have host of other items as part of the buffet spread including few live counters as well. They keep changing the menu also on a weekly basis by exploring with various variety.

For the vegetarian lovers, this is a welcome change from the renowned South Indian names and the exclusive multicuisine options as it options grilled food in addition to a buffet like setting with plenty to gorge over. The food as such is nothing to complain about. Choices in panneer, potato, mushroom, gobi, corn etc almost always hits the mark and even the fruity grills like pineapple, watermelon add a divergent flavour.

Other than all the barbecue bonanza, our last visit had live counters for dosa, pasta, chaat and even one for sushi and it was delectable to gorge over them. The sushi was not the run off the mill stuff - they had options of cream cheese, avacado and shitake mushrooms. The chaat had all the usual names with bombay sandwich added to the mix. Pasta varieties were plenty in number and so too was the case with dosas. The salad & dessert options were also quite a lot in number and you also get to have those roll based stone creations of ice cream. Even on the soup front we had 2 choices in the form of a Pineapple shorba and a potato leek variant.

The service is relatively quick and one good thing is they don't take off the grilled sticks till we finish our entire meal as opposed to removing them off before going for the main course. The pricing seems to be a little bit on the higher side setting you back by a well over 1000 bucks per individual. It tends to be a tad extra expensive during the weekends.

All in all, they've really attracted crowds in a big way in their short stint and been successful in creating an alternative choice exclusively for the vegetarian food loving afficianado. If you like to have a really elaborate lunch or dinner traversing through multiple options in the mix, definitely one can say that The Greenhouse Barbeque will not only satisfy but also satiate to your tummy and hearts content.

Stuffles - Eclectic Vegetarian Fare!

When a majority of items in a restaurant turns out to be as per your liking, you end up going back as a pleased customer and that's exactly how Stuffles turned out to be. This new vegetarian multi cuisine restaurant serving an eclectic fare of various vegetarian spread turned out to be pretty good.

Stuffles is located in the off road by the side of Ega theatre in Chetpet. The spacing is nicely divided and the ambiance looks presentable. Options in store ranges mainly from continental to Indian with a touch of fusion also added along.

We started our foray with soups in the form of cream of spinach and roasted corn. The former appeared a little too bland for the palette but the latter with a subtle hint of burnt corn was aromatic.

The starters packed a punch with most of the options being tried out vying for top stakes. The panneer bhurji khakra coated with a swirl of flavours and ingredients was superlative. The Mediterranean Mushroom was simply melt in the mouth with the smack of cream tucking in flavourfully. The peri peri fries were slathered with finely grated chilli powder going along very well with the spicy dip. The stuffed tawa panneer with a smatter of green chutney was soft and rosy. The aloo chutney had the desired spunk.

The main course saw us having a bite of their wood fired pizza's. Half and half pesto as well as broccoli & cheese were well done up and the cheese burst pizza was a show stealer. It had everything in it to treat your mouth with awesomeness. The chatpata burger was loaded heavily with toppings and the cream cheese layering made it feel juicy. The Indian side of the draw possessed a stuffed bulky Naan which were very good to consume. In the gravies, the Dal Makhni tasted wonderful but the panneer lababdar lacked a little bit of the spice and didn't have the requisite thickness. We also had a Italian Pasta sizzler with 3 different kind of pasta's made out of white, green and red sauce which was immensely likeable.

For desserts and drinks we had Gulab Jamun cheesecake, filter coffee pannacota, a couple of fruit based slushes and a couple of mock tails. I felt most of them were decent. The cheesecake could have been a wee bit softer and the iced drinks kept us going through the meal.

On the whole, it was a really pleasant experience. The service was on the ball and we kept getting our stuff at crisp intervals. The rates are fairly reasonable and doesn't give any reason to really slouch.

If you're looking for a good fine dining vegetarian restaurant offering plethora of options, Stuffles certainly can be earmarked.

Kailash Parbat - Delectably Vegetarian!

Kailash Parbat can be easily considered as one of the front runner restaurant's in the all veg dining category. They literally serve a sumptuous feast which will guarantee wholesome satisfaction to the palette. The variegated feast dished out here well and truly depicts vegetarian food in an all encompassing avatar. You'll never feel hard done being a vegetarian when dining here because the variety on offer is so widespread and will ensure that both the salty side as well as the sweetened surface get well and truly satisfied. The food is pre dominantly North Indian and bordering mainly into the Chaat mix of things and apart from these they also serve a pastiche of continental and Italian cuisine. This is the second stand alone Kailash Parbat after the immensely successful and hugely crowd pleasing eternal favorite of the North Indian families located at Chetpet in Harrington road.

The Koturpuram branch is slightly smaller in size but instantly appealing. Just on entering the arena, you find the area converged with lot of cute little thingies which are eye catching and brightens up the whole atmosphere. Signboards depicting interesting messages, miniatures hanging on walls, quirky wall arts, colourful portraits, cool lighting etc define the place. It instantly ignites the feel good factor and a very positive vibe is created. The other highlights happen to be the decor which is really well played and no words of praise is enough on the plating and presentation which deserves showering of the highest magnitude.

We began our sojourn with the evergreen favourite viz chaat platter containing bhel puri, dahi vada, papdi chaat and corn canopes. Presented in an odd shaped 4 way placement just a glimpse of it will get the tongue craving and rightfully so. The Dahi vada seemed the odd man out in terms of the looks as all others had a lot of yellow on them with podi, papdi, bhel etc. All of them were equally ravishing in taste and didn't take much long to polish spoon for spoon of each of the items. Next up was the Cheese Pav Bhaji and my god this was like the road leading the path to heaven. The pav's were bulky in size but super soft and the bhaji with a gregarious slathering of cheese floating over was breathtaking in taste. There are pav bhaji's and then there is Kailash Parbat's version of Pav Bhaji's which are simply a class apart and it was proved with authority yet again. 

We tried being a little tongue in cheek and went off the radar by selecting the garlic bread fondue. This was a little let down with the bread being crusty as opposed to being cushiony which didn't go well with thr syrupy fondue. The fondue too was done with excess of flour over powering the cheese and this somehow didn't cut the cloth in the right proportion for any of us. The potato skins however saved the blushes by being a great snack going jocularly well with the lovely dip it came along. The Mushroom on toast was another winner on the day with the breads being spread along generously with smallish pieces of mushrooms with an intermingling of cheese and it was jaw dropping good in taste. And we also had a chaat in mexican style with the pani puri tacos with chipotle water. This was quite an experiment and personally I felt they did wonders on this count giving the perfect mexican ingredient feel with beans, tacos, chipotle and sauces to boot. The traditional pani puri lover may find it a little off but this one for a change though radical worked to my advantage.

Having tried Mexican, we had to take the Italian route too and hence selected the four season pizza. This was a pizza with the slices being topped individually with different toppings viz corn, olives, jalapeno and capsicum. The one constant factor however was the cheese element which was oozing and melting in between the ingredients. The cheese did feel a little too strong but if you are a lover of it, you'll have no complaints whatsoever. Continuing on the unchartered territory, we also had a shot at a Panneer shaslik sizzler. This didn't appease much with the rice lacking flavour and also the general punch of having a red hot steamed sizzler was missing.

In the drinks and mock tail sections, we had quite a number of them but what ruled the roost was the immensely refreshing masala chaas. It was contagious and just perfect for the heat. We without regret had extra servings of the same. The other drinks too be it the jaljeera, ice tea, chilli guava, pine nut cola all were well delivered and seemed apt to have along with delicious food in parallel.

And on the dessert draw, we went first up with the sizzling brownie which just fizzled, sizzled and mizzled in unison with the molten chocolate layer, vanilla ice cream and chunky brownie all working in perfect confluence giving us joy in bundles on the taste front. With the expectation already laid out, we went to an all together different course with the fruit pizza. This was another stunner with water melon slices made to resemble the base of the pizzas and on top of it were steps of fruits, custard, sweet sauce which made it all fruity, juicy and sweety. It was like a swirl of colour enveloping over one another.

The service was amiable and extremely hospitable. They acceded to all our requests and were more than helpful in giving us suggestions. Also we never really had a long waiting time in between the dishes served. The pricing may seemingly feel on the higher side but for the quality on offer, you wouldn't be cribbing too much especially after the richness galore that you would end up consuming. Overall, it was a very engaging fare with Kailash Parbat amply proving once again that they are the boss in their own den.

P.S : Sharing a brief review about their outlet in Chetpet below:
I have experienced samples of Kailash Parbat in different malls before but this really was the real deal!.

It was my first visit to a standalone Kailash Parbat outlet and the excitement was palpable. It is located in a 2 storied complex that also houses French Loaf and Le Chocolatier. Seems quite a foodie area with Subway and Ox&Tomato located exactly opposite. The place looks really small from the outset but on arriving you find it's a lot more spacious. The ambience is colorful , vibrant and bright with nice easy comfortable seatings

The menu had a concoction to choose from an array of items comprising of Bread , Pizzas , Chats , Starters , Oriental , European , Sizzlers , Sindhi and Desserts. We ordered a plethora of items ranging from Pani puri , Aloo Tikki , Pav Bhaji , Chole Batoora , Spinach and Cottage Cheese Pizza , Veg Augratin , Veg Grilled sizzler , Masala Chaas and Kesar Falooda.

The decoration of the Pani puri was nice being brought in a thin rectangular plate and the puri's were ballooned with an interesting mix and the 2 types of Pani to go with it set the tone. The Aloo tikki were cooked to perfection and was perfect foil to have along with the Ragada Pattice and pinkish onions. The Pav Bhaji was decent with the Bhaji being yum but appeared a bit smudged , generally prefer it to be a skosh soaky. Had the Chole Batoora platter with 4 different types of Batoora which was thumbs up however the quantity of the chole was quite exiguous to satisfy 4 giant pooris which required an extra chole order. The Spinach and Cottage Cheese Pizza Bonanza was simply fantabulous loaded with oodles of cheese and spinach lingering along on top of diamond shaped cottage cheese , the veg augratin was liquidy cooked on white sauce comprising a mix of veggies with cheese floating all over. The veg grilled sizzler was pretty normal encircled with fries and rice in between an amalgam of veggies such as Bell Pepper , Baby corn , Mushroom , Zuccini , Cauliflower , beans , brocolli etc. The finale was Masala Chaas which was so-so but the Kulfi Falooda was truly a delight squashing the noodly falooda over a dollop of Pista ice cream and torpedo of Kesar kulfi.

The food overall totally lived upto the expectations and it was a wonderful lunchathon. The good thing is there are still so many items left to try and from whatever was consumed is anything to go by a return visit does not seem way too off the cards.

The service was excellent with the food being served quickly and with aplomb. The price is very upmarket and if you are in the mood to get down and dirty be prepared to splurge the currency. But rest assured , you get your money's worth as what you get in return truly salivates the taste buds. Simply put another very good restaurant in the city for the veg lovers.

Flower Drum - Vegetarian Chinese at its real best!

After enticing crowds down the years with it's vegetarian chinese cuisine in Egmore, Flower Drum opens shop now in Adyar. It is located in the Mahatma Gandhi main road and is perched in the same complex which houses ICICI bank.

There aren't any restaurant's serving a full on vegetarian chinese cuisine anywhere in the city. It's a given in most places to have Indian chinese stuff thrown in the mix but Flower Drum is perhaps the only one purely serving deep dish vegetarian chinese and also Thai food.

Having never tried their Egmore outlet, this was my first tryst with Flower Drum and I must say I was quiet impressed. Most of the bases were covered ensuring we had a lovely fine dining evening.

The menu is pretty elaborate and they have 4 sheets containing a Dimsum, drinks, kulfi and the main menu comprising of the food. Options are plenty and most of the items we had on the day seemed faultless.

The Dimsums were steamed well and went along nicely with the 2 types of sauces. And it was enjoyable having the broccoli and the cottage cheese version too along with the usual tried and tested veg based one. On the mocktail side, we tried a couple and won't really claim it to be their forte but nevertheless a good foil to have along with your food. The Pistachio broccoli soup in a Thai coconut avatar was pretty good but the spicy corn soup lacked a bit of the bite and seemed to be a tad too spicy. All the starters be it the corn, potatoes, mushroom, cauliflower and the panneer had the ammunition going for them with the flavouring in chinese style doing them a whole lot of good.

For main course we tried the plain rice with the yellow thai curry. We went on the offside here with the yellow curry being a little off on taste. We expected it to be a milder version of the green flavoured one but somehow it didn't sit well with us. However parity was restored on the Chinese front with the decorative Changai Noodles. These were flat and curried along with an abundance of veggies. More of the chopsuey kind but the gravy on the noodles was much more than expected and it was a perfect dish to have stand alone without any extra side dishes.

On the dessert front, we were served the Drum fruits with ice cream. This was basically a bowl of fruits embellished with strawberry ice cream. This was nothing radical and taste was on expected lines. However what really took us by surprise was the Ice Katchang. This was the show stealer of the evening. Dressed up in a kaleidoscope of colors this ice based ice cream with the essence of condensed milk had a riveting taste to it. It was almost as if the best was reserved for the last. Very unique in presentation and taste and needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall, it was a very satisfactory meal. The ambiance gave a nice feel. The round emclosed sofa's went well in the surrounding and dim lights are always fancy and that was the case here too. The music playing though seemed a little out of place for the setting. The service was fair. It seemed a little slow at times but nothing really worth complaining about. Flower Drum has put a step in Adyar and it looks like the footprints are going to be imprinted firmly in the days to come. The place is most ideal for family dining and lovers of Chinese food.

Pakwan - Articulately rich and royal veg fine dining experience!

Pakwan, since it's inception has been garnering rave reviews about it's food and that was enough reason to rouse the curiosity button of my taste buds. So when I heard about an invite coming my way, there was palpable excitement to grab this opportunity with both hands.

Pakwan is shrouded in T Nagar in the quiet lane of Kuppuswamy street which is off Bazullah road. You need to be a little cognizant with regard to the directions. Once you enter you are greeted with a royal ambiance encapsulating the surroundings. We were given the special room which was all lit up and beautifully decorated. It had the aura of a mughal empire and the vintage palace charm certainly seemed regal in it's appearance.

The food in simple parlance can be described as spectacular. We were literally fed a largesse of variegated items and virtually every one of the dishes made our mouths glee with ghee. Just the aroma of colors and flavours will have you hooked in and once you start laying your bites it becomes a ravenous feast by itself.

We began with a melange of mocktails which came in all iridescent colours. They had all sorts of assorted mix and match of flavours and among them the orange chaska which is an orange drink with a tinge of chilli ignited the tongue in glorious fashion. The pink hot lips was a refreshing drink and the milk based shakes also set the tone tingling the excitement. The kaleidoscopic swirl of drinks set us up for more wondrous stuff to follow.

Next up was the soup side of things. The tom yum soup was good and so was the creamy fungi broth. But what really opened the floodgates was the delightful Dal Palak shorba and the Badami shorba. I simply couldn't have enough of these 2 soups. They just had a riveting essence in them making it quite addictive. Never has a soup gotten me craving so much ever before.

Once the liquid layer of the radar got amicably done with, it was time to hit the solid state of affairs and first up were the starters. The one thing which got us all aroused were the Panneer Dum Anari. They were soft rolled up golden yellow pieces of panneer with a stuffing inside which just melted jocundly in the mouth. The chilli tikki were of the cutlet types and went well with the green chutney. The french fried type sesame potatoes with a twang of sweet chilli sauce was another winner. And for the Italian twist we had a Fungi balls with a lovely chilli mayo dip and a baguette covered in abundance with cheese and brocolli. As special request we also got served their loosened spring roll kind cheese kurkure which was remarkable with cheese oozing from those brownish tubes.

There were further condiments in the form of a palak kurkure chaat which had crispy spinach pieces garnished with curd, namkeen and green chutney and 2 fares of salads viz mexican corn and insalata caesar salad. The salads didn't appease much. They were just as how they should be but being taken on a journey ride of rich and sumptuous delicacies, the salads seemed a bit subaltern in relation to the stuff unfolding adjacent.

The main course was another breath taking feature. We had a bunch of Indian bread with jhalandri mushroom, panneer multani masala and Dal Pakhwan for company. The side dishes were marvellous especially with just the look of the pannner evincing a smirk of excitement and the black dal simmered in an buttery aromatic gravy was dal-icious. Also had a little shot at their biryani creations which seemed flavorful and rich in taste. On the Italian front, we got a Pakwan delight pizza which was scrumptious and dancing along with a bountiful blush of cheese. And also we got the baked macaroni with brocolli which again was baked to perfection containing inset pieces of brocolli and olives not to forget a gregarious coating of that melt in the mouth cheese.

We rounded off proceedings with a motley of desserts comprising of the Indian Malpua and Lichi rabdi which were so creamy and totally slurp material. And on the western side were delivered strawberry panacotta and a glass of Banofee. These felt a little short compared to the scintillating taste of the sweets from the North of India. And for ice cream we were treated to a ravishing cold scoop of pan ice cream signalling the end of one of the most sterling meals I've had in a really long time.

The service was immaculate. It was probably the most organised dinners I've ever been to. Everything was conceptualised in advance from the menu for the day with the seating arrangements to the number plates. The food was ready well on time and the meticulous planning bowled us over. Food apart, we really felt the hospitable white glove treatment in all it's splendour.

The rates are not being considered as this was over an invite. But let me tell you that for the offering in store, Pakwan will give you ample satisfaction. They are also soon to launch specially designed buffets which will be a great addition especially for the corporates.

There are few restaurant's serving vegetarian only cuisine that can talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to the spread and taste of food on display and Pakwan certainly is one in this esteemed category. For me personally, Pakwan can be considered the torch bearer if you're looking for an articulately rich and royal veg fine dining experience.

Prive - A vegetarian's fortress!

It isn't usually a very good sign when restaurant's pack their menu with cuisines aplenty because one really wonders what their forte is. While having an exaggerated spread is good because it gives you more options, to zero in on something and hoping it passes the test of the tongue is more out of hope. 'Prive' manages to buck that trend and in some fashion.

Prive boasts of a menu booklet running to pages and pages comprising of varied cuisines but what was really pleasing was that virtually everything on the house was resoundingly good. We tried a mix of Mexican, Italian, Chinese and Indian more of the tandoor and chaat kind along with a bunch of mocktails, shakes and desserts. It was really hard to find a blemish as more or less all the items served were really good and there were few which were exceptional.

In the mexican category, they got the Nachos and Tacos both bang on. Especially found the Tacos to be superlative bunched with a pleasing degree of stuffing inside with salsa, beans and white sauce to boot. The panneer was another area where they nailed it completely. The tandoor based one's were succulent and melt in the mouth types but what stole the show was the chinese based Chilli panneer. The pieces were super delicate and with the requisite spices as company, it just rolled onto our mouth tenderly. Perhaps one of the best manchurian based starters I've ever had. In the chaat section, the Dahi puri lorded over by being immaculate with just the right mix of curd and coverings and suited well to my liking. The puri's in the pani puri were the golgappa kind and very soft comprising a pasty mix of potatoes and were fairly nice. The North Indian array was again top notch be it the assorted Indian breads or gravies in the form of Panneer Lababdar, Babycorn Palak and Dal Makhni. The palak gravy was dynamic and the Dal Makhni with the lentils simmering in a buttered aroma was delightful. The Italian was no less in competing for top stakes. The veggie pizza was marvellous and so was the delectable Lasagne. The pink sauce Pasta was another star and it was lovely gorging over this slurpy creamy pasta. The mixed veg fried rice with a mixture of vegetables finely grated kept up the pace of brilliance and the teriyaki curry went along with it rather nicely. For drinks we had numerous choices ranging from the Blue Curacao to the Mint lemon to the Watermelon margherita to the Iced chilli slush and also a few shakes such as Ferrero Rocher and Oreo. Literally all of them hit the bulls eye with my special preference being for the watermelon drink and the slush with a twang of chilli making it really enticing. We also had desserts like the Malai Rabdi which was milky to the core and was a joy to lick every spoonful. The ice cream with chocolate fudge rounded off proceedings in sterling style.

Overall, it was a fabulous experience dining at Prive. The food just never ceased to amaze right from start to end. The service was in order and they did a good job serving the food in quick time with not too much time taken in between items. They were there right at our beck and call and it was a pleasure to be here and enjoy a sumptuous meal. As we were on an invite, it isn't appropriate to comment on the pricing. But one thing I must add having seen the rates of the menu is that for the quality of stuff served they seem fairly reasonable.

'Prive' referred to as private also wins on the ambiance front. There is a splash of red throughout and the place seems bright and professional. It is a fairly large place having capacity to seat close to 100 pax at a time. Also the space is well spread out ensuring you will get your private feel.

In conclusion, one of the best new restaurant's to hit townsville. Vegetarians will have a ball of a time and can eat to their heart's galore. Would definitely recommend it as a very high quality veg fine dining restaurant.

P.S: I had a shot at them in their Kilpauk outlet and the experience was equally good. Sharing the review below:

There are hardly few restaurant's in recent times which can place itself in the same pedestal as the much established names in the market and I would certainly certify 'Prive' in the upper echelons when it comes to a well etched vegetarian fine dining experience.

They have an extensive menu running into pages bordering across various cuisines traversing from North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Italian and Continental. Even street food is touched upon with a variegated fare of chaats. Also worth mentioning are their diverse portfolio of mocktails, shakes and desserts.

Getting my hands on to the real spread, it's difficult to say which is their forte as they have aced more or less all kinds of cuisines served in their attic. In the Mexican category, you should try having a shot at their Nachos and Tacos. The Nachos are beautifully laid out as elongated crispy chips flowered with cheese sauce and garnished with exotic veggies. To add to the delight are holders consisting of cheese and salsa sauce for you to customise and decorate it further. The tacos were presented out as stuffed bags punched with a pleasing degree of your quintessential mexican ingredients and dressed up with a spraying of Mayonnaise. To just make it a touch juicier, they are presented with sliders of salsa, red kidney beans and cheese sauce.

On the soup side of things, I immensely enjoyed the spinach cream based one which had a lovely aroma to it. The lemon coriander had a strong hinge with plenty of veggies inset. The tomato one was more on expected lines and the Hot n sour I felt could have been slightly better. In the chaat section, the dahi puri cracked a whip with the confluence of dahi and other requisite spices going along jocularly well. The pani puri's were ballooned up with a pasty potato mix and it was a delight to gulp this one down. The Bhel puri too was crunchy and having the desired ingredients.

Another signature was the North Indian starter fest. First up, the panneer tikka, both the regular as well as various other version were top notch. They were succulent and the flavours were hard hitting on every bite. The texture was so bang on right and it was quite a feast lingering them tenderly on to the tongue. Even the other one's on the platter viz potatoes, veg sheekh kabab and baby corn were pretty good. On the other starters, there were 2 cheese infused ones viz cheese pakoda and corn cheese balls and no much complaints there. They did the expected job being heavily loaded with cheese.

On the Indian main course side, I just got to sample a wee bit of the gravies and they were nice from whatever I had a bite at. The Dal Makhni was one of the better one's I've had with the lentils simmering delectably in a buttery aroma. Even had a crack at a panner based sizzler brewing along and the chunks of cottage cheese which were a tad roasted turned out to be super juicy and lovely to eat along with rice and french fries.

The Italian quotient was not far off from the action. The pesto panneer pizza was infused with cheese in abundance and the crust comprised of a lot of greenery. The Lasagne was another stunner with beds of veggies sponged underneath sheets of cheese. The pink sauce pasta was amazingly creamy and totally slurp slurp. And the verdure which was like a Mexican rice was rather decent.

The ending was more in line with the brilliance beforehand. You should surely try their mocktails and shakes in all sorts of colours and shapes. Some were icy, a few were milk based and some others were packed with essence of flavours. Overall it was a well rounded portfolio of drinks which were quite enticing and perfect for the heat. On Indian sweets, the Malai Rabdi was sumptuously creamy and will tingle the tongue of the sweet craving aficionado. A rainbow of ice cream scoops with chocolate fudge cake was quite a lovely way to get to the penultimate bit. And to round off the meal was a sizzling ice cream brownie. It was quite a sight to witness the chocolate brownie topped​ with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and being drizzled over with a molten hot chocolate sauce encircling and changing the entire plate to a sea of dark brown. You really cannot ask for more.

On a holistic picture, 'Prive' pressed the buttons right on almost every press on the food angle. The service was spot on and no real complaints at all on this front. They were always there at our beck and call and acceding to all our requests. Also no waiting time whatsoever with the food arriving faster than expected. The ambiance could be worked on a little bit. We were seated in a separate enclosure and it felt like more of a concierge/event based seating set up as opposed to a fine dining decor. The colour combination is more green here as compared to the splash of red in their RK Salai outlet. The pricing is not being spoken about as the event took place over on 'on the house' invite.

'Prive' is a a great addition to the roster of restaurant's serving a sumptuous vegetarian meal. Despite being quite nascent in the ever growing food circle of Chennai, they've made quite an impression and hit the bulls eye resoundingly. Would testify it as a highly recommended outlet for an ultimate vegetarian fine dining experience.

Hamsa - Royal, Regal & Resplendent!

There is an inherent air of class about 'Hamsa'. The place bedazzles and sparkles with radiance. The whole idea of conceptualising such a place would have taken quite an effort and to see everything fall in place perfectly to the 'T' speaks volumes. It is hard not to shower encomiums about the resplendent interiors because it happens to be so bloody good and you have to witness it to believe.

The surfing of gold, silver and bronze adds glitter to the surroundings and gives it an artistic and ethnic feel. Right when you set foot you cannot but miss out the white cages decorated with lush flowers. The peacock shaped bells and the chandelier lights adds to the chiaroscuro. The shimmery silvery doors and utensils ooze in pristine fashion and glorifies the aura of the place. The comfortable cozy decor and the dim lights give just the right fine dining lift. Hamsa when translated refers to 'Swan' and the literal meaning is taken rather seriously as the place is all elegant, graceful and charming.

It is located in the Gandhinagar 4th main road and parking is not a hassle as it's situated in a private road with little shrubs by the wayside giving ample space to park vehicles. A peekaboo from the outside signifying the Swan emblem and the decorated patterns says quite a bit about what's likely to be in store.

We were here on a weekday dinner to check out what's on the deck on the food side of things. Hamsa serves a spread which is predominantly Indian curating cuisines from up north and down south to dish up a varied diverse portfolio. We got served a potpourri of items comprising of starters, mains, breads, rice and desserts.

In the starter category, the Panneer Saunfiya ruled the roost. The cottage cheese triangles with a smudgy pasty fennel mix was delightful. The other leaf enclosed panneer with a masala mix garnished on top of the slices was fairly decent. The cheese kurkure was crunchy and had a dollop of cheesy mixed paste inside and the chaat based ones especially the crispy corn one was lovely.

The melange of breads were done up well and seemed soft and soluble. On to the curries, the Panneer caught attention again in the form of Bhagirathi Meher panneer. The spicy Urlai roast in coastal style was quite enjoyable and the lotus stem gravy was a nice twist. The rice items however be it the concocted idiappam biryani or the Anar aur hari meeri ja chawal didn't pass muster.

In the dessert draw, the Anjeer aur adrak halwa was delectable, thought it was a tad too sweet. The Amrud Phirni with a heavy flavoring of Guava didn't appease much. The welcome drink in the mode of Panjamritham was a star and we had a shot of it both at the start as well as towards the end of our meal.

Overall, the majority of the items passed off with flying colors. Service and pricing goes out of the window as it was a specific dinner meet over an invite.

In a nutshell, 'Hamsa' redefines the art of fine dining. You should check it out for the awe inspiring ambiance and diverse culinary spread traversing the length and breadth of India.

Taj Bhavan - Hardcore Indian cuisine down under!

Wigram street in Harris Park is inundated with everything Indian from restaurant's to groceries to accommodation avenues. It's the restaurant's dazzling with lot of color and glitter of the Indian kind that attracts the attention. There are plenty of eateries here with traditional Indian names catering to cuisine from up north. One such fine dining place is Taj Bhavan. Quite akin to most of the other hotels lined up on this stretch,this one resembles a house converted into a restaurant.

The ambiance is pretty plain jane with nothing really eye popping. The color palette largely adopts the Indian tri color whether it be the wall paintings, portraits or even the light bulbs which are ignited with saffron, white and green. The decor is simple with just plastic chairs of green and orange colors and the tables are all white again giving an imprint of freedom and India.

It was however the food which walked the talk. Considering from the outset there wasn't anything really appealing, the food was quite a delight and ended up being way beyond expectations. We started our foray with soup and a bunch of entrees. The tomato soup was absolutely lip smacking and the smell of cream was apparent in every mouth. It's been a long time since I tasted such fine quality tomato soup. The sweet corn soup too was good however well short of the brilliance of the former. We had two varieties of chats viz Dahi puri and Bhel puri. The Dahi puri was lovely. Though it wasn't decorated with curd and masala on the plate, the inside of the puri had the ammunition to set the tongue rolling with excitement. The bhel puri was passable. It was crunchy but somehow lacked the muster. We also had a ball galloping the Achari panneer tikka, corn cheese balls and Gobi 65. The panneer made in sizzler style was especially top notch.

On to the main course, we told for an assortment of Indian breads with the Dal Bhukara and Kali Mirch Panneer for company. Be it the Naan or Tandoori Roti or the Aloo/Gobi Parathas, they passed the test with flying colors. What really elevated it were the side dishes. The Kali Mirch panneer with a twang of sweetness and hint of pepper with succulent pieces of cottage cheese floating gracefully on the gravy was brilliant. The Dal Bhukara was a show stealer. Just didn't expect the black dal to be so good in a little known place. I found it to be better than most high end fine dining restaurant's back home.

We rounded our evening with Salt Lassi and Mango Lassi. The salt lassi was flavored with tinge of masala bits and seemed a good digester however found it to be a tad watery. The mango based one was a bit too sweet for the liking though it was pretty thick.

Overall the food turned out to be quite exceptional especially pinning down some of the stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed the tomato soup, Achari Panner Tikka, Dal Bhukara and the Panneer Kali Mirch. Nothing was bad and everything was bordering from the good to excellent. The service was a mixed bag. Items came to our table in a jiffy which is a good sign but it seemed time consuming in clearing the consumed food particles thus occupying too much space on the table. The rates seem fairly reasonable for the quality of food on offer.

This was our last tryst with restaurant hunting during our short stint in Sydney and we were glad to have chosen this place which really proved to be quite a fitting farewell to our foodie escapades over the last couple of weeks. Would definitely recommend Taj Bhavan for high quality North Indian cuisine.