Stunning Composition from Ramanujam

Thuli Thuliyai from Ramanujam is indeed a stunner of a composition tuned by Ramesh Vinayakam.
Looks like he has indulged in some scale play by taking the Harikambhoji raga and by more or less obliterating the 'Pa' (Panchamam) creates an interesting soundscape in Rageshri ragam. And on the rhythm side is the hardly noticeable camoulflaging of the 7 beat cycle Misram.

Abundantly rich on soul and feel , its a simple yet striking Indian melody laced with a tingy western influence and layered with a mild Hindustani touch making it a song that has a lot going for it.

Give in a listen !!
Thuli Thuliyai - Ramanujan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7JZBc4hTgQ

Lord Sanga conquers Lords!

Another ton for Kumara Sangakkaara this time at the Mecca of cricket, Lords and he now equals Rahul Dravid with 36 test centuries.

The kind of distinguished records he possesses :
1)Fastest to 8000, 9000, 10000 and 11000 test runs.
2) Only player to make 4 consecutive scores of 150+ and only one to score 3 centuries in a row on 3 occasions.
3) Also the batsman to be involved in the highest ever partnership of 624 runs along with Mahela Jayawardene.
4) Easily the greatest southpaw since Brian Charles Lara and perhaps one of the greatest test players amongst those who made their debut only in the new millennium.

Lord Sanga - you truly are an all time Test Cricket Legend!

Kaidi Kitchen - A Prisoner's Paradise !!

First things first , when i heard about a restaurant by the name Kaidi Kitchen , had a hunch that it would perhaps be authentic South Indian Veg cuisine but soon realised how way off the boil my intuitions were , not that I am complaining one bit.

I heard that this place gets very crowded over the weekends and so we decided to go on a weekday evening. The first thing you spot as you enter is the large Jail gate adjourning the entrance. As you open the jail to get inside , you find a slew of waiters adorning prisoner clothes with No.s written on each of their shirts and persons dressed as policeman taking the orders. You will also find a mocktail counter with bartenders. There are also Big Jails with No.s to accomodate large groups of people. Its thematically cool and definitely quite chic.

Now coming to the main part the food. The menu is gargantuan and it keeps going on an on as you keep flipping the pages. It was virtually a never ending menu with the left hand side having interesting info on prisons in different countries and right side explaining about the food. This place specialises on Mexican , Chinese , Italian and Indian. To boot , you really have so much to choose that you really will not know what to choose :).

We had a mexican soup which was spicy and red in colour. It had quite a few ingredients and gave a nice feel to the mouth. For starters we ordered one of their signature dishes - Greek Cottage cheese which was enticing to just look at and it totally lived up to its looks by literally melting in the mouth. This is a different kind of Paneer which i have tasted which are served in Popsicle sticks marinated over with cheese and cream and underneath you have a few grilled veggies and as you further splash the cheese sauce on it , it just turns totally yummyliscious. We had another appetiser - Champignon's ala toast which was herbed bread flooded with a coated layer of cheese with suateed mushroom interspersed in between along with clove garlic , chilli flakes and olives and was served with a salsa sauce. This too was a definite winner. Both the items win the brownie points not only for their delightful looks but also their delectable taste.

The main course was a tough choice to decide and we zeroed in on having a Lasagne Mexican style. We simply gorged on this where on one side you had a greenish spinach flour tortilla squishied over with a cheesy layer and on the other were an amalgam of exotic mexican veggies containing black beans , corn , roasted tomato , bell pepper , jalapenos , coriander etc . The whitish cheesy portion and the reddish Mexican veggie portion went along really well giving the thumbs up. The other item we had was an Italian Baked Macaroni with Cheddar and Asparagus. This contained pieces of Macaroni loaded in an abundance of bechamel sauce accompanied along with Olives , Parsley and garlic along with a layer of baked cheese. This too was impressive but we had the feeling of having something similar in other restaurants. We were already heavily loaded but wanted to try one of the desserts and had the Chocolate Fondue which was simply put a bowl of molten hot chocolate sauce served along with fruits such as apple , banana , grapes , pappaya and sweet cake where you had to fork the accompanient , dip it into the chocolate gravy and have it. Nothing special about this one but the choco lovers will surely devour over the chocolate sauce.

The rates are pretty exorbitant with almost each dish costing on an average 300 bucks. The ambience is nice and people love taking pictures inside the jail like setting and with the menu being so elaborate with such a widespread of items , it is ideal especially for visiting as large groups. The service is also really quick and those taking the order seem to have a good fair idea of the different items on the menu.

For veg afficianados craving for food different from what you get in Sangeetha and Saravana Bhavan , this comes as a welcome edition and I have a feeling this place will pick up the stakes big time like Creme Center. And for me personally with a good first time experience and being so much of a Paneer and cheese lover I still have so much to try and so will definitely keep going again to have a feel of the other items in store :). Surely seems like a prisoner's paradise.

Resilient Rafa - The Emperor of Clay!

With Djokovic not only winning his last 4 encounters but literally dismantling Nadal by claiming the last 8 of 9 sets played against him , this was one Roland Garros Final I was pretty apprehensive about Rafa coming through. Too many ominous signs and it was only further accentuated with Nadal dropping the first set.

But what a comeback by the Champ when under the pump raising his game to another level and winning the coveted La Coupe des Mousquetaires yet again for an all encompassing herculean 9th time.

Cometh the hour cometh the man - the raging Bull from Mallorca does it once again. Rafa you truly are the closest thing to perfection anyone has seen or perhaps would ever see on the hallowed Red clay.

9 time French Open Champion, 14 Grand slam Championships and now also winning at least a solitary Grand Slam for the 10th year in succession. Truly the stuff of legends. Salute!

Energetic and Inimitable SPB!

There are certain songs which nobody but the great man can do real justice - the unmatchable energy , feel and sizzle he brings is truly a class of his own. In his own inimitable style he can elevate a song to an all together different level through his impeccable rendition.

Check out the way he just freaks out in this outstanding composition bringing out the perfect ambience of funkiness , craziness and wackiness. The way he goes Pa Pa Pa Pa Paaaaahhhh is just kickass awesomeness.
Sir , you really are a rockstar and truly epitomise legendaryness.

Happy B'day Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam aka SPB !!

Appappa Thithikkum - Japanil Kalyanaraman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2yGiUUAZ6c

Sindhu Bhairavi in a New Jawdropping Avatar!

Ellarum Sindhu Bhairavi ketrukom but this one's redefined in a new avatar.
Absolutely brilliant composition by Navneeth Sundar with out of the world singing by Sathyaprakash Dharmar , the violin by Embar Kannan literally talks and just no words for the precision in the percussion.

Completely insane composition from start to end. Call it gobsmacking or jaw dropping or whatever , this is the most Thaaru Maaru Sindhu Bhairavi Thillana ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4UDgbTyP7M

Barbequed at Barbeque Nation !!

This is a place where you can eat till you drop. Its their starters which pack a punch and you are served an overdose of them which keeps getting refilled like an avalanche as you keep polishing. The barbeque's taste awesome and seldom go wrong tempered with the right blend of juice , texture and tenderness. This is a place where you get the best of both worlds - veg and non veg. The veg afficianados are always guaranteed of a Paneer , Mushroom , Aloo , Corn etc and likewise the non veg lovers get their share of Chicken , Fish , Lamb and Prawn.

If you have to mention one signature starter which stands out - its the Cajun spiced Potato. Infact i like coming here just to gorge on this Caribean style melting potatoes floating over a simmering creamy gravy which just wallows in your mouth making your taste buds to crave for more and more. This item is unique and have never tasted something like this anywhere else. Interestingly , this is the only really liquidy thingy amongst all the starters.

In Barbeque nation , it is the starters which stake claim for being the main course and the real so called main course occupies a distant secondary position. To be frank , atleast 80% of your meal will be consumed on just relishing the barbeque's and the rest barring the starters just make up for the remaining numbers. That said they have quite an elaborate spread consisting of soup , roti , rice , salad and a plethora of curries and desserts. I usually find the curries having the same ingredients as those of the starters where you get your quintessential paneer/mushroom gravy , aloo curry etc. You never really get to do justice to this portion of the meal due to the over indulgence in consuming the Barbeque's. From what little I have tasted would say it just borders along the decent and nothing really great to write home about.

Coming to the ambience , you feel a lot of brownness all over perhaps adhering to the Barbeques which are also more or less Brown in colour. :) Lots of brown colored brick walls and brown seats converge the surroundings. The chairs are a little uncomfortable and it would be good if they raise the height a wee bit. This is a place where you cannot expect to have a quite meal and its more ideal to visit as a group. Its a bit noisy and added to that is the loud english music playing along.

The service is excellent and really quick and rest assured you will be taken care of all your needs. The barbeques were refreshed promptly and never felt the need to request for anything particular. Here their ideology is Customer is King. Found this really impressive as they are always overcrowded and yet they strive hard to serve each and every customer to the best of their ability. The prices are little on the higher side. I remember paying only half the rate when i used to frequent a couple of years ago.

Despite the minor shortcomings , they have managed to keep their fan base intact and only enlarge it over a period of time and the popularity they command stands a true testimony to the quality of food and service of this restaurant.

Dheem Dheem Eargasm!

I have lost count of the number of times I have replayed this track in the last couple of days. Complete eargasm !!

Raaga Bhatiyar at its effervescent best bringing out the real beauty of this raag and the usage of the leapfrogging Dhaivatam as one of the pivotal note adds such a vibrant spark. The violin portions by Embar Kannan are just mindblowing transcending across octaves and those subtle illuppus just caresses and Deepika Varadarajan brings vigour and life to the composition through her resplendent rendition , the flow in the voice while singing swaras and the stress at the crucial Dheem portions radiates and the mellow percussion throughout the song adds such a nice touch. Great job Prithvi Chandrasekhar for producing this wonderful composition and the ambience at Krimson Avenue Studios adds to the awesomeness. Everything in this song is such a win.

Just too much of soul ingrained all over !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv50uThyHLY&feature=youtu.be

Experiencing Avenue 195 !!

Avenue 195 is this new restaurant located just off Khader Nawaz Khan Road (on Mohd Shafee Road) and when you walk in you are greeted with a signpost with the wordings Global Buffet - "Your Gastronomic journey begins here". And as you are exposed to the oeuvre of the buffet , you are reminded of not one but 3 big G words - Gastronomical , Gargantuan and Grandiloquent.

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 !!

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.

Royal Indianaa - Accord Metropolitan

Visited Royal Indianaa for the first time today and must say it was a pretty decent experience. A tandoori festival is going on currently titled "Chandigarh se Chennai Tak" where they claim to serve some of the best tandoori cuisine from the heart of the north. And true to the Punjabi culture and style , the buffet spread was gastronomical and lavish. Beleive it or not , this is the first time I'm witness to a place serving a truckload of 10 varieties of veg starters.
Well , here goes the list of starters :
1) Patiala ki Paneer Tikka
2) Multani Tandoori Gobhi
3) Lawrence Road ke Bhuthe
4) Aloo Khurmani ki Tikka
5) Dahi Bhalla
6) Potli Samosa
7) Chatkare Arbi
8) Sabziyon ki Khush Seekh
9) Kunbh Tawa Takatak
10) Moong Dal ke Vada

You might think the above list itself will more than satiate your hunger , but the main course is as giantly as this comprising of plethora of gravies - 2-3 types of Dal , Rajma , Paneer , Aloo , Bhindi , Bhaingan and what not. There are just too many things on the platter that you probably will never be able to really do justice to all the items and invariably you will listen to a cry from your stomach saying please stop , i am unable to digest the overload. :) They also offer unlimited Punjabi Lassi and a welcome drink of your choice - either a Kingfisher Beer or Fresh/canned juice. Also they have a few salad varieties comprising of Papdi chat et al which i couldn't try because of the already over indulgence of my tummy. A live counter with Chole Bhatoore and Pindi Chole too was part of the already elaborate spread. For Indian bread again , you had the option to choose from 3-4 different varieties. Also on the table was Pulao and the customary curd rice. Desserts too didn't want to be left behind offering you Gajar ki Halwa , Gulab Jamun , fresh fruits , ice cream , strawberry mousse , mango mousse , red velvet gateaux , some other couple of pastries etc.

You are totally spoilt for choice at this place and if you looking for sumptuousness , this is probably a go to place for Tandoori Veg. On the flip side , despite the majestically colossal spread , there wasn't any starter which stood apart leaving a lingering taste in your mouth craving for more. Ofcourse , you wouldn't say anything was bad but somehow felt that extra zing was missing.

The ambience is nice and the dim lights are ideal for gorging on this kind of Punjabi khana. The service too was pretty quick and they kept re-filling the starters and glasses at regular intervals.
The buffet is priced at INR 975 all inclusive on the weekends which you would perhaps say is decent for such a monstrous spread plus the fact that it has got a good ambience going and also being located in a star hotel. The hotel staff were however very magnanimous to additionally give us extra 20% discount on the bill.

This was my first dining at Royal Indiana and definitely it deserves a thumbs up for the overall experience.
With some minor tweaks like perhaps reducing the spread marginally and concentrating more on the toothsomeness , it can only tend to get better.
Definitely recommended !!