volvodriver's ( Chennai ) Profile & Reviews

Cedars

29 Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kottur, Chennai

Phone: (44) 65855111, 24475073

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: Multi Cuisine

17 Jan 2008

First, apologies for the length of the review, if you can't be bothered reading it all skip to the end, also apologies for the lack of structure on my reviews, this review section disregards my paragraphs when I click 'submit'. I'm a huge fan of Lebanese and other mediterranean foods, however I hadn't managed to get to Cedars until now, and after experiencing it I'm glad I wasn't in a hurry. The restaurant looked great as we arrived, waiters all dressed nice and neatly and the whole place generally looking quite appealing, we sat down and started looking at the menu. We were also told about the unlimited veg and non-veg deals, which, in theory, you can eat as much as you like from a set bunch of dishes. After perusing the menu for sometime, our table of 10 was ready to order, as we started going through the orders the waiter then informed us that if one person on the table wanted an unlimited deal, then the entire table must have it, you cannot have a mixture of unlimited deals and ala carte, after protesting this ridiculous rule for about 5 minutes, they yielded and we got our way, and we ordered. 10 minutes passed and our drinks arrived, another 10 minutes passed and some dry, toasted bits of pita bread arrived with some kind of red chutney, after about another 10 minutes we started querying where the food was, then another 15 minutes later the food started arriving. First up for the unlimited deals was soup, it's whatever the soup of the day is, and my lamb soup with potatoes was quite yummy, despite being told it was prawn bisque, I was also told the veg soup was very good too. The mezze plates then arrived at the table, they were basically tabouli, hommus, tzatiki, baba ghanoush (not called that though) some katchumber looking thing, a garlic dip, and something else I didnt get to to try, and some pita bread, now considering 6 people ordered the unlimited deal the amount of tabouli and dips plus bread served was quite poor, when we asked for more we were told it's coming. Then the grilled plates started coming, for the veg they were mushrooms, capsicum, paneer, onion etc skewered and roasted, for the non-veg they were chicken and fish, the quantities again were quite small and we asked for more, after all it was unlimited, we also asked for more pita bread and tabouli again, as they had not arrived yet. The mains now started arriving, these were the same pita bread served to us with the mezze plates, however were opened and stuffed with things, the veg was stuffed with falafel, mint and other salad, the non-veg, with chicken sharwarma (shredded chicken), and salad, they tasted quite reasonable but again, we only got one of these each, we of course immediately asked for another round and reminded our waiter that nothing of this unlimited stuff that we have ask for again has arrived. Soon enough more pita bread arrived with stuffing, after eating a one more I was starting to get full, so I didnt mention that everything else we asked for didn't turn up. Other things on the menu that were ordered by the alacarte people were quite ordinary I hear, and if you know what a risotto then do not, under any circumstances, order the risotto from Cedars, you will be very disappointed at what arrives. The desserts were so dismal it's not worth even bringing up. I was also really disappointed they did not have kafta, I usually gauge how good a place is based on their kafta. I dont know what they mean by unlimited but we certainly didnt get much of what we asked for, and with the long wait between courses one can't help but think it's a slight trick to give you time to feel full from the limited things you have eaten. In conclusion, the slow unattentive service, the lack of quality options on the menu, and the boring nature of the unlimited deals makes this a 'no go' in my books, I will not return to Cedars, you can get a much more satisifying meal at any dhaba.

Sakshi Capri

995a 2nd Avenue 11th Main Road, Anna Nagar, Chennai

Phone: (44) 42611089

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: Restaurants

16 Jan 2008

After driving past this place many times I decided to try it last night and spent the rest of the evening kicking myself for not going to this place earlier. While the service isn't quite up to scratch, they do forget parts of the order despite having written it down, and they are very busy most nights so getting a table can be somewhat like getting a seat on the bus at peak hour. Waiting patiently paid off, we got a table after about 10 minutes, and ordered hastily. The food arrived fast but jumbled, delivering a curry with no breads or rice is pretty pointless in my opinion but those thoughts had soon left my mind once the chicken kababs and mutton seekh kababs came to the table. Boy was it worth the wait, the flavours coming from the Haryali kabab, the pepper chicken tikka, the tangri kabab were all so consistently delicious, but oh so different from one another, the chicken was cooked perfectly and was still moist, the mutton seekh kebabs were a tad dry, but most are, however the flavour they imparted was amazing, this place really did shock me with just how delicious they kababs were. Paneer Burjee was in a class of it's own, a small dish but huge on taste, definitely a vegetarians option that one. We also had Paneer masala with butter naans and romali rotis, the rotis were a little papadam like, and the naans were decent although not the best. I recommend this place to someone that likes their kababs, amazingly tasty chicken and lamb for a very reasonable price. Satisfying 3 men ranging in weight from 80 - 100 kilo for under Rs.400 is a bargain, although considering the ambience, or lack thereof it's justifiable.

Sparky's

15 East Squrtank Road, Chetpet, Chennai

Phone: 42144206

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: American

16 Jan 2008

Looking for a change from the usual fare you get to eat in Chennai? Well you've come to the right place. Sparky's is a family and American owned burger/steak/texmex restaurant. After being told about it I had to try it, I wanted to see what their take on a good ol' beef burger would be like. Once you descend down the stairs into Sparky's it feels you're in another country, namely USA, the restaurant has that distinct look and feel of a texmex or steakhouse venue. The waiters are all quite 'hip' and some are even white, family members of the owner I guess, who I might add is not shy and makes his way regularly around the tables to have a chat with the patrons. If you know someone from overseas that isn't of indian origin and they really are after some of 'their' food, this is place to bring them. We had nachos and buffalo chicken wings to start, the Nachos were OK, but the corn chips could have been a little crisper, the chicken wings were decent but I have had much better, so far I wasn't exactly jumping for joy, but the main thing I wanted to try was yet to arrive.... Soon after my beef burger arrived, I ordered it with grilled onions and mushrooms and was surprised to see how western it actually looked, the cheese melted into the meat, mustard and ketchup , with a good tomato and lettuce, however the bun was a bit small, which made the burger small in terms of circumference, but it was very tall, with a thick juciy pattie, I was really pleased at how it looked, it was served with standard french fries, McDonalds style. The taste? Superb, it was unlike any other 'burger' I have had in Chennai, very authentic american style burger, you could really taste the mustard, the beef was excellent too and was from Bangalore I was told, and what really made the burger were the onions and mushrooms, they were perfect, it was a fantastic experience and was probably made all that better by the fact that my expectations of it were really low! I should add here that the fries were just OK, however I think the problem was they were undercooked so this shouldn't be a regular issue, although, like I said, the burger was so good I didn't care about the fries. Ravanth Kumar had the Veg buritto and Ramesh had the some chicken pasta dish, both were reported as great. I don't usually get desserts at restaurants, but because the burger wasn't quite as big as expected I had room, so I thought I'd try the Chocolate Fudge Sundae, Ramesh and Ravanth, both had the Apple Crumble with IceCream, while Ramesh like his dessert Ravanth was deeply envious of mine, which was sensational, the cake was moist and fresh, the sauce was hot and delicious and the ice cream, was just ice cream, all three melded together to create nothing short of a circus in my mouth, an amazing way to finish a great eating experience. Ravanth Kumar wants to go back just to get the chocolate fudge sundae. I highly recommend this place for something different in Chennai.

The Dhaba

84 Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylapore, Chennai

Phone: (44) 28110553

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: North Indian

16 Jan 2008

I love 'The Dhaba'! As soon as you enter this restaurant, a very earthy feel hits you, the inside is stone painted white, and is quite dimly lit, which usually gets me afraid in a restaurant as I feel they are trying to hide something, but not The Dhaba. As you sit down you are served some fire roasted papads, which are very peppery and a refreshing change from the usual deep fried varieties you find in most places. You also get a tray of mint sauce, some pickled onions and chillis. To drink you get some very tasty pepper water. Someone has obviously let these people know that pepper is a great appetite stimulant as it seems you are bombarded with it for free straight away. By far my most favourite dish here is the Chicken Goulthani, it's an absolutely amazing dish that are a strips of chicken that has been rolled around a stuffing of ginger, garlic, onions and other spices, it's then skewered and roasted in the tandoor. They come out yellow with a tinge of green on them, you get eight and I eat every one of them. They also have a number of different kabab type starters but I care for nothing else but this when I come here. I'll usually then have a chicken masala gravy, usually the last one on the menu, it starts with 'N' and is a thick yellow sauce, almost like dhal and is very delicious, that with a few garlic naans really hits the spot. I also like the kulfi here, it's served in little clay pots and is a great way to end a great meal. The service is very attentive and I love the way you can see the kitchen easily.

Dhabba Express/sachin Ka ..

New # 165 Old # 4/6 18th Main Road, Anna Nagar, Chennai

Phone: (44) 26183282

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: North Indian

16 Jan 2008

A few years back Gubs told me that this restaurant was the place to be in Chennai, I didn't take much notice of what she said as most people don't, plus her cakes are pretty bad too. Anyway myself and Ravanth Kumar decided to try it a while back and am glad to say that we are regular frequenters of this establishment. They have some excellent food here I must say, I love the naans and romali rotis, this with a good chicken masala is a very satisfying meal in itself, although I must admit, I have never stuck to just this. Usually we'll start with some kure kure paneer, gobi 65 and a chicken tikka, the move to the breads with some curry and usually a fried rice. The dum briyani is also reasonably good, not the best in the area but not bad, I should also add that of late, this place seems to have gone down a tad in the quality of food, especially in the kure kure paneer, which is disappointing as that was one of my favourite starters.

Karaikudi Chettinadu ..

F-32 2nd Main Road, Anna Nagar, Chennai

Phone: (44) 26211777, 26213888

Category: Food & Dining, Restaurants

Tags: South Indian

17 Jan 2008

mmmm I love Karaikudi, whether it's eat in or home delivery these guys are consistently good. I particularly like it when a restaurant is able to cook pretty much everything on its menu really well, and that's exactly what Karaikudi does, everything from the Crab Masala to the Chicken Kothu Paratha to the Cauliflower 65 are divine. They also have a large array of kababs, and as you may know if you read my reviews here, I am crazy for kababs. The tangri and reshmi kababs here are my favourite, the naans are top notch too, however the ultimate and most favourite dish there (for me anyway) is the Chettinad Chicken Pepper Masala, this dish is absolutely delicious, and is hot enough to put a hole in the sun, which may sometimes cause you slight issues later.... if you get my drift. The restaurant itself is quite nice and spacious but I do have one small problem when I eat there, the staff have this terrible habit of standing two feet from you and watching you eat, I've noticed this is a problem with many establishments in Chennai, however I feel this is particularly noticable in Karaikudi and it really puts me off. Other than that, great place!

Lagaan

Cast: Amir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Suhasini Mulay

Directed by: Ashutosh Gowatriker

Release Date: 15 Jun 2001

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Chak De India

Cast: Shahrukh Khan and Vidya Malvade

Directed by: Shimit Amin

Release Date: 10 Aug 2007

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Sarkar

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kay Kay Menon, Katrina Kaif, Supriya Pathak

Directed by: Ram Gopal Varma

Release Date: 1 Jul 2005

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Rang De Basanti

Cast: Amir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rahman, Sharmana Joshi, R Madhavan, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher,R Siddharth

Directed by: Rakesh Mehra

Release Date: 26 Jan 2006

17 Jan 2008