Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Murugan Idly

Murugan Idly has been a recent discovery and what a discovery. I saw one at Besant Nagar beach at Chennai during one of my earlier visits and decided to try them out. Now its been twice and time for review.

They serve on banana leaves: idly, sambar and 4 types of chutneys. Each one of them superlative! Idlys are soft and hot into your leaf. Sambar tempts you to lick off the the leaf. Each of the chutneys is good enough to demand your entire attention which of course you can't given 3 other chutneys and sambar! The net result is to order more idlys until you realise that snacks have become a meal.

However its only the idlys that are superlative. Dosai and wada don't measure up.

A 4.5 on 5 overall. 5 for idlys. I don't know a better place for them!

Sarvana Bhavan

I spent cumulatively over a week in Chennai the last month. Explored some new places but could not resist visiting Sarvana Bhavan a number of times. I tried the one at Peter's road and the one at Radhakrishna sallai.

The bhavan at peter's road has a cake shop, one buffet hall and one ala carte hall.

The manners of the waiters at the buffet hall resemble more that of prison wardens than waiters. Still, the food is so good that I can happily ignore all that. Multiple kinds of sambar and many dishes whose names I can't remember but amazing. kesar bath is out of the world. 5 on 5.

The service at the ala-carte is much better. Its quite noisy until the food arrives and after that all but foof fades into the background. tried Ghee idly and it was awesome. No rating yet as I have visited it only once.

The bhavan at Radhakrishna sallai came with recommendations from my boss. Its a non-A/C hall and hence I approached it with some trepidation. however, no problems on that count due to large spaces between seats (its not mumbai!) and strong fans. And like any other sarvana bhavan, once the food comes in, taste dominates all other senses. I ordered a ghee dosa and before I realised I had ordered for a second helping! Alas, I couldn't afford to due to dinner commitments and hence cancelled. Amazing yet no ratings. Will visit it more and then rate. A definite contender for 5.

The story would not be complete without the mention of Sangeetha. Another person who enjoys South Indian food told me that he changed his loyalty from Sarvana bhavan to the Sangeetha at Adyar. Now I was hooked and waited for the day long meeting to get over. We had a dinner at Taj which promised to be an engaging affair. Still, I couldn't stop myself from taking a slight detour to Adyar sangeetha. I ordered ghee idly. While it was great, it was still second to Sarvana bhavan. I expressed my disappointment to someone else over the dinner and was told that its the dosas that Sangeetha excels in. Now I'm waiting for my next chennai trip.

Overall, if you're in Chennai and are open to south indian food; try Sarvana bhavan. It may well be the start of a long love affair as it has been with me. 5 out of 5.

Nandini vs Bheemas

I am a Nandini's fan. Every time I'm in Bangalore I make it a point to visit Nandini and have their Andhra Biryani. Andhra biryani (at nandini) is very different from its more famous Hyderabadi cousin. Its dry and meat is very well done. On the whole very light compared to the Hyderabadi biryani. And of course, I tell my friends about it. Some who have had Andhra biryani told me that Bheemas is better.

So this time I gave Bheemas on Church street a try. First impressions; limited Andhra menu, quicker service (helped by the fact that its empty) and huge helping. Dig into the biryani and the difference between nandini and Bheemas is very apparent. Bheemas' biryani is very spicy. Its as if chilli is pounded into rice. Not unexpected and actually welcome. However, the meat wasn't cooked well and soured the experience. I asked for some chicken as well and found it better cooked.

I'd put this a 3.5 on 5. Better cooked meat would make it a 4. A must visit if you want spicy food in Bangalore.

Leela Palace

Leela in Bangalore is the most expensive hotel in the country. Sadly the prices are reflective more of the demand supply mismatch rather than the quality of the place. I attended CII's Innovation summit at Leela a few weeks back and was sadly disaapointed with the food served for lunch. It was well cooked but lacked the "aah" factor. In other words it was clinically, well done for most dishes but lacked the panache.

A definite 4 on 5.