This review is all about one of my favourite shops in Triplicane,For those of you who are not familiar with this part of Chennai,its one of the oldest neighborhoods,historically even older than Chennai itself.
It hosts the beautiful Parthasarthy Temple,Amir Mahal(the abode of the nawabs of Arcot) Vivekananda house and the famous Chepauk stadium.
One of my oft visited shops in this busy,bustling area is to the Basha Halwa House located on Fakir Saheb street Triplicane. The famous Dum ka rote,which somehow is its signature dish ,has paved way for many new and delicious sweet dishes.the mouth watering ranges from the erstwhile gulab jamun,ladoos(very different from the regular ones)badam halwa,jangeri to their latest and by far the best" the beetroot halwa."
I have just had a taste of it and for those who love beetroot,please head straight to Basha Halwa House...I can`t even begin to describe this paste like absolutely fragrant halwa,just loved its sweetness ,texture and flavour.Around Rs 90 for 100 gms its like a little paste from heaven.Bashas not only caters sweets,but also stock on pickles, and (sutrian) a kind of pasta which is normally dropped into a bubbling mutton korma and enjoyed any time of the day.
As far as memory serves me this shop has been their for more than 60-75 years(if anyone knows more details please do let me know)the men at the shop dont take kindly to my inquisitive nature.
Please do try the sweets from this shop,its located on Fakir Saheb Street,very close to Zam Bazaar in Triplicane.There are a number of shops with the same name,but the one located at the entrance of Fakir Saheb Street is the original and it states so on the board itself.
If you find yourselves on that side of town and you need your sugar rush,I strongly recommend you try out the beetroot halwa or at least the dum ka rote(no there's no other name for it)For more information on Triplicane,you can find it here.
Please remember food is a subjective issue and very personal,one mans meat is another mans poison etc,these are my personal views so please don't shoot the messenger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplicane
When invited to a CFG bloggers meet to be introduced to the world acclaimed dietitian Rebecca Subbiah,there was absolutely no hesitation on my part.She is regarded as a renowned registered dietitian with high acclaim, immensely popular,and with a large fan following. Now do not go by her diminutive appearance,Rebbeca is a power house of knowledge and information with regards to food.Having learnt to use the media as an advantage,she gave us insights into how she constantly keeps in touch with her followers on twitter.Social media was a topic discussed by her,on how she uses it to constantly stay in touch with her followers,and being a celebrity of sorts in the food department,believe me she has a huge fan following.
Organic culture may have just taken off in India,but western society has been a great advocate to this process.Rebecca too shares a passion for organic farming and food,and was delighted to know that it has been propagated in India as well.
The evenings chit chat progressed to Indian foods and culinary skills,we discussed extensively on the wide range of pulses available in India and how the average Indian male has evolved.An average male around 30-40 years ago would hesitate to cook or even try his hand in the kitchen,so much has changed now,we see an interest and love of food together with the quality of food being discussed.Apart from this Rebecca also discussed the importance of including a lot of fruits in our diets.Though India hosts a variety of fruits,a stable diet does not include as much as required.
The whole atmosphere was charged with energy as Rebecca fielded the volley of questions with a charming smile.We had a wonderful and informative evening,well spent with Rebecca Subbiah and fellow CFGians. Thank you CFG for giving us this opportunity to meet and learn so much from her,it wouldn't have been possible without you.
The meeting was held at Crimson Chakra,Gandhi Nagar, Adyar. They presented a" new soup in a bun" (sorry, forgot to ask for the name but yes soup in a bun sounds nice )a novel concept and too many superlatives to add here,will leave it for another post.
Rebbecas blog:chowandchatter.com
CFG :chennaifoodguide.in
This post is as much of a nostalgic trip down memory lane,as it is about the Mylapore food walk,so please bear with me as i reminiscence on the good times of yore.Food makes strange bedfellows as was evident in the gathering of a mixture of people from Chennai Food Guide who were invited for the Mylai Food Walk.Every now and then the Forum takes members on a exploratory walk to food places lesser known by the majority of people so that they can explore them and stay informed .CFG Mylai walk was a gathering of like minded people,from different culture,background and ages,with a serious interest in food.
Asked to join the food, I was ecstatic for the simple reason ,that I consider this my bastion,having lived most of my life on this side of Chennai (R.A Puram)I have had heated arguments with friends who say even the smallest of negative things of the place.
Mylapore still retains its old world charm,though many new buildings were seen along with the old,the place still holds its edge.The streets of Mylapore remain the same,faint memories kept jogging my mind,the tank of the temple,the book store opposite the tank, Himalaya juice shop on Luz church road,where you would get the best and the freshest juice from huge cauldrons with long spoons which a father and son duo would scoop up in a jiffy for us(thanks S for jogging my memory)Too many memories,the joy of a cycle rickshaw ride on a moonlit night along with my mother Q and sister T ,without a care in the world,life was simpler then...
To get on with the walk,it started off with most of the group meeting outside karpagambal mess,right opposite Rasi,a silk saree store been there since a long time.Yes our trips to Mylapore certainly entailed a visit to this place,around 40 years ago it wasn't this big.To continue,we proceeded from K mess to kalathi newspaper mart for their famous rose milk,I was informed that this place has been around for 40 years,it certainly seemed so from the taste and texture of the rose milk,the man serving us certainly knew his way around it.Quenching our thirst it was time to continued on to Rayar mess located of Kutchery road(another nostalgic moment,well too many memories here)to have a bite of their famous tiffens. As we were yet to explore more places,I restricted myself to 1/2 a rava onion dosa beautifully crafted,tasty and fresh as it could possibly get (straight from the frying pan onto my leaf plate)Small tiny,not so neat or fancy place serving such amazing fantastic food, that it blows your mind away.If it hadn't been for this group or my band of girls,I would never have been able to enjoy such simple holistic food.A group of 20 and the bill a mere Rs 800.
From there we proceeded to Mamis Mess( located at Pichu Pillai street )for their bajjis and coffee.Another quaint little food joints,this one a lot neater than the earlier one,we ordered and waited right on the street.This place too was packed with people for their delicious food.Precariously balancing the food on the bikes and cycles outside,the inevitable had to happen.Hot coffee on a bike seat,and yes i did wipe it clean for him.Did both my bad/good deed for the day.The food bajji(fritters) and the coffee both were top notch,hot,tasty and without a hint of oil(wonder how they do that) Group picture taken we, the ladies moved on to check the beads and baubles on display by vendors on the street,temptation thy name is woman,stopped myself in time when I saw green leafy vegetables,but sadly enough there was no vendor,just the vegetables.
The whole experience left me with a huge smile on my face,one reason being that it was known territory, the other being the simple and fresh street food.This is one experience I'm not going to forget in a while.Made new friends on this trot (S.J.N,you guys are so sweet, making a woman feel like a lady, thank you) had good food and company,felt like yesterday once more.
Some of the photos are courtesy my friends Deepa,Aarti and Fazil.Please read their blogs too
http://notjustanothercookeryblog.blogspot.in/2013/01/mylai-food-walk.html
http://aromasofkitchens.blogspot.in/2013/01/mylapore-food-walk-mylapore-festival.html
http://www.foodinchennai.com/
Anything related to Siam now Thailand reminds me of the famous movie The King and I,a brilliant musical film based on Thailand with Yul Bryner and Deborah Ker in the lead,the story deals with a heartwarming love story between the king of Siam and a teacher. My first showcase of the year,I headed of to Grand Siam located on a busy arterial road of Chennai.
The restaurant has at the entrance a welcoming Buddha seated with an enigmatic smile always associated with him, Buddha somehow doesn't seem Buddha without it.The ambiance had perfect lighting,ample space and in general a charming atmosphere.On display were many Buddha statues dotting the shelves and walls.Waited for the rest of the group to arrive before we were seated comfortably.
Welcome drink was a strawberry crush with a 7 up and a topsy-turvy shark stirrer. The regular palette cleanser/appetiser arrived,entertained us for a while and then it was on to the next course. Soups arrived and strangely enough mine didn't for a really long time,heard the slurping and the muttering of the spice content and the lack of freshness all around me,nevertheless dug into my soup and couldn't have agreed more with the rest of the group.
The appetizers arrived,most of them on barbecue sticks and one wrapped in pandan leaves...the prawn,fish and chicken were a delight and I enjoyed them thoroughly ..the pandan leaves wrapped chicken however, seemed a bit overdone..
The main course Jasmine flavoured rice ?( good) and a noodle dish arrived,the latter in my opinion, had a very distinct Chinese flavour to it.The side dishes to accompany these were certainly not the best that I have had,but to give the devil its due, passable.After this it was one dish after the other which to my palette tasted more Chinese than Thai.The dessert Tub Tim Grob was the usual water chestnut in coconut milk.
This place needs a quick and efficient spruce up,the waiters can be educated further on how to handle guests better,I for one was not served either the soup or the plates at the same time as the rest of the group,but had to wait for a while.
All said and done,i must mention the manager,chef and other staff were courteous and kind while listening to us berate about the food.They heard us out patiently and promised to make the necessary changes,its left to be seen if they heed our advice.
I have always been intimidated by photography and photographers,more so with the ones on CFG,hence i have used the pictures from my friend Deepa Iyer,(with her permission) from her blog, check it out at notjustanothercookeryblog.blogspot.in
Please remember food is a subjective issue and very personal,one man's meat is another man's poison etc,these are my personal views so please don't shoot the messenger...
Grand Siam can be found at R.K.Salai Royapettah,Chennai
The men gorged and the women pecked, that's exactly how i would sum up our family visit to pizza republic.An interesting start to the new year,we decided to do a family meal at PR.Heavy lunch at home with lots of family and friends for lunch,it was time to head out for some peace and quiet (and have someone else cook and serve you)
Now its not very often that we get to do family dinners,each ones schedule varies,but this time i insisted on everyone being together . There's nothing else my family loves more than pizza in the world and however well you make your pizzas at home, there's nothing like a warm, fresh pizza served in a good restaurant. We headed off to PR a place i had been to earlier and loved,for its fine food and freshness of ingredients.(I had always wanted to return here to check out if their quality and quantity had improved or taken a step back.)
We arrived,a group of five and were seated in the fairly new enclosure (one side covered in glass),on pretty comfortable (nice) chairs.They have this wonderful concept of choosing your pizzas right on the box itself,chosen and ticked,you hand it over at the counter and wait for it to be delivered.Wait is the operative word here.Yes the service is slow,but its well worth the wait.The pizzas took a while to arrive,one at a time and patience not being a virtue here each one of us were digging into the others pizza.The men gorged and the women pecked,literally.
The taste and the freshness of ingredients, can and should be the USP of this restaurant.It was heartening to see that in spite of nearly a three month break,this place has managed to keep up its quality and quantity.I have noticed so often that most restaurants,after an initial good review somehow lose their sheen along the way.I do hope this place does not in anyway go on those lines.
If you enjoy pizzas this is the place to be served,warm fresh heartening food,with good value for money(yes its not all that expensive a maximum would be Rs. 250 for a non-veg pizza with all the toppings)And yes the pizzas are a bit spicy even the ones that call for normal spice,they may want to work on their spice quotient and by the way that's the reason the women pecked.I was informed by Ramki (owner) himself that they are working on improving and adding more meats shortly.In the non-veg section they currently serve three types of chicken(tandoori,salami and sausages) The vegetarian though, has many options.
They can be found on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/PizzaRepublic.India?fref=ts
