McDonald's @ Velachery

Saturday Lunch was at the newly opened McDonald's at Velachery - a few blocks away from A2B ( towards Pallikaranai). Didn't disappoint.
Surprise: I could spot a sizable school population..(Hmm..flashback..never actually went out for lunch in school uniform...)
Our group ordered the customary Burger (Rs.45), Veg Paneer Wrap (Rs.66),nudgets, ...all of them were good...The meal was an easy option - A burger, finger chips, coke - 95/-..Wish the sauces were more manageable. Didn't like the experience of tearing sachets while eating.. sauce sachets belong to door delivery only.
Inspite of the surging crowds, the place operates like a well oiled machine. It's a duplex structure, so ordering had to be finished downstairs. Not sure what happens, if there is an extra order during the course of the meal..Do we have to go down for every order?
The order and delivery happened quickly and we had a sumptuous lunch with gossip being the main course ;-)

The Soup and Salad Cafe

Somebody did hear this?

Visited the newly opened Soup and Salad cafe on TTK Road, Alwarpet, opp to Raj Park. Amazing Ambiance is what that struck me first. Was greeted by friendly waiters. The menu was exhaustive, and it is not just Soups and Salads, they have sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, desserts, etc. But the names are mumbo-jumbo! We ordered a Soup-something Italian and Mexian - corn & pepper salad with mayo dressing. Both were awesome. Soup was heated just in front of us. They have a soup & salad counter and we could actually see whats going on.

The first visit culminated with only a soup & salad. Guess, we need to go as a big group to taste all the stuff. And hey, not all salads come under the 'healthy' tag, there were many salads with boiled potato, chips and paneer as ingredients ;-) The prices are a bit expensive - soups 50+, salads - 70+ but OK..when chaat can be 50+, it is worth paying for a salad. And something remarkable happened afterwards, I got a thankyou mail from S&S team. [ I had left my mail-id in the feedback form]. That was a nice touch to customer service.

KarishmaDress.com

I had always noticed Karishma - Exclusive dress material ads in newspapers, wanted to check it out for a long time..Good that they had a website - karishmadress.com. Well..the dresses are under the designer label, carry the 'exclusive' tag and therefore way above my budget. Salwar suits range anywhere between Rs.1375 - Rs.9295..Ok..Nice site..thanks..it saved a visit to the shop.

December Season

December season is something that is unique to chennai. Carnatic Music is in the air..and residing just behind Music Academy, there is no escaping the joyous spirit (and the traffic snarls!). Yet to see any live concert this year ;-(

Aruna Sairam is one of my favorites - You can enjoy the Marathi Abang here - Vrindavani. While flipping channels, Podhigai came up with something on the lines of Krishna Jayanthi celebrations with the audience mainly children dressed as krishna and Radha..And I saw Aruna Sairam delivering Vrindavani Venu..with such gusto that you wanted to dance to the mesmerizing tune. Njoy!

Kailash Parbhat @ Velachery

Kailash Parbhat is the latest food joint to set up shop in velachery. It operates out of Naihaa complex on 100 ft road, along with Noodle House and French Loaf. Around a month back my friend and I weren't impressed much with the first tryst. Wanted to play safe and ordered Kailash Parbhat special - it looked good with lots of yummy curd but it was too spicy for my taste, emptied almost two glasses of water before finishing off the dish. My friend had ordered corn basket and that was a joke with just a smattering of corn here and there.The place was also full of flies..did not suit the upmarket chain image they are part of. But it was a different experience the second time around. We had Samosa, Channa tikki, dahi papdi everything was damn good. Did I tell you.. the chaats.. all have a distinct flavour that is different from everything else in chennai (gangotri comes a distant second). The pricing is a tad expensive. A third visit would help me decide to give a thumbs up or down ;-))

Windsurfing on Road?

You can try windsurfing with your bikes in velachery roads! Continuous rains have once again successfully converted even the main roads into oceans with wave effects. The place you see is Halda junction - near Raj Bhavan.

Velachery's Uncle Mess

With Mami's mess cornering all the glory in the food world, can Uncle's mess be far behind? For long, Uncle's mess has been famous in velachery - catering to the ever burgeoning bachelor population. They were previously operating out of Dhaneshwaram and the current place is behind ICICI bank, Vijay Nagar bus terminus. We went around 12. 45 p.m, there were few people around. But by 1 pm, the mess became very crowded. Guess.. North Indian culinary has an the upper hand. Soft chappathis with two very tasty subjis, sambar vada, poriyal, mor kozhambu, rasam, curd completed the simple menu. I would have preferred a sambar, extra poriyal/kootu. Anyways, the food had the home-made feel and a certain freshness associated with it. Overall Rs.45/- well spent. The 'Uncle' sits with the curd cups and appalams. He seems to be very shrewd, he could spot me as a new customer and in the course of our meal, he kind-a of urged me to come in the evening to taste aloo paratha (which uncle's mess is famous for).

Velachery's Chocolate Room

Chocolate is Good for you!
The above said board welcomes you to the newly opened The Chocolate Room at velachery[100 feet road - opp to spencers/foodworld]

Yummy! For all those choco addicts and for those not so fond of chocolates too, The Chocolate Room offers quite a handful. Very impressive decor. The menu itself was interesting, the detailed history behind the breads, drinks etc was neatly laid out. We tried out assorted stuff like Greek Salad (dressing was great ++, too much onions --ve), vegetable stuffings [all had fancy names], Hot chocolate with pancake, chocolate with icecream, mocktail..everything was simply great. Diet flew out of the window and we ransacked the entire 'room'.

A welcome addition to the ever widening foodline in velachery.

Noodle House - Velachery

Decided to hit Noodle House for lunch. Noodle House is located in 100 ft road, velachery - Naihaa complex...French Loaf was also there, but it was closed for renovation. The interiors were good and the ambiance - very 'china'. The menu was exhaustive but for a poor veg - the scope was very limited. Decided to play it safe and ordered a combo - clear soup, fried rice, icecream [decent - rs. 125]. Starters - Veg rolls, Dumplings tasted good. One of my friend had ordered spinach noodles..that was yummy... All the combo deliveries were good..but an order of Hongkong noodles [some non-veg stuff] proved to be a downer. Icecream was ok..but fruit salad was pathetic [served in the smallest bowl I have ever seen]. Overall, once in a while its ok to come to this place, just for the heck of trying out a different cuisine and definitely, it was not a disaster like kumarkom. But for a staunch veggie, Noodle house may not be a good hangout.

Fashion & Fusion - Alwarpet

One of the strong marketing tools of textile shops is window display. Two shops that come to my mind are Her Choice - Opp Sankara Hall - TTK road and another one - Fashion & Fusion on K.B.Dasan road, (near SIET)...They have theme based display - very eye catchy..I have actually got a couple of salwar suits from Her Choice. They have a very good variety of salwar materials and stiched ones too. Off late, I have been traveling by the SIET road, so Fashion & Fusion would be on my mind whenever I pass through that shop. One fine day, I decided to check it out..Excellent work but exorbitant prices. A choli with kutch work costs around 2500/- only. [blouse-e indha velai-na..Sarees??...]So..just skimmed through the dresses there and made a hasty retreat...The shop is for people with deeeeeep pockets and for people who have parties to attend wearing those expensive clothes. [nammaku rendume illa..]

Tailpiece: You might be wondering ..who is this K.B.Dasan?..well the authorities decided to shorten Kavingar Bharathidasan as K.B.Dasan. Tamil Vaazgha!!!

No Salad Bars in Chennai?

I am a die-hard fan of Namdhari salads [another link] in Bangalore, Sadashivnagar. There are quite a few outlets that cater to healthy eating in Bangalore. But somehow, the concept of salad bars has failed to reach chennai. There are a few organic vegetables and fruits outlets thats all...The Pizza Hut garden fresh salad is the best that I have tasted in chennai. Subway salads are overrated.
Wanted: Salad bars in Chennai..Is somebody hearing?

Gangotree Sweets & Snacks - Sucks Big Time

Had a terrible experience at Gangotree sweets and snacks, Gopalapuram. Their Lacha Tokri Chat was foul smelling, after two spoons we realized we were eating some rotten stuff. Badam milk was pathetic and the much hyped 'Gangotree Falooda' was tasting like plain rosemilk. Yuck! The only saving grace was the masala puri chat. I returned the stale chaat at the counter, the staff didn't even bother to hear me out. That's bad customer service.

And I understand, something can go wrong on a really bad day. This was not my first time I was annoyed with them; few months ago, I had got Bhelpuri parcel from them, after coming home, it had mud in it - apparently something was not washed properly. I made it a point to walk back [ a good ten minutes from my house] to the shop, met the manager and gave it back..With a little murmur he gave a new pack.

But now, they have lost a loyal customer. With the all the popularity in the world [ they are still considered the best place in chennai for sweets & snacks], they have lost focus. Quality has definitely taken a back seat.

Its Rainingggg

The skies opened up at Eight in the morning and is relentlessly drizzling from then on [now almost 3.p.m]...It was a pleasant feeling to watch the rains through the windows of my cozy home but I'm not sure if Velachery is prepared for this onslaught. Driving back home is not going to be fun.

Swine flu in velachery

It was rather sad to hear that a four year old boy in velachery, chennai had succumbed to Swine flu. His school and residence is very near to my office. Couple of schools in velachery have declared holidays. Our office took some initiative and bought masks for everyone, but guess that is not needed. Only if you have cold and cough it is good to cover your face. Washing your hands frequently will also help. Just keep track of things. At present there is information overload only.

Amazing Paintings

Its a sight to behold. Artists are doing a brilliant job on the walls of Nandanam YMCA, Cosmopolitan golf club..

Chennai walls become art galleries

For long, the Chennai walls were a riot of colours - a thriving ground for movie publicity and political reminders. But with the digital age and posters, instead of paintings, posters and banners took over.. Sometime back, I think there was a ban on posters too (even now, there are posters, but the numbers have come down significantly).

The OMR road was the first to be dressed up in myriad hues - statues (not like the marina ones - but artistic in nature), paintings, mural works..and what not..., I thought 'why waste so much of money, it would be vandalised soon' but to my pleasant shock, the structures still hold on (1.5 - 2 years since then) [ Flickr photos]


I stumbled upon Cooks Road, Perambur and what a surprise - all the politicians were coming alive on the walls. The immensely talented artists have unleashed their creativity and the likes of Jayalalitha, Vijayakanth retain their larger than life image. Today's TOI has a vijayakanth picture. [A TOI writeup on the artists of Cooks Road]

And, far the past three days, the Anna Salai stretch at Nandanam is getting a face-lift with professional artists painting some scenic stuff on the walls. It is part of the Chennai beautification plan , it seems.

Let see, if Chennai really becomes Singara Chennai ;-)

Tragic demise of Engg. student

Quite upset that human life can be of no value. A first year mechanical engg. student had hanged himself in St.Joseph's Engg hostel. The reason: He was not allowed to appear in the model examination ..it was a punishment for malpractice in an earlier practical exam. He was asked to meet the director for excuse, but couldn't meet him even after three days of standing outside the office room. In his suicide note, he has asked the college management to return his capitation fees and tuition fees to his father.

Really sad, that horror stories are still emerging out of our college. 'Outstanding student' 'office room' 'meet the director' 'bring your parents' 'make them wait outside for three days' 'spy - give ur ID card' 'humiliation' it is just deja-vu - sad memories.

And these people pride themselves on being one among the best colleges in city and parents are falling all over to send their loved ones to this strict atmosphere.

Another aspect to this, is how fragile the young are..these 'punishments' are common there and we were all quite quick to adapt to those and have fun inspite of the draconian rules. All of us had our share of 'office-standing-meet-the-director'. We were thick skinned enough to tide over bad times.

Links
The Hindu-1
The Hindu-2
Times of India

Houses get brighter

Nowadays, there is a trend in Chennai, to paint houses in fluorescent colors esp. in yellows and oranges. Why would people who painstakingly build houses, paint it so garishly. It seems they are vaastu colours :-(

Apartment Syndrome

Sunlight is the only source of Vitamin D apart from mother's feed. Now, with babies being raised in closed a/c comforts of apartments Vitamin D deficiency is on the raise. As exposure to sunlight is reduced, the bones are affected. The irony is Chennai sees just hot, hotter, hottest climate.
More about Apartment Syndrome

Chennai Sangamam - 2009

Had been to Nageshwara park in Mylapore on the penultimate day of Chennai Sangamam - the annual gala of folk arts. The mood was clearly one that of joy and merry making. The park was teaming with the affluent and the common man too. Gypsy song & dance [Narikurava koothu] was going on, I must admit that was a not a pleasant one on the ears ;-( but had a feast for the taste buds ;-). Coimbatore, Madurai and Kumbakonam food specialities were on the offering. To my surprise, the area was clean and the food was hygienic. Then noticed that the stalls were from the likes of Taj, Raintree etc. Kudos to the people who are organizing this massive festival. The popular face behind is Kanimozhi, the now famous daughter of CM. Congrats to the organizational committee for this mammoth effort.[Managing thousands of artists, huge crowds across the length & breadth of chennai is not an easy job].

Anyways looking forward to the next edition.