New Normal- Dining at Broken Bridge Cafe, Chennai

With the COVID 19 situation, eating outside has been almost become nil due to the fear of exposure. It is very surprising to see how the last eight months have passed by and it is an eye opening experience to see how our lives have changed. Nevertheless, we have to return back to the new version of normal. We were curious to see how the restaurants have adapted to the new normal and how different will our experiences be. Our first attempt was with the Broken Bridge Cafe at MRC Nagar.

Broken Bridge Cafe, MRC Nagar- Food review

Broken Bridge Cafe, one of the many restaurants in Somerset Greenway- MRC Nagar than you can grab a quick bite at, have revamped their menu recently. Their menu was unique and had a good range of cuisines like North Indian and South Indian. A heterogeneous group of people with varies tastes can find idlies or pizzas or rotis with a twist, in their menu.

We were recently invited to taste their new menu and here is our review.

Chocolate Heaven – Hangout to Celebrate Chocolates and More

Chocolate Heaven, a new entrant into the amazing world of hangouts with awesome food that caters to youngsters, has its outlets in Egmore and Alwarpet. We were invited to a tasting and the surprise was the food goes beyond chocolates though they specialize in chocolates. We had a starter, mojitos, 3 varieties of thin crust pizzas, pasta and a good range of chocolate desserts. Honestly, it was just sampling when we came to the desserts and the blogger friends who came with us will happily agree so. Nevertheless, each item stood for perfection and the pizzas were absolutely a delight.

Mayflower Restaurant TNagar, a MUST TRY Restaurant

My Brother Sarath Babu in the picturesque Foyer

The Mayflower Restaurant is located in T nagar closer to Kotak Mahindra bank off Venkat Narayana road, in Burkit Road. A nostalgic feel engulfs once we get to the restaurant, the beautiful bungalow with its rustic charm known as Dr. Bhanumathy Ramakrishna’s residence welcomes us with a decent parking space, a lovely foyer – a homecoming feel for those who know what it is to see an old  building of the 60s, the large windows and the space that seems to be well organized not to spoil its demeanor.

Though the restaurant serves vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, we are reviewing the vegetarian dishes here. There is a touch of uniqueness in the dishes, the vegetable dumpling mushroom soup started our journey. A clear soup, it had a spinach dumpling in it and it tasted yummy. We did feel there was an eating good and healthy vibe when we sampled the food – liberal amount of vegetables in each dish – you can see the broccoli corn bursting to its seams in the momo, a big plus for us.

Ninth Floor Mami’s Samayal Vegetarian Restaurant for Traditional Food Lovers

This is not our usual post where we write about the food we had in the restaurant. We are talking about the connect we had with the food and the effect of aroma of traditional dishes on our psyche. Food is one area in which we do not take much time to decide if we like it or not and yes, the only one area where we say, “Enough I am done”. Food is one that instantly makes a connection with our senses. How many times have you felt the sense of Deja vu when you smelt the aroma of a specific dish? It is a divine connection to our subtle senses and we felt it rekindled while having the food at Mami’s Samayal. Mami’s Samayal is a pure vegetarian restaurant located in the ninth floor of Regenta Central Deccan Hotel in Royapettah, Chennai. The chef Prema Nambirajan is true to her traditional roots and churns out magic in the food she prepares in authentic fashion. She insists on preparing her own masalas and it is not surprising given her background of coming from a family of caterers and chefs of fame those days. More than anything, we were floored by the hospitality we received and the sumptuous food we enjoyed over there.

Ammachi Aduppadi Vegetarian Restaurant – Food Review

A cute dainty vegetarian restaurant in Adambakkam surprised us with home style food in a warm dainty environment. Known as “moongil kadai” locally for its bamboo interiors, the restaurant is just a month old and has caught up with the locals for the unique offerings, taste and affordability. The restaurant is run by the owner family and draws its inspiration from the food served by their Ammachi – the reason behind the name Ammachi aduppadi. The ingredients are prepared in a traditional way and used in the served items and we can taste the authenticity in the food served to us. Now to the food, the specialty of this restaurant is their Koththu – kotthu chappathi and koththu parotta and you can opt for either with channa or mushroom. We could see most of the tables going for this Koththus.

Hawkersan – 7 course meal Vegetarian Food Review

Hawkersan, a Pan Asian restaurant located in the Somerset Greenways in MRC Nagar serves 4 course, 5 course and 7 course meals in a fine dining environment. There are not many restaurants in Chennai serving course meals. The restaurant serves only 7 course dinner but options for all the 3 courses are available for lunch. The menu changes everyday and the same menu repeats only once in 10 days. There is also a la carte available but we felt the course meals were better and gives us a lovely dining experience. We loved the fact of a fixed menu for the course as it gives us an opportunity to explore exquisite menu items. Special thanks to Mr. Ram, the staff of Hawkersan were sweet enough to explain us the menu and its specialty. Open only for lunch from 12 to 3 PM and 7 PM to 11 PM, the 7 course is priced to Rs.995/-, 5 course at Rs.795/- and 4 course at Rs.495/-. Now to the menu we had, it was a 7 course dinner with salad, soup, starters – rolls, steamed and grilled, main course and dessert.

Desi Di Poes Garden Vegetarian Food Review

Desi Di has opened in Poes Garden, Chennai with selected menu items with a focus on celebrating local ingredients. The intention can be seen in the items we ate, specifically the Sweet corn Drumstick (Moringa) soup, Veg Cutlet chops with Beetroot, Corn based Butta Kebab etc. Other interesting aspect is that the Chef Aaron Coutinho has gone that extra mile to bring in regional touch to the menu.  The menu has almost 50% vegetarian items. Thanks to the chef for being a vegetarian for 3 months to understand what it means to be one and the difficulty we face in getting variety during our restaurant visits. Now on to the items we had and as usual vegetarian items – Masala papad is always our choice but here we had it  with a twist – khakra with paneer burji. A great way to start the food journey, it was served with another novel drink – litchi jamun drink.

Royalasthan for Authentic Rajasthani Thali and A La Carte Vegetarian Food

Decent Vegetarian Rajasthani Food Experience at Royalasthan

• 

We start this post with a positive note that Chennai is seeing opening of more vegetarian restaurants. It is encouraging to see restaurants of specific cuisine and we have a new addition serving Rajasthani food, Royalasthan, located in the street next to AVM Rajeswari marriage hall in Dr.Radhakrishnan Road. The restaurant is not a newbie, it is revamped to serve only vegetarian food. Earlier it was a non-veg restaurant. The Rajasthani restaurants that we are familiar of are buffet restaurants, and this restaurant has a a la carte menu and thalis for lunch. A look at the menu confirmed that the items are affordably priced and half portion option is certainly value for money.

Vegetarian Buffet – Kerala Food Festival till 30th June at Regenta Central Deccan Olives Restaurant

Kerala Vegetarian Food has its own class and we got an opportunity to have it on a sumptuous buffet spread at Regenta Central Deccan’s Kerala Food Festival by Chef Saraswathi from Trichur. The food got a home touch with her personal involvement in every dish and her passion talks volumes in the food. She has brought in specific spices from Kerala to give that authentic touch to the festival. It is simply STOMACH capacity that forces us to stop.

Another interesting factor is the tholi (skin) use in the dish. The dish is made with kidney beans and nethran skin finely diced and trust me, it was simply awesome. We simply loved the zero waste policy. The chef personally visits us and interacts with us to understand how we enjoy the food. That is a personal touch which feels like Home.

Raining Offers in Dineout app – Do not Miss it

Chennaifocus is a Dineout member and has benefitted quite a lot by using the app. The app offers 20% cashback when we pay through the Dineout Pay option. The process is not extensive and cumbersome. Having been a regular user of Dineout, we were thrilled to see exciting offers, guess it is running only for a few days. Knowing Dineout, we can expect good campaigns and offers from time to time. This is certainly our own personal review of Dineout as a user, and we have always been true to our experience.

Summer Fest at the Piano Restaurant at the Savera Hotel, Chennai

Indulge in Offers from the Savera on their Summer Fest at the Piano Restaurant

The Piano restaurant is celebrating  this season with a SummerFest with specialized food and beverage counters and irresistible offers. It is a buffet and as usual, we reviewed the vegetarian section and the food covers South Indian, North Indian, Continental, Oriental and American dishes and there are more than 15 items for vegetarian alone. The offer is

Come as 3 and pay for 2 and Come as 5 and Pay for 3 only, irresistible indeed. Details of price at the end of the post.