The Chinese Story

What to eat: Chinese & Thai Cuisine

Where: The Chinese Story, Ramapuram, Chennai

Verdict: It was a lunch party sponsored by a colleague cum friend who had completed a decade of service in our organization. I suggested for this place as the cuisine is very much new to many of my co-workers and also due to the proximity to our office.

 This restaurant is specialized in Chinese style cuisine along with little bit of indian, thai, Singaporean dishes. Ambiance was very pleasant with lot of Chinese pictures hanging on the wall along with the lengthy knives that we have seen in Jetli movies.

Service was perfect and bit faster compared to other restaurants in the locality. Almost all the dishes were pretty good, except the chicken Manchurian which was bland and lacks a bit of flavor and salt. Some of the people had Momos, Wontons, Daarsan, Fish Satay, Lung Fung Soup for the first time and are happy with my decision of choosing this place.

Final bill was 14093₹ for the slap-up meal for a gang of 25 after 10% corporate discount. I am not going to review all the dishes which is next to impossible. Let the pictures speak.

Sweet corn Veggie Soup

Lung Fung Chicken Soup - Thick egg white based soup

Manchow Chicken Soup

Dragon Chicken

Chilli Garlic Chicken

Fish Satay

Fried Chicken Wontons

Wasabi Prawn - But I couldn't taste the wasabi ?

Prawn Momos

Chicken Momos

Veggie Momos

Chilli Crispy Potatoes

Fish Satay - Thai version of grilled chicken

Crispy Lamb Green Pepper - Sweet and Crispy lamb. One of the best starters to order here.

Schezwan Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Manchurian - Not a best one. better to avoid

Regular Veg Fried Rice

Daarsan with Ice Cream - Top-notch desert

Vanilla Chocolate Sauce & Nuts - Regular ice cream with choco sauce and nuts are toppings

Ice Cream with Lychee

Cranberry Mojito

Beef Pepper Onion

Chicken Lollipop

Fish Fingers

Garlic Veg Soup

Fried Ice Cream

Spicy Babycorn Fry

Add captionThai Veg Fried Rice, Cauli Flower Manchurian, Butter Chilly Garlic Noodles, Nanking Veggie Fried Rice

Manchow Veg Soup

Spicy Paneer Fry

Hotel Paramount

What to eat: Kerala Cuisine

Where: Hotel Paramount, Ormes Road, Kilpauk, Chennai

Verdict: This place is one of the best eateries in Chennai for Kerala style cuisines like Appam, Idiyappam (string hoppers), Paya,...Especially if you want to have hot Paya and Appam for breakfast, just come over here in the morning. I just bought some regular Parotta, special Parotta and half chicken curry as take-away. Both type of parottas are same maida based, only difference is special one was large compared to the regular one.

Chicken curry was bit bland, but a huge quantity with 2 big chicken pieces. Total bill was 247₹. For spicy lovers, just go for their special Pepper chicken instead of Curry. And go for Appam instead of Parotta which is not that great.

Dindigul Thalapakatti

What to eat: "Dindigul" style Briyani and pepper based non veg dishes

Location: Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant, Manappakkam, Ramapuram, Chennai

Verdict: Yet another unofficial lunch party sponsored by a colleague who is leaving our organization in few days. It was a farewell party at Thalapakatti restaurant (as we have tried all other restaurants near our office).

Here are some review of the dishes I have tried.

Hot N Sour Chicken Soup - Just an ordinary soup. Not worth for next try.

Lamb Black Pepper - Well marinated succulent lamb pieces fried along with peppercorns. One of the best lamb dish to try in future visits.

Black Pepper Chicken - Crispy chicken fry comes along with lot of spices and peppercorns. Top dish of the day. It goes well along with naan or roti.

Mutton Chops Dry - It was bit different than the original mutton chops that you get in dindigul. But our people liked it a lot.

Tawa Meen Roast - Two large & flat slices of tawa tossed fish comes along with mayonnaise. One of the best fish fry that I had tasted in recent times. Never miss this dish when you visit this place.

Tandoori Chicken - Tender and juicy chicken pieces tandoori fried were crispy on the outer edges paired perfect with the accompanied mint sauce.

Chicken Varuval Kolambu - It is an usual dish that you get in madurai & dindikul surroundings. But not a best pair for the butter naan.

Mutton Briyani - This place serves one of the best (boneless) mutton briyani in Chennai. By the way, Ponram and Venu restaurants are more famous for briyani in Dindigul town. Mutton pieces were well cooked along with perfect amount of spices and seeraga samba rice (cultivated mostly around Dindigul) makes the briyani delicious along with the accompaniments like onion raita, mutton gravy.

Fruit Salad with Vanilla Icecream - Most required dessert after a hot pepper chicken. It makes you cool down after a heavy meal. Only problem is they served it in a plastic cup alongwith a platic spoon. Quantity is very less compared to the price of this item at 98₹.

Some of my friends were veggies...I never tried any of items that they have ordered. Here are some comments from my veggie friends

Babycorn Pepper Fry - Top-notch veggie starter, but little spicy. Never miss this if you're a veggie, but came along with nonveg eaters.

Paneer 65 - Spongy paneer well marinated and cooked to perfect level.

Gobi Manchurian - Pretty nice cauli flower pieces, little sweeter, a nice veggie starter.

Garlic Naan and Pudhina Paratha - Usual breads

Veg Briyani - Yummy briyani with good pieces of vegetables. Accompanied with onion raita

Overall it was a hearty meal for 11 people with the bill amount of 7163₹

You may try this place for south Tamilnadu cuisine along with indianized chinese,north indian, tandoori, grills at any of Thalappakatti's branches in Chennai and other cities.

For people living in Dubai and Paris, you may try dindigul cuisine in their branches in your own city. They have even planned to open a branch in KL, Malaysia.