Welcome Hotel

What to eat: South Indian Breakfast

Where: Welcome Hotel, Purasaiwakkam, Chennai

Location:


Verdict: If Vegetarianism is a religion, then this place must be one of its temple. If I live near to this resto, then may be I would get converted into a vegetarian. "Welcome" is a tight contender to "Ratna Cafe" for the tastier idlies with unlimited sambar.

This Saturday morning, we visited this eatery to have breakfast before shopping in a nearby shopping center. Ordered for a pair of idly (28₹), pongal (45₹) , medhu vadai (25₹). Sambar was poured until both the idlies were totally submerged in it, it was poured thrice till I finished those idlies. It was wholeheartedly divine to have the mashed idly with sambar.

Pongal looked small, but it was literally melting in the mount and surely more powerful than a sleeping pill. Medhu vadai was bit big and has gone completely well with the sambar and coconut chutney. They also served a tomato chutney along with the pongal. Finally washed down with a filter coffee(23₹).

If you want to taste the North Chennai's best idly & sambar, you should definitely visit this place.

Gongura

What to eat: Spicy Andhra Meal

Where: Gongura, Food Court, DLF, Ramapuram, Chennai

Verdict: As the weekend is approaching, I was planning to be on diet. But my friend had other plan. He pulled me to a recently opened food stall in the DLF food court.

"Gongura" is specialized in andhra cuisine and is famous for their combos like chicken 65+briyani, chicken chukka+briyani, fish fry+briyani, chicken/fish curry + rice/chappati,..

They have kept mini buckets for gunpowder, pickle, salt, gongura chutney and cups full of rasam, so that anyone can take with as per their need.

 We opted for a chicken65 + Briyani (180₹) and Chicken Chukka + Briyani (190₹) combo. Both of them were served along with a plain omlette, brinjal chutney, raita. We were happy as both type of meal had plenty amount of chicken, but the sad part was even the raita had plenty salt :(

Chicken 65 was succulent and pretty hot. Chukka had lot of spices and garlic, made us hot & sweaty.Briyani was just ok when it's hot, but it would be bland if consumed later. We also tasted little bit of gongura alongwith the briyani, but I could not grasp the taste. Better to have it along with steamed rice.

We would certainly come back, not for the briyani, But for the rice and chappati combo.

Hotel Runs at Adyar

What to eat: South Indian Non Veg Cuisine

Where: Hotel Runs, Sardar Patel Road, Adyar, Chennai

Google Map:



Verdict: After a tiresome beach visit, we were returning back home. And we wanted to have some dinner as it will be late to reach home. Parked the car below the flyover at the adyar signal. And walked over to "Runs". They only have space for two-wheeler parking. So park your car better like me.They have non-A/C resto at the ground floor and A/C resto at the first floor. We chose the family room in the ground floor. I have seen this family room concept in most of the non-veg restaurants in Madras in 1990's. But most of the restaurants have renovated and removed this concept.
Good to see "Runs" still maintain the same old concept.

Adyar is always close to my heart as it's where my kid was born. So I had used to visit most of the restaurants in the surrounding area for dine-in or take away before couple of years.

Hotel Runs is a hotel run by a Malayalee & is much famous for the grilled chicken. But the regular briyani is not that good as it used to be bland and plain. One should try their various curries with various breads like parotta, appam,..

Ordered for Runs Special Chicken Briyani, Runs Special Mutton Briyani and a King fish fry. Both type of briyani are just briyani rice fried along with eggs and also served with a boiled egg, onion raita and a not-so-tangy brinjal curry. Chicken briyani had 5-6 fried chicken pieces. Tawa fried king fish slice was brilliant. It too big...bit spicy with enough masala on the top. Two persons can easily share a single piece. Total bill was 590₹ with no tax as it's a non-A/C floor. Tips had to be paid in hand to the server.

If you love Keralese food, this is a must visit eatery in this part of city. Also try other Keralese eateries nearby like Topsee (L.B. Road) and Kuttanadhan.

Ponnusamy Restaurant

What to eat: Tamil Non Veg Cuisine

Where: Ponnusamy Restaurant, Opp. MIOT Hospital, Manapakkam, Chennai

Location:



Verdict:
                  When a colleague leaves the company, it adds a bit of blankness in office life. And that too the one whom you "kalachify" during break time leaves, it definitely make you feel sick. However one nice thing is you will get a farewell treat. And a new post comes up in my blog.



We were a group of 6 people, 5 carnivores and 1 eggitarian paleo guy planned for lunch sponsored by an "outgoing" fellow. Decision to select the venue was left to me, I opted for Ponnusamy and others nodded with no questions being asked. Ponnusamy is a recently opened resto located at the fourth floor on a building in Poonamalle road just opposite to MIOT hospital. Enough space to park at least 10 cars and several two-wheelers at stilt level. Ambience was pretty nice with lot of space in between the tables. I liked the lighting as it helps during photo shots.

Paleo guy ordered for boiled eggs & scrambled eggs. I got the non veg meal which includes unlimited rice, chapati, appalam, sakkarai pongal(sweet), keerai(spinach) kootu, cabbage poriyal, mutton/chicken/fish gravy, rasam, butter milk and pickle. Everything was perfect in the meal. Opted for the second serving of mutton gravy as it was so delicious.

Others opted for mutton briyani, rabbit briyani, tawa fried king fish slice, deep fried anchovies (nethili), mutton pepper fry (chukka), mutton liver fry, kola urundai (mutton meat balls). I didn't try the briyani as I had that lot more during my earlier visits. Chukka and liver fry were awesome with lot of fried curry leaves. Kola urundai was bit bigger than the one we get in Dindigul. Nethili fishes were crispy as usual. Vanchiram slice was solid at center and crispy on the edges. Absolutely no qualms on the sides. My friends said that they don't feel much difference in the rabbit meat. However mutton briyani got a thumbs up for the quality and also the quantity. Folks got a cup of rasam to gulp after the briyani.

Ended the day with a falooda for which we had regretted later as it was just cut fruits with a ice cream topping, not worth for 150 bucks. After including A-Z taxes, total bill was 3137₹ for the hearty meal except for the falooda. At the end, they served a bunch of siru vaalai (tiny banana grown in sirumalai hills next to Dindigul) which filled the left out space on our tummies. If you ever hit this resto, just go for their meal with sides instead of briyani. I bet you won't regret. But don't ever order a falooda here.

Star Briyani

What to eat: Briyani

Where: Star Briyani, Near DLF Entrance, Ramapuram, Chennai

Location:


Verdict: It was an usual Tuesday loaded with lot of stuff. So we had gone out to escape from stress and to fill our tummy with some briyani. We chose Star briyani as it's nearer to our office so that we can return to our desks early. My friend opted for mutton briyani (180₹ per plate) and I had to go for chicken briyani (160₹ per plate) as there was no other mutton briyani available (and I don't want to wait till the next batch to arrive). Restaurant is in the first floor with good lighting and a just okay ambience. Parking is not available in front. However bikes can be parked on the adjacent alley.

Chicken briyani had 4 to 5 medium pieces (with bones), bit tangy flavored (weird isn't it ?). Mutton briyani was better than chicken as it had the little aroma of meat. Both the varieties were made of seeraga samba rice.

Onion raita and brinjal chutney were the sides served. Onion on the raita was cut into square shapped thicker pieces instead of lengthwise cutting, which was a minor problem, otherwise it was fine. Brinjal chutney was tangy and normal.

Many people may not like this kind of briyani. Even for me, it's just once in a while and not a regular.

Hotel Campus at Vadapalani

What to eat: Appam & Parotta with Chicken

Where: Hotel Campus, Arcot Road, Opp. AVM Studio, Vadapalani, Chennai

Location:


Verdict: After a regular Sunday meet, the gang decided to have some light dinner. Without any plan, we rode our bikes to Arunachalam road looking for some good food. And then a thought struck me. It was about my colleague's talk about the tasty grilled chicken available at "hotel campus" near his home. So we all headed over there for some chicken dishes.

Ordered for appam, regular & wheat parotta, grilled/tandoori/poricha chicken and butter chicken. One nice thing about this place is they have various combo options and we opted for a kozhi set which includes 2 regular parotta with NV gravy and quarter kozhi porichadhu.

No complaints on Appam and 2 types of Parotta. Poricha chicken was brilliant. Grilled chicken was the best. But the tandoori was bit unusual, made with chilli powder sprinkled on top...could taste the raw chilli and asked the server to get it cooked again.

NV gravy which came free with the kozhi set was just ok. So we have got a butter chicken masala which was top-notch gravy.

Final bill was 745₹ for four of us which is way cheaper than other big restos nearby and the overall food was nice. If you look for a decent kerala nonveg eatery in this locality, you can very much choose this place, but don't go for tandoori :(