TAPAS BAR

This is the new boutique cafe recently opened in Velachery..a good thing to happen because on this road there was not a single eating joint where one could sit in comfort and enjoy.

They have given the deco of ecofriendly place..some walls are lined with bamboos, some lovely jute bags in their selling section..yes they have a few things to buy also. Seating is also good, not cramped, the only thing is tables are a little small.

Here one gets hot and cold coffees, shakes, smoothies juices and soups in drinks....Rs.40-65

Pizza, chaat, sandwiches,burger and salad for the main course.....Rs 35-99/--

Pastries in the dessert.

They have a NIrvana ...its a combo meal of..soup/salad......chat/burger/sandwich......smoothi/shake for 99/--only and
For children..chaat and smoothie....It is either for 35 or 55...I forgot:)

We ordered..Pizza Indiana.....it had a topping of paneer, onion and capsicum, I liked it.
Coffee was also very good , then pastry with hot choclate and cream was .just yummy.

Service is good with a smile.....place is worth a dekko,
The only thing I missed was that they should have icecream sundaes..I love them the most as a dessert or as it is..I am happy that now we have a net and nice lace in Velachery itself.

TAPAS CAFE

47 B,Velachery Main Road
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600042
098 40129493

WOODLANDS

When we went to shopping in Tnagar,we werelooking for a spotto have some food,and when I saw woodlands board,I thought thatnothing better than this,it is just next to Nallis.

But we were highly disappointed with everything..ambiance is sort of dingy type,no emphasis on cleanliness or hygiene.The glasses they serve water in,look so dirty,and when the waiter brought lassi..it was dripping from all sides.Their menu is Ok,it is a multi cuisine, but their rates are higher than Sarvana or equal in some,but nowhere near them in presentation or service.Though tea was very good in taste,but I felt appalled at their dirty and dark ambiance,crockery and cutlery.

Service..bad
Rates..high
ambiance..dark and dingy
Food...good

Nageshwara Rao Road, Panagal Park
T. Nagar
Chennai -600017

044-24346627

CAFE TAPAS

This is the new boutique cafe recently opened in Velachery..a good thing to happen because on this road there was not a single eating joint where one could sit in comfort and enjoy.

They have given the deco of ecofriendly place..some walls are lined with bamboos, some lovely jute bags in their selling section..yes they have a few things to buy also. Seating is also good, not cramped, the only thing is tables are a little small.

Here one gets hot and cold coffees, shakes, smoothies juices and soups in drinks....Rs.40-65

Pizza, chaat, sandwiches,burger and salad for the main course.....Rs 35-99/--

Pastries in the dessert.

They have a NIrvana ...its a combo meal of..soup/salad......chat/burger/sandwich......smoothi/shake for 99/--only and
For children..chaat and smoothie....It is either for 35 or 55...I forgot:)

We ordered..Pizza Indiana.....it had a topping of paneer, onion and capsicum, I liked it.
Coffee was also very good , then pastry with hot choclate and cream was .just yummy.

Service is good with a smile.....place is worth a dekko,
The only thing I missed was that they should have icecream sundaes..I love them the most as a dessert or as it is..I am happy that now we have a net and nice lace in Velachery itself.

TAPAS CAFE

47 B,Velachery Main Road
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600042
098 40129493

BESAN COCONUT BARFI

This Diwali I made besan( gram flour) and coconut Barfi, and everyone loved it, so thought of posting it but i forgot to take the picture, so i am writing the recipe will post the picture next time whenevr i make it.

Ingredients.....


2cups gram flour
2cups grated coconut
1 cup khoya (mawa)
2 and half cup sugar
1 and half cup water
half cup desi ghee

Roast the gram flour with ghee o0n a medium firt and then low heat....when it starts leaving the sides take it off.
Roast the coconut a little and keep it aside
Roast the khoya a little on a very low heat and keep it aside.
Now in a pan take sugar and water and make syrup of 3-4 consistency....to chk it take alittle(be caustious as its very hot) betweween your fore finger and thumb and seee that while stretching how many threads you see..its a thick consistency....then put all the things and take it off the heat and mix quickly thoroughly..... and shift it to a greased plate....and let it cool
Then cut into the pieces.

Ambode

Quantity: Approx 10-15

What you'll need:

1/4 cup chana dal

1/8 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp grated ginger

1-1.5 tbsp chopped green chillies

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Soak the chana dal overnight in sufficient water.
2. Grind the dal with as minimum water as possible. The final texture should be coarse, there maybe a few whole grains left. The more you churn the batter, the more fluffy the vada will be which we don't want.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the batter and mix well.
4. Heat oil in a fry pan (for deep frying the vadas). Initially keep it at high flame so that the oil gets heated quickly, once the oil is hot reduce the flame to med-high.
5. Take a heaped tbsp of batter in your paln, pat it a little to form a small disc and drop it in the oil. Fry them well so that the dal inside gets cooked properly. Each vada may take around 3-4 minutes. While frying turn over the vada when one side is done to let the other side cook. Remove when they're slightly dark brown.

Notes:

1. Batter should not be fine-grained, it should be coarse.
2. Don't worry if you'd to add a little extra water to grind, squeeze the extra water before dropping the vada into the oil.
3. Fry the vadas patiently on a medium-high flame. If cooked on a high flame, they will become brown from outside but will not cook inside. If you're cooking a lot of vadas and you think the oil has cooled down a little, then increase the heat to high for sometime till the oil regains it's temperature.

INFLUENCE

ENTRY

This is a new multicuisine restaurant designer in Chennai, owned by Manish Malhotra. As soon as I came to know about it and read that even Waiters wear Manish Malhotra there, Iw as so curious to see it. Yesterday we thought of dining there. This is in Egmore near Dasprakash. It must be the first restaurant where the outer wall is completely transprent glass. Restaurant is on forst floor.
Entrance is wow with all that pink roses in water and then seating is very spacious.I just loved it..its comfortable, good to look and with sufficient privacy.
Now the food..they have north Indian food and pasta and pizza also. For a couple they have a package wherein you can get two soup, two starter, four main course and 2 desserts for 699/--only.

We started with golden tomato soup with saffron cream......it was yummy, this is the first time I liked soup outside, otherwise I dont ever take it outside..perfect creamy. served it a bread stick.

In the starters we chose.. dahi ware kabab and paneer tikka.....they are served in a long plate with green chatney....Kabab were delicious and my H liked even tikka also, and I really tasted this type of green chatney after a long time.

In the main course we had....vegetable khurchan and lawabdar paneer with alu kulcha and paneer kulcha...This is the first time in chennai where he brought green chatney, papad( rolled beautifully in cones), onion rings and pickle with the food.
Both the vegetables were good. For me Khurchan was a little spicy, as I love bland food. Paneer was very tasty and sowere the kulchas.

In desserts we took..Kulfi and gulab jamun with icecream.
Kulfi was more like Rabri,and tasy, icecream was just ok but gulabjamun was very good.

I know that we are going to frequent it very often.

Ambiance...Good because here most of the restaurants are cramped, and here even cutlery is very special.

Service....is good with a smile.

Food.....very good

Rates..I think very reasonable, if taken a.la carte..soups for 65/- main course..95/..and mocktails 95/--, for us quantity was more than sufficient, as we had to leave half of the vegetable, but otherwise its ok.

But for the witers wear..I was expecting something different..something in Manish Malhotra style, but was dissappointed, nothing special, I didnt like even, would have prefered if he had given some traditional wear with a different syle to their uniforms..here waiter were wearing black shirt and trouser with a little embroidery and other staff beige and black...both looking very drab and dull.

INFLUENCE

91,PONAMALLE HIGH ROAD

EGMORE

CHENNAI

Eggless banana bread

This recipe is courtesy my daughter, i have included her in my team:) for this blog, She is very fond of cooking or should I say working:)..
Read it in her words.......
I got this recipe from Cook With Love and must say this was my best experience with a recipe tried for the first time! The banana bread came out perfect, in fact DH and I kept comparing it to the Banana Walnut loaf that Starbucks sells . Believe me, it WAS that good!
The crust has a slight crisp texture and the inside was soft and moist! Since I had 2 bananas, I scaled the recipe to 2/3rd and that seemed to suffice for 2+ persons.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
3 bananas
4 tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp yogurt
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional), I’d 1/4 cup and that seemed fine.

Method

Pre Heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
Mash the bananas.
Add sugar and yogurt to it.
Add butter, salt, and flour. Mix well.
Add Baking Soda, milk, vanilla essence and walnuts. Stir till everything is well blended.
Pour this batter in a greased bread tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out dry.