Long before Chennai foodie kicked off, there was an active community on orkut called the Chennai food guide, which was a fiercely moderated community with a battalion of moderators (including yours truly), and was the base of my blog. Though we meet at launches, the group kind of melted away and with the brutal murder of Orkut, the old bunch was not actively a part of the facebook group. Last Monday was a kind of a revival with an official CFG meet although with a lot of new members and very few old ones at Crimson Chakra at the launch of their South Indian menu. And at the end of the meal, we only remembered the restaurant and not CFG.
We were introduced to at least ten different starters and I had mostly non veg (yeah right), and some of them were superbly done. The fish grill for example was a masterpiece and this is coming from a non fish lover. I am not sure if tandoori chicken is south Indian, but that night I could not have cared less. There was an Andhra chicken which was beautifully spiced. The others were all good, but the above three stuck in my head.
The appams with the mutton stew was a kicker in the main course, followed by the chicken gravy with the appams. I was not very impressed with their idiyappams that night, but there is something special called the smoked rice, which looks like a biriyani and if you expect to taste biriyani, then you will complain that the rice is well, smoked, but that is one unique dish and something I have not had here in a while and that night it was just great. Do not miss the iced tea here, it has cinnamon, apple, tea, lemon grass, (not sure if there is some chicken in it too) and is the best one in town, simply superb. I initially ordered the lemonade and it was too cinnamony for me and I would not bother ordering even water, now that I have tasted the tea.
The deserts here are from a different world, and the owner accepts that he never tried to create an authentic dish, but wanted a nice name and a great dessert, never mind if the name matches the dessert. One such dish is the mud pie, created by chef Anand of Cornucopia. I have not had the cornucopia menu here in a long time except the mud pie and I will report back once I try more, but for now let us talk about another wonderful dessert called the mango cheese cake. It's the next best cheese cake to the one I had the opportunity of gulping down at Black Forest Germany and easily the best in town. My friends were raving about the elaneer soufflé but it was good but not outstanding for me.
Service has always been good. You can have your table in the middle of the pool if it does not rain and that is a totally unique experience. For the hopelessly romantic souls, there is a private candle room and for 3999 per couple, you can have the room to yourself with a million candles and everything on the menu and a private waiter who will only come when you call him. If you are not with anyone romance able, then romance the mango cheese cake and the iced tea along with some appams.
Food 8.5/10
Iced tea and mango cheese cake 9.5/10
Ambiance 9/10
Service 8/10
Price 8/10
Crimson Chakra is in adyar, down the road from the Gandhi Nagar club
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
COMMENTS