This cornucopia is aplenty!

The ambience put me off completely and I even remarked at the yellow painted walls and a small room we were lead to “this looks like a dungeon; can’t we get a larger place where I wont have to stick to a corner?” At this my husband; fearing an outburst at his choice of restaurant and the waiter lead me out into the hall which was rather empty but for the 2 of us (apparently due to a non functioning air conditioner which we learnt later….we hardly noticed that!). Once assured that I wasn’t wailing, the waiter handed us the menu.

First thing I noticed on the table; they had a spoon and a pair of knife and fork. Now that’s a good start! Mind you, in India most restaurants don’t include the knife in the cutlery and unless you ask for one, they let you struggle with the chicken meat with a spoon and fork! “Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight”

On the starters list my eyes settled on the Bruschetta as I had decided I was having something Italian this evening; but made way for some crab meat cakes and Cajun fries. The dip they served with the crab meat had a faint hint of wine…not that I am complaining! The Cajun fries were delightful hot potato wedges served with salsa and mayonnaise dip.

Then the main course and by this time I had completely forgotten about the poor ambience. The food was THAT great!

Nandoo devoured down Prawn Macedonia with rice (herbed); which was a spicy mix of prawns in chilly (and tomato?) sauce and I took to a great big crab. The dish was baked and stuffed crab andre. It had this rich white creamy sauce and a crab shell stuffed with baked crab meat and a good whole crab baked and served along with some steamed veggies. Yummy tummy :D

Now I don’t pick crab much owing to the fact most restaurants seem to think that somehow their customers would find a way to crack the thick shell and eat up the whole dish with a spoon and fork. And they sometimes expect you to chew down the shells in all probability or make space for them in the palte you are having your food from.

Which is one of the reasons why the service here is top notch; one of the best I have come across. The good waiter said “you’d have to use your hands for this dish m’am” and promptly brought in a finger bowl and a spare plate to lay out the debris :) Now that’s a sea change compared to the umpteen number of pretentious food joints that eye you rather skeptically when you use a hand to so much as pick up a piece of pizza pie!

The rice serving didn’t exactly go with the crab’s sauce, but I hardly bothered as with the delicious crab in picture I hardly bothered about the rice helping.

But the fresh, soft and warm bread served with what I guess was flavoured butter was a nice little touch.

Now to the best part. I have noticed that most restaurants, across both Bangalore and Chennai do not concentrate much on the dessert section of the menu. They presume that we are already full by the time we get to this section, the gluttons that we are, that we either order something passé or just skip it. So they conveniently fill it up with unoriginal and uninspiring variants of sundaes. If the cuisine is Indian, all you got is a gulab jamun in most cases; not even a Gajar halwa! Cornucopia on the other hand had a good range of dessert. Not wanting to miss out on the vast range of tastes, we chose to order 2 dishes; upon which the waiter remarked that both are pretty filling and that it would be too heavy for one person. So we settled on the famed mud pie. And I guess it deserves so much publicity, as the dessert disappeared before we even knew it! Next time I am there though I need to try the warm indulgence, and it’s a first time that I would be going back for a dessert as in most cases it’s been a hobsons’s choice with the dessert!

We were done and motioned for the bill; and we had it arriving with 2 shots of chocolate drink. Isn’t that a good finishing touch?

Drank it up and carried its smooth taste along. And it’s these small surprises that makes me put Cornucopia right on top among Chennai’s best.

Unpretentious and refreshing!



You a lover of continental food; you would definitely go back to this place.

Ambience: **
Food: ****1/2
Service: *****
Value for money: ****
Cost of Meal for 2: Rs 1500 approx.
Location and Address:
Cornucopia
#30
Cenotaph Road
Teynampet
Chennai-600018
Phone: 044-42059495

P.S: Nandoo made an interesting remark how we southies often tend to confuse that the food being tasty depends on how much spicy it is. Hot and spice is just another taste, there’s lot more senses that your food can bring alive…sweet, salty, sour or a combination of these. And the absence of spice doesn’t make food bland, salt does!

Rainforest

This, I found very recently and is now a quick destination that can be done within a few minutes and not so much traffic from my house.Rainforest in Adyar boasts of a great decor, though not entirely unseen (it tends to resemble the Gufa in Bangalore, co-incidence may be) and that is one of the first things that you notice about the place. Complete with it's cave-like interiors, mock animal and thunder sounds, dim lighting, waterfalls and animal dummies. The next thing you notice is, if you are here on a private, cozy date, that you couldn't have made a worse choice. Because the place is aptly named, and is exactly how a forest should be, crowded. The tables are pretty close to each other, it gets considerably noisy when the hall's full. The staff aren't the most friendly ones, they definitely could do better. But the food, kind of redeems this place to some extent. It may not be out of the world, but is pretty decent.They offer a good variety, the kebabs are succulent and yummy, try the noorjehan Kebab especially, a garlic chiken kebab. The biryani is quite good. The quantity is ample. You order a plate of biryani with starters and side dishes, you may very well share it with a person (or two, depending upon your apetite!). The chinese options aren't so bad either and you have a good balance of Veg and Non Veg dishes and so it gaurantees a little something for everyone in the group!This place makes a perfect destination for a family outing with the kids or a casual, chatty dinner with friends.

Ambience: ****
Food: ***1/2
Service: **
Value for money: ****
Cost of Meal for 2: Rs 500 approx.
Location and Address: It's at the Adyar signal opposite the road to Thiruvanmiyur.
Rain Forest Restaurant
#41 & 421st Main Road,
Gandhi NagarAdyarChennai-600020
Landmark: Near Parryware Showroom
Phone: 044-42187222

The Interlude

The enormous amount of fear or respect or call what you wish for the Chennai traffic caused us to land in Sathyam cinemas a good 20 minutes to spare before the movie started. Now the crowded lobby is the last place you want to wait with good natured Chennai-ites nudging you, pushing you as they rushed to the gateman with the tickets only to be shoo-ed with the wait-for-x-minutes and joining the ever growing waiting brigade. And hanging out on the sidewalks on the way to the hall from the parking lot would heighten your chance of being run over by a random, apparently blind motorist. So we decided to take a detour into a curious little place with glass doors thick enough to conceal what was in store on the otherside. The board read Ecstasy. And I was curious.
Nandoo simply said ‘I’ve heard rave reviews about this place.
‘what is this shop? ‘
‘Hang on…’ he said pushing the door open.
And I realized immediately that it wasn’t an over priced boutique that I expected it to be. I saw a fairly large hall with tables well separated from each other.
Not much sound except for the mellow music and no crowd at all (which is if you don’t consider the number 4 as a crowd!....okay at least compared to the mayhem outside?) And yeah, before I forget, this place I guessed from first look as soon as I stepped in, was a pastry shop. Or ice cream parlour. Or a coffee shop? Or a fancy waiting room for Sathyam furnished with state of the art furniture? And it played world music. And had an interesting chandelier made mostly of notes from people pinned up. And it served delicious French desserts! Hmmm…it is all of that so I really don’t know which category to pin it down to. But as long as me is happy, me is not complaining J
With so little time to spare, we immediately rushed to the counter and ordered for 2 Tiramisu. I have to admit, I felt like gobbling up every other piece on display and I did not even take a look at their menu. But I have a great weakness for this dessert so there you go!
And it was quite different from the various versions of Tiramisus I have had over the past few years. The mouse was creamy and left a nice creamy taste (and smell too according to Nandoo!) in your mouth, the biscuit/cookie/pastry beneath completely soaked in rich coffee. Hmmmmmm…that felt good
The five minutes I tasted it seemed to last forever and it took sometime really to realize that we were there for a movie. (and so as usual we went in halfway through the initial credits!) Amidst the most chaotic place, I have finally found THE HANGOUT for a nice quiet evening! And guess what, it’s reasonably priced. For the insane amount you pay at moven pick to get tucked into a corner with irritating teens chirping endlessly around you, this is a mile ahead!
What a pity the shop is almost invisible in the complex…a little promotion wont do it much harm. But guess I’d rather have it staying that way, without the crowd outside barging out. And oh, in case I forgot; you can get take aways and those guys at sathyam would let you take it in. Better than the usual Baskin 31 Robbins, hard-to-chew popcorn, half a litre of coke (forcing you to run out of a movie midway to the loo) fare? You bet!

Ambience: *****
Food: *****
Service: **** (I’ll take a star out of that as we didn’t interact much over our brief stay there, but they sure were friendly for the time that we were!)
Value for money: *****
Website: http://www.sathyamcinemas.com/ecstasy/

Minus: It’s your lucky day if you spot the shop!