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!