Mister Madras

The primitive man wandered through forests in search of food to satiate his cravings and I suppose it’s the same primal instinct that makes the modern man wander through concrete forests searching for delicious quick bites in order to satisfy his hankering. This is the essence of a food walk and as far as Chennai is concerned, Sowcarpet is the Mecca for food walks. Sowcarpet is the most tried and tested place for these walks and thanks to a number of foodies who are seniors and predecessors in this topic, we were able to plan our trip perfectly and we executed it flawlessly.   The options of commuting: 1. Parking is a huge issue during weekdays but not a problem on a Sunday morning in the Sowcarpet area. You can drive your cars through those narrow streets and you would be able to find a sidestreet where you could park. Alternatively you could park near the Flower Bazaar police station and walk down too. Just be aware of the one way roads in the area. Mint Street is one way starting fr

  Occasion:     Kashmiri Food Festival Location:    Curry Town, The Savera Hotel, Mylapore Duration:    19th to 28th February, 2016 Kashmiri cuisine has been something that has always intrigued me thanks to it’s interesting history and it’s strong affiliation towards meat, especially mutton. Though I haven’t been up north to Kashmir my father has and one thing he always raved about was their food and their excellent quality of meat. While I was wondering when I was going to get my hands on some of this, I was invited to Curry Town at The Savera Hotel for a Kashmiri Food Festival and it was obviously an offer I couldn’t resist. The Kashmiri Food Festival is designed by Chef Rehman Mujeebur . He has hand-picked the dishes for this menu and has come down all the way to Chennai for this festival. He’s an expert in Awadhi, Rampuri, Typical Mughlai, Hyderabadi, Kashmiri, North West Frontier, Persian & Turkish Cuisines and so if there was someone who was going to teach us more about th

  After the heavily underrated Pannaiyarum Padminium, director Arun Kumar is back with his second flick. Sethupathi, a name that’s synonymous to the cops to any Tamil cinema fan, is the name of this film where he joins hands once again with Vijay Sethupathi. While the former was a classy breezy flick, this one is a mass entertainer that’s sure to amuse the audience. Sethupathi is the story of how a cop investigates the death of another inspector who dies due to mysterious circumstances. This unravels a back story that leads to a bigwig of the town whom the hero has to have a face off with. How he managed to do it and whether truth triumphs at the end forms the crux of Sethupathi. The cast of Sethupathi is very compact and new. Vijay Sethupathi’s lady love is played by Remya Nambeesan and she’s sharing screen space with him after his first major breakthrough with her which was Pizza. Others are comparatively new faces. Vijay Sethupathi’s mannerism, the thick mush and apt physique perfec

Wangs Kitchen has always been one of the most affordable yet authentic Chinese chain of restaurants in our city and though I’ve tried almost every one of them, I was certainly intrigued when I was invited for their Chinese New Year 2016 event. Only when I was thinking if there was a dish that I hadn’t ordered from Wangs menu, I was told that they have a special menu for this event. If that wasn’t surprising enough, they’ve selected dishes from different provinces to give an experience of China in just one dinner. A couple of foodie friends and I were invited and given below is my take on this event. The Chinese New Year 2016 event was hosted at Wangs Kitchen’s Chetpet branch. This is the branch in Harrington road, opposite to Costa Coffee and Ox & Tomato. Just like most of it’s other properties, this Wangs shares it’s building space with French Loaf. This actually makes the entrance to Wangs a bit awkward as one would have to pass through French Loaf to get into Wangs. Ambience is

The barbecue concept isn’t something new to our city. As a matter of fact, it’s something that almost every one of us have given a shot and has got a certain idea on how it works. But that hasn’t stopped an array of new bbq joints from opening recently. Ironically, the numbers are now higher than ever. Surprisingly, Velachery didn’t have a proper bbq joint and that gap has been filled with Coal Barbecues. My friends and I were lucky enough to be invited for a bloggers meet and given below is my take on Coal Barbecues, Velachery. Coal Barbecues is located in the ever busy 100 Feet Road. A large illuminated signboard makes this place hard to miss. Though I don’t remember seeing a valet parking service, there is enough space to park a couple of cars. The building is actually a huge complex and Coal Barbecues is located on the second floor. But there is a reception counter at the ground floor itself where we get to check if tables are available and there is also space for those who’d have

Things can’t get better than this. Bay View in Vivanta is a slice of Venice in the shores of Mahabs. Instead of losing myself to the nature or establishing eye contact to the girl of my dreams, I was stuck here with a couple of friends out of which almost everyone wanted to drink and not eat. So after sending the pack to Anchor Bar, two of my friends and I decided to get done with our dinner. That’s how we reached Bay View and given below is my take based on our experience. Bay View is located in Vivanta by Taj Fisherman’s Cove. Because of the ECR road extension, the huge boarding that runs over the main road has been taken down which made it quite hard to spot Fisherman’s Cove. Thanks to a quick search in Google maps, we were able to pin point the location correctly. As it’s a five star hotel, they’ve got the parking sorted out. I personally love Fisherman’s Cove for it’s spacious and serene ambience. Not many know that it’s actually an 18th century castle built by the Dutch. Of cours

Almost a decade in Tamil cinema as a director but Vetrimaaran had only given two films, Polladhavan and Aadukalam. Apart from the fact that both were critically acclaimed, they also raked in some serious box office collections. This time he’s back to prove that his winning streak is no luck but pure talent with his latest flick, Visaranai. Though this film was ready to see the day light quite a while back, thanks to film festivals and awards, we got to see it a bit late. Visaranai is the story of how four Tamil speaking labourers in Andhra get framed for a crime that they didn’t commit just to close a case and how they managed to escape from it only to land in a bigger mess back home in Tamilnadu. There is humour, a small love track and major political conspiracies along with corruption and brutality mixed together to give a film which sounds commercial but still doesn’t fall under that category. First half shows the horror of these four wrongly accused being tortured mentally and phys

This is a place that a lot of people in Chennai would’ve been looking forward to, a pure vegetarian barbecue restaurant. Finding the market for such a veg bbq place is brilliant and it couldn’t have been a better time for such a spot in our city. Though I’m a hardcore carnivore, I do have a lot of herbivores as friends and I even know a few who wouldn’t eat in a place that serves both veg and non veg food. So I guess this place would be a blessing for such people and no wonder I’ve recommended this place to them. A couple of my foodie friends and I were invited during their soft launch period and we had a nice time trying out some really good dishes. Given below is my take on Holy Grill, Nungambakkam. Holy Grill is located at the food hub of our city which is KNK road. It’s exactly on the road opposite to New Yorker. A huge billboard with the restaurant’s name in bold fonts with spotlights beaming on it is something hard to miss. There is enough parking space which is something hard to

Tuck Shop in Egmore was something I wanted to try for a long time thanks to some rave reviews I happened to come across. There was even an instance where I parked my car in the complex to go there only to be told that my friends decided on another place for dinner that night. So when I finally got an invite to check this place out, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. My friends and I were invited for a tasting session and given below is my take on Tuck Shop Gourmet, Egmore. Tuck Shop is located in Wellington Estate opposite to Ethiraj College. I consider this complex as a Mecca for food as far as the area of Egmore is concerned. Masaledaar and N.E.Kitchen are some of my favourite joints inside this complex which I also visit pretty frequently. So, I guess they’ve nailed the location perfectly. Paid parking but it’s better than finding a parking space in the ever busy Ethiraj Salai. Tuck Shop is right at the front itself and shares the ground space with Donut House. This was kinda confus

Asian food is something I can never get bored off. Well technically, food is something I can never get bored of and Asian food is at the top of that list. Being a fan of it, I was more than happy when I was invited to the soft launch of The East. I haven’t been lucky enough to try Bobby’s Bistro but I’ve heard good reviews about that place. So when this is right next to it, my expectations were set a bit high. So on a fine day, a huge gang of foodies met here and we got to taste their buffet. Given below is my review on The East, T Nagar. The East is located in North Boag road and shares the building space with Bobby’s bistro. Fortunately they have parking facility, as finding a spot in this road is hard. And that too its valet parking. So, that’s definitely a plus point. The East is at the basement which is accessed past a beautiful black door and staircase. Down there, it’s an aesthetically done ambience which perfectly suits the oriental cuisine tag they have. Beautifully designed s

In the lines of Muni which has become a franchise with it’s 4th film on its way, Aranmanai, after becoming a hit among family audience has gotten itself a sequel. With an ending that hinted a second film and thanks to the response of the first part, Aranmanai 2 is here to  thrill us a second time. Most of the cast from the first part are back and so are the technicians. Sundar C wields the megaphone once again and this time the film is produced by Kushboo. Sri Thenandal Films who’re having an awesome time with back to back hits in form of thriller and horror flicks has distributed this film. Sundar C is known to have interminable number of cast members and this film is no different. Apart from Sundar C himself the cast retained includes Hansika, Kovai Sarala and Manobala apart from other extras who are a regular in his films. The new ones to join are Siddharth, Trisha, Poonam Bajwa, Vaibhav, Soori and Radharavi. Aranmanai 2 is the story of how a lady is killed by those whom she trusts