Restaurant – Ghumta Bhukkad

Chilling at THE FARM!

Published on September 16, 2016September 16, 2016 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

Well, there’s a place in this city,

Away from the crowds and all pretty,

Feels like a transportation to another World,

The Farm is one of its kinds!

We started with a poem coz this place feels like poetry. A feel good place as soon as we enter. The greenery around just amazed us. Beauty and freshness is the USP of this place. That’s the first thing we notice. A chic entry board, a nice walk and a swing on one side, feels so away from the hustle-bustle of Chennai. Yeah that’s how precise we can get with the entry to THE FARM.

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The second thing which bowls you over is the amazing interior of the place. Such a laid-back, comfortable ambience that you become sure, you have come to a relaxing place. Plus the add-on is an open wood-fire counter which just lures you enough towards pizzzaaa. Exciting isn’t it?

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We got seated and started off to order when they served us water, all organic with lemon and mint. That was so refreshing. A sip and we went ahead to order. The menu is precise and drool worthy. Loads to try and loads to explore.

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For the start we ordered two simple drinks. Lemon Ginger Soda and Hibiscus Soda. The first attraction were the beautiful towering glasses which were used to serve the soda. And yes they tasted awesome. So refreshing, so unique.

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Then we went for the basic hit formula, The French Fries. Frankly if you go wrong with them, may be you need to reconsider. But we were sure in for a surprise. Never did we have such fresh French fries ever. Perfectly crisp, perfect in all ways. Fresh tomato ketchup and mayonnaise as adjunct just made them a perfect delight.

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And the final nail was the amazing Paneer Steak. Heard about the juicy and brilliant chicken steaks, but these for sure were nonetheless. Perfectly marinated Paneer, done so well and with add-ons of Saffron rice, Sauté veggies and fresh Coriander chutney. This was one heavenly combination. The best part about this was the chutney, the freshness so intact.

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Every small detail in everything we had was taken care of very well. Just amazing how they pamper you. With the beautiful ambiance, cool music, awesome crowd and such such delectable food, the FARM is a place to be on a holiday when you just want to relax and let people pamper you with food.

Hail Food Lovers! Hail Ghumtabhukkads!

Revisiting Awesomeness- Hot Pot China!

Published on July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 by Ghumta Bhukkad2 Comments

Hot Pot China is the only place in Chennai which we have visited repeatedly in last 3-4 years, only because how consistently they are serving the amazingly scrumptious Chinese.
We went early evening on a weekday and so getting a table was easy (We suggest book your table for your meals on weekends)

We were so hungry and we were so happy that we planned to have a 3 course meal.
The moment we took our place and gulped down a glass of water to quench our thirst they treated us with spicy Kokum shot, which was a perfect blend of fresh Kokum pulp with salt and pepper. That was like the perfect start to this gastronomic affair.

Meanwhile without wasting time, we quickly grabbed the menu and ordered “Sweet corn Soup”. Oh boy! Bowled over by the freshness of corn, small pieces of carrot and grated broccoli; it was making it the perfect soup. Better at Strike 2 again!

IMG_20160719_201057 — Veg Sweet Corn Soup

Pineapple Salt n Pepper was the starter.
For me it was new. Being a fan of barbeque pineapple, we wanted to try this and it was not a bad choice for sure; sweetness of the pineapple and pepper complementing it so well.
(Order only if you like taste of pepper).

IMG_20160719_201528 — Pineapple in Salt n Pepper

On our previous visits, they had always served complimentary dim sums. On enquiring, they told us that they discontinued the practice and trust me, we were heartbroken.
Being a hardcore Dumplings fan, we couldn’t miss on that. So we asked them, “What is the best dim sum they can serve us, steamed ones.
His suggestion was the Steam Pokchoy Dumplings.
It was different than what I have tried till date. It was filled with all greens. Grated zucchini, broccoli, lemon grass served with fresh pepper salsa.

IMG_20160719_204358 — Steamed Pokchoy Dumplings

Once we finished with the dim sum, it was time for the main course and we ordered “Butter Chilli Garlic Noodles” with “Four Treasure Vegetables in Schezwan Sauce”.

And with the first bite of those Noodles, I was on Cloud Nine. Picture of those noodles will speak for itself.
It was beauty. That taste of butter with Red Chilli Flakes is something I can still not forget.

IMG_20160719_205218 — Butter Chili Garlic Noodles

Four treasures with Schezwan sauce.
We were so much into the noodles but this did not failed us.
Well cooked Vegetables and in good quantity with lots of sauce.

IMG_20160719_205231 — Four Treasure Veg in Schezwan Sauce

To end it we wanted to have dessert but we were already full. So out of greed and after lot calculations and after doing permutations and combinations we ordered hot chocolate Roll will not say that was best it was the only Okay dish of the Day.

IMG_20160719_212233 — Hot Chocolate Rolls

While discussing with the manager he also told us that, they will be changing menu from next month and new menu will be covering Asian food as a whole.

Overall it was wonderful experience and waiting for the change in menu to try it again.

Another thing which we appreciated about them is the half portion they serve. That not only gives us space to try other dishes it also reduces wastage of food.

Why Revisiting? Coz we keep visiting n more so Write about it again n again!

You can check with it here-

https://ghumtabhukkad.com/2013/10/21/hot-pot-china-omr/

Cream Center – The Veg Edge

Published on January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

We were on our way on a very very hungry Sunday afternoon to try some exotic restaurant in Chennai , and on the way we happened to glance at Cream Center in nungambakkam. They didn’t have hordes of people waiting in line which is rare, generally there are long waiting lines on weekends and pronto all plans changed and we immediately parked our vehicles ,got a table as soon as we entered into the restaurant which would have definitely given a high competition to a fish market in terms of the rising decibel 😀 We placed the order asap as we were pretty mesmerized by their Menu and we were all super hungry,our friend who was accompanying us had already had food there a lot many times helped us with the order .We must complement them on bringing all different kinds of cuisines under one banner and giving so much thought to their menu and the mouth watering pictures posted on it. The ambiance though loud is quite spacious and full of light from their huge french windows and pastel hued surroundings.

We ordered :

Worlds Best Nachos : The nachos tasted good and it gets full points for arriving at our table bathed in pool of creamy cheese 🙂 and as much as we totally devoured the food in seconds , to claim it to be “the worlds best nachos” would definitely require more complimenting flavors, as in a small portion of salsa which is traditionally accompanied with nachos, we sort of missed the acidic sourness in between mouthfuls and also the presentation can be made more attractive. After all it is a fine dining restaurant.

Paneer Ka Baap : Their menu which has enticing food pictures and short descriptions of the food, mentioned that it is a sinful combination served all in one platter :” original Paneer tikka, lal mirch paneer tikka, hariyali paneer tikka, kali mirch paneer tikka and tandoori salad, surely it is the baap of all tikkas”. But then little did we know that they meant that the baap (father) of paneer tikka is aloo (potato)!! As only one piece each of the above mentioned paneer tikkas were given and the other row (as you can see from the picture ) was big chunky cubes of Aloo, which I have to mention here was not cooked properly as it was very hard to cut with a fork ! Most of us left those Aloos on the plate. The taste of the tikkas was better than most places we have tried tandoori versions of paneer, with the paneer being soft and flavorful here, we liked the hariyali paneer tikka best.

Italian Baked Sizzler : This truly was the show stopper for us and the best order of the day. You cannot venture to cream center and not have one of their sizzlers as every few minutes a sizzling aromatic sizzler is flown past the table by one of the waiters. Since we were tasting all sorts of cuisines, Mexican, Indian and all,we decided to go for an Italian sizzler and boy were we happy. The whole combination of red sauce spaghetti and cheesy macaroni, parmesan cream baby potatoes and the bits of grilled and steamed veggies was really good. The taste well balanced.

Penne Arrabiata Double Baked : We ordered this dish owing to it being written in their menu that it is a combination of both herbed italian red tomato sauce and 4 cheese sauce, and also because the picture in the menu looked pretty seductive 😛 The pasta did taste good as the herbs were delicately balanced but we didn’t find any traces of the 4 cheese sauce in it , as the picture below shows there 3 tiny dots of cheese probably used more for presentation than for taste. It tasted very much like a normal arrabiata pasta and we certainly expected more.

Methi Aloo Parantha : We totally consider it a cardinal sin if parantha does not have a good dollop of butter on top when it comes to the table. Totally unacceptable. We made this order more as an after thought and considering how hungry we were and it seemed like a good small portioned meal combination but honestly the paranthas were lackluster! ( that coming from big fans of piping hot paranthas). The raita was thin in consistency, we prefer it to be a bit thicker and the dal makhani was reasonably good along with it.

To finish off, this is one of the first restaurants that we have mixed feeling about, usually it being a definitely we are going back for more or nope we are never stepping in but here I think we have to be truly seduced or allured by great company to persuade us to try more. Their food certainly tastes good and there is a huge array of dishes to choose from but certain bits lack detailing which should not be ignored amidst a sea of crowd also.

Ambiance – 3/5
Service – 3.5/5
Food – 3/5
Price – 400- 600 rupees for two(approx.)

Note : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own meal.

Chef Express- Beasant Nagar.

Published on January 3, 2014 by Ghumta Bhukkad2 Comments

Went there on an already bad day for us in terms of food .So was expecting something great and happening which could uplift our mood.As eating out most often does for us. Good food and friends can pretty much work all sorts of magic for us in life 🙂

So this place is in Besant nagar, and therefore our expectation of good food rose, as this locality is quite the crowd puller and generally this place seems quiet from outside, so we selected it. Oh and also a board outside the restaurant displayed buy one pizza get one free (which we decoded once we went in, was actually for the order of a large pizza you get a small pizza free)! The interior is decent with a touch of italian theme wall motifs and tiled topped tables. Its spacious or maybe it seemed so for the lack of people around 😛

Anyway getting to the food, We ordered :

Veg Manchow soup :- Its a pretty standard order for us because it is usually pretty tasty and most restaurants mess it up the least. It was good here with the right amount of vegetables and flavor in it.

Garlic bread with Cheese : we are not sure what they were trying, but it seemed like a copy of the pizza hut garlic bread but was not at all the same in taste. Although the bread was soft there was not enough garlic flavored butter spread on it. The cheese was also bland.

Picante Curry Pasta :- We would rather call it paneer butter masala pasta! It was such a set back ,it was like they had put pasta in paneer butter masala curry which you can eat as a side dish with naan or roti, it was so so very indian that we cant emphasize enough on it and more over it wasn’t a very tasty panner butter masala. It definitely had more oil in it and was very spicy, with chunks of paneer in it and no semblance of it being Italian at all, with a drizzle of mozzarella cheese on the top as garnish. On asking much later for the Garlic bread that was to accompany the pasta they apologetically told us they forgot and got two pieces of garlic bread and although the bread was soft there was not enough butter spread throughout the bread and it distinctly lacked the garlic flavor in it !Also it tasted somewhat sour the parts it did have butter.

Sizzzler(the name of which cannot be remembered !!) : They took the longest time to get this on our table and then gave half burnt rice with very little flavor, it was plain rice with the tiniest tinge of butter, veggies were less in quantity and it was kind of burned with an amalgamation of herbs and spices which did not give off any distinct flavor, also the vegetables seemed to be not that fresh, there had put the sides of old chewy cucumber ,along with tomatoes seasoned in salt and pepper. The main vegetable consisted of some brocolli, onions and bell pepper with some corn kernels. French fries were ok. Also must tell you that this is the first sizzler we have seen which came to the table without any sizzle at all 😦

May be Italian is not there niche …we seriously don’t know what is. This restaurant is in such a prime location with a comprehensive menu, only if the food were better they could have cashed in so perfectly. Its a pity!

Ambiance – 3/5
Service – 2.5/5
Food – 2/5
Price – 300- 500 rupees for two(approx.)

Note : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own food.

Rajdhani Thali – Ek Khandani Parampara

Published on November 24, 2013November 28, 2013 by Ghumta BhukkadLeave a comment

Rajdhani Thali – Ek khandani parampara, as the name suggest to me, it’s a Khandani affair. I was introduced to it by my uncle who is a foodie and a fan of Rajdhani and its been over Decade now .I am still following this place and every time I go , I fall in love with them and my hunger never satiate. It Defines their Consistency .

We went to the newly opened velachery branch of Rajdhani Thali for the BOGO offer on the World Vegetarian Day , A perfect way to celebrate vegetarianism. It doesn’t matter in which city you go to Rajdhani, it will always be the same(I have tried them in 4 states across India).

When you enter the place you will be greeted in the traditional Indian way with an aarti thali and a little tika on your forehead,making you feel all royal. The welcome is such an instant feel good that they immediately score a point here.

The staff is wonderfully trained and I was in a conversation with one of the manager and he told me that after they get recruited they get special training in understanding the protocols of how Rajdhani works and if you have not noticed it until now, notice it the next time you are there and see how, with different hand signs they have a proper conversation with each other, to mention a few thumbs up for water, thumbs down for butter milk , 4 fingers for the curries , 3 fingers for Dal , sweet Dal and Kadhi, (correct me if i am wrong ).

I would apologize for this post without pictures, because we were very busy eating so there was no time to take pictures.For Pictures you can check official Rajdhani Thali website.

Once we took our place in front of the Empty thali with 17 katoris, our journey started with the variety of mouth-watering food.

To start with, you will get a welcome drink ours was kokum sharbat .

As a starter we got Daal baati churma which was authentic.

In farsaan , they served us Dhokla and pea kachori with Green coriander chutney and sweet chutney.

In vegetables, Paneer curry , Green Vegetable curry, Potato curry and Gatta(gram flour) curry.

For Indian Bread , they always have phulka , Bajre ka Rota, jowar or makai ka rota and Palak puri with unlimited Ghee.

In Dal they have two varieties Tikha and meetha ,In additon to it they will have kadhi to serve. it will be authentic the way it is served in Gujarat or Rajasthan.

In Rice they generally have Plain rice, masaledaar Khichdi, and Pulao . In chennai they will also serve you Curd Rice.

Additionally , There will be salad , pickle , Chutneys, Papad and Butter Milk.

For the Dessert , It was Hot Gulab jamun which will melt in your mouth , and Jalebi with Rabdi .Both were Lip smacking.

Every Time I visit Rajdhani it’s a new Experience for me.

In this review,we might have missed many items which we ate .So go there and share your experience with us .

let us know , what we have missed 🙂

Ambiance – 4/5
Service – 4/5
Food – 4.5/5
Price – 800-900 rupees for two(approx.)

NOTE : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own meal.

Hot Pot China , OMR

Published on October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 by Ghumta Bhukkad1 Comment

We went to Hot Pot China after a rigorous session of yoga and our tummies rumbling with hunger. and it was pretty close by for some light not fattening food (or so i assume Chinese food to be ! ) so after about 10 mins of waiting on a busy saturday night we were seatedThis place has the potential for zen like peacefulness with all its buddha murals and beautiful paintings on the wall and the dim hanging lamps over the tables. of course here you would have to shun out all the noise eaters and the crowd having a good time with their family and friends to take in all of the ambiance.

Once seated we quickly ordered the soup and starters before ordering the rest (remember we were dying of hunger !) For soup and starters we had :

Lemon Coriander Soup – it was a thick soup with nice flavoring of lemon in at and finely crushed/ chopped coriander leaves and vegetables . It tasted yum and it was such a welcome treat for out hungry stomach.

Baby Corn Schezwan Chilly – Crispy friend baby corn sauteed in a schezwan chilly sauce and very indo- chinese. we quite liked it 😉

it was only after our collective tummies were a little satiated that we could take in the decor of this not so big but a cosy place. we must say the service was quite fast even for a busy full house day.we then ordered the main course and endeavored to have our food by chop sticks 🙂 n there started the lessons and the determination test for the bunch of us that went there. for main course we ordered :

Sapo Tofu With Exotic Vegetables – It was a gravy dish with lots of vegetables, the typical ones that go into chinese dishes and tofu. It tasted a little spicy but went well with the other two noodle and rice dish.

Burnt Garlic Fried Rice – Normally most chinese places offer garlic fried rice n this one gave the option of it being burnt which intrigued us enough to order it and the taste was something which made us happy enough owing to the smoky flavor of the rice along with the not too overpowering garlic tinglings. We loved this subtly flavored dish and our only wish is if only there were a tiny bit more vegetables in it.

Pan Fried Noodles in Schezwan Sauce – The noodles looked more like it was a soya sauce n not the red color schezwan sauce we are normally used to but even this tasted nice not all that schezwan-ny if you ask me but nice, the noodles although pan friend were soft and this had a lot of veggies.

By this time our endevour with the chopstick were successful by some just went back to the good old fork. We were completely full at the end of our meal with food, laughter and great friends and didn’t have any place for Desserts but we did have fresh lime sodas to wash it all down with. We would definitely go there to try their comprehensive menu. they also have a lot much more to offer for non vegetarians with a huge menu list. We enjoyed the place, food and service. Also another good thing about their menu is the half and full plate orders.

Ambiance – 3.5/5
Service – 4/5
Food – 4/5
Price – 300- 500 rupees for two(approx.)

Note : This is not a paid review. It’s based on our experience of going there and we paid for our own meal.