Swensons, Besant nagar Chennai

After the extravagant launch campaigns of new chains like Dunkin' Donut and others that garnered a lot of attention, here's a big brand that has silently entered the food scene in Chennai. The name Swenson seemed familiar to me and for some reason reminded me of desserts when I first saw it mentioned on social media. Doing some further research on Zomato the place seemed to offer a good deal on ice creams and reviews were good. So the next time I visited Besant Nagar was to try this place especially.

Location, Ambiance:

The location is ideal. It is just a little further along the road from Pupil and other usual joints opposite to Dhabba Express. You can see a few small tables placed outside and the nice looking Swensons board placed right outside. The lighting reminds you of Christmas and I felt the place probably resembles how the Chocklit shop from Archies comics would be. The only missing character is Pop Tate who owns the joint in the comics! From the outside the place may look expensive but a single scoop starts at only Rs. 48 here! So great prices! I feel people think this is an expensive place and give it a miss but it's actually lesser priced than Ibaco!

Desserts!

Been here on two occasions now. Wanted to order a big sundae since it was the first time: "Ebony and Ivory" - layers of butterscotch ice cream with brownie bits in between and drizzled with caramel and nuts. Oh, and topped off with whipped cream on the top, a chocolate coated wafer and a cherry! It arrived in a few minutes and I was happy to see the glass was really tall! It was really good but, once the cream disappeared it looked like there wasn't much quantity. But then as I kept going through the layers it was substantial. There was plenty of caramel sauce at the bottom and lot of it was drizzed on the ice cream as well. And don't forget to have the cherry it seems to be the maraschino cherry which is sweetened and pops in your mouth! Only order the supreme sundaes if you're ravenous and have a sweet tooth otherwise you might find it all a bit too much. :D

Ebony and Ivory - butterscotch, brownie bits,
caramel sauce. Cost: ~ 240/- incl taxes [menu price: 209]





















Second visit:

On the second visit a few days later, I had a double scoop of ice cream since the last time was almost an overdose. After taking a long time to choose, got the Mocha Almond fudge and the sticky chewy chocolate with the chocolate fudge topping. Each topping costed 20 rupees which is reasonable.  The almond fudge was excellent and paired with the chocolate fudge topping was very yummy. Really went well together. Sticky chewy chocolate was good too had a strong chocolate flavor but the winner was the almond fudge. Total came to rs. 119/- with the toppings and taxes. Very very reasonable for great quality and quantity. Not to mention the ambiance and the great location they have managed to get right next to the beach.

         Almond fudge and Sticky chewy chocolate scoops with an extra of Chocolate fudge (20/- per topping). Two scoops: 119/- All included

Kebab it, Besant Nagar, Chennai

Another one dish review, but I only do this when it's pretty good. When eating at Besant nagar, I've never got the feeling of the food being excellent maybe because I've only tried burgers at Pupil, katti rolls from the Katti roll shop (which are good) and the usual soda and fried potato spirals. Anyway, wanting to try this new place, decided to order just one for myself since my friend is on a diet. The menu showed a number of rolls and kebab options and I was confused. Asked the owner which the best of the lot was. Wrong question. He said everything was good. :P So, asked him which one was the bestseller in non-veg and he said Chicken Malaai fry kebab roll so I decided to go with that. It costed 130 bucks including taxes.

Frankly, the ambiance looks like they don't want guests to sit inside. Three or four tables spread out haphazardly. The way inside is narrow and when asked if there was AC the owner (I think) said yes, but it wasn't present since there was no door!  Dumb of me to ask I know.

Anyway, in a short while the main man brought in a very thick roll. This is unlike the fried parotta type of katti roll shop. Here the shell is a delicate maida roti and it was obviously full of meat and mayo. Although not as long as katti roll shop, it's much thicker and can fill you up. It was yummy and very juicy and with a good amount of chicken in it. Not too spicy but it did have a decent spice level with a nice masala taste. Could also taste ghee (no idea how) in it while taking big bites. Made it taste that much better. Well, if you're getting fat, might as well enjoy it eh? :D

Had to ask for tissues midbite since none were provided and a single tissue was given. There was no water offered as well. However, the staff were pleasant. Hope more places restart the habit of giving us a clean glass of water at the start.

Noodle Bar, Phoenix mall Chennai Part of Phoenix Food Trail

On an earlier occasion a bunch of food bloggers including me had been part of this event (Phoenix Food Trail) to showcase restaurants in Phoenix marketcity, Chennai in association with Chennai Food Guide. This is the third restaurant I got an opportunity to visit and it happened on an evening where traffic almost came to a standstill along the roads leading to Velachery courtesy the damaged roads from the floods. Anyway since everyone was late, we headed towards the restaurant quickly and found some seats already occupied by 7:15 pm on a weekday! Granted it was approaching new years eve but still it seemed to be a good sign. Noodle bar has a lovely interior with high ceilings and reminds you of the orient with the red colors in the theme. One can see the chefs working in the kitchen through the glass partitioning and that gives the place a contemporary look.

Introductions were quickly made with the manager of the outlet, Mr. Abhishek and the chef Mr. Pasang who would be presenting the dishes to us. We were eager to taste some Chinese food that most of us are used to, Indianized Chinese food that is! But the management had a surprise for us when they mentioned they don't do Indo Chinese all that much but instead offer authentic versions of dishes from Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Singaporean cuisines among others. Well, by now I was a little hungry and eager to try the chef's take on the dishes.

The Food

Once we finally got seated after everyone arrived, a cup of warm lemongrass tea was placed for us and that got our bellies ready for more serious eats

Soup

Next up was the soup, the vegetarians had Emperor Noodle soup and me being non-veg got to try the Tom Kha soup. This is a soup of Thai origins made with fish, prawns and other seafood stewed in a coconut base. It looked familiar to a dish that's famous in Kerala and imagine my surprise when it tasted quite similar too. The dish referred to is Moilee that is eaten with sides of bread or rice pancakes.

                         Tom Kha Soup



In fact, the chef knew about Moilee and acknowledged the connection when I mentioned it to him later. However, this one also had a strong twist or lemongrass and basil and a spicy kick which made it quite refreshing and definitely a nice change from the usual. There were good chunks of prawns in it too. The vegetarian Emperor Noodle soup looked well presented and had a fried noodles as an accompaniment. Did not taste it though.

                                                                                                        Emperor Noodle soup










                                                                                               

Starters

Mandarin Skewered Chicken

This being a Chinese version of the classic skewered chicken dishes we get in many restos here, the taste was a little different from the typical sweet, sticky sauce. It was sweet but there were other flavors in it too that were new to us. The presentation was commendable it came in a cute charcoal filled tabletop grill and the smoke emanating lent the chicken that extra smokey flavor. But the chicken itself was only warm and could be served hotter. And after a while the smoke rising got a bit irritating as well.








Thai BBQ Grilled Chicken



This dish was well made and more suited to the Indian palate. Slightly sweet as most Thai dishes are and well grilled tender medium sized pieces of chicken were what this dish offered and delivered. By now, we could see many tables being occupied and even some Chinese people were present. So evidently the place draws in a crowd due to their menu being less Indianized.

Spinach Coriander Dimsum


Got to try one of these veggie dimsums before they ran out and the three sauces/chutneys accompanying made this dish quite good. The dish itself was subtle.

Main Course

                                                                  Honey Soya Lamb

A dish from China: was pleased that the lamb was very tender and that made the mix of honey and soya go really well with the meat. This mild flavored side could accompany any of the popular rice or noodle variants on the menu.

                                                                            Hokomein Noodle

Best part about the dish is that it's mildly flavored and light thin noodles so would compliment well with any kind of gravy. The noodles was tossed with thin slices of veggies and egg. 

                         Jilin Chicken





Another mild flavored dish this time with chunks of chicken added, this dish had a tomatoish base. A good bet for those who are tired of overly spicy fare.










                                                                                                          Burnt Chilli Noodle




It looked dark and spicy and there was a huge, intimidating chilly placed on it. The noodles itself was medium spicy however but the sauces gave it a smoky taste from the soy etc. Again, this was a twist from the usual Indo-Chinese fare. Maybe we were supposed to add the chilly to the dish somehow to give it the spicy kick.









           Black Pepper Cottage Cheese





Made an exception to taste this vegetarian dish and was glad I did. Large chunks of paneer in a dark peppery gravy was good especially with the perfect paneer, which was fresh and soft. The manager told me they bring the paneer from Bombay! Goes well with the burnt garlic coriander rice.







               

                                                                                           Burnt Garlic Coriander Rice (lower right)






This one was the crowd favorite and everyone appreciated the bits of garlic lending a nice flavor to the coriander garnished fried rice.

Dessert

Finally we were served the dessert - Orange Darsan. I liked the crispy honey flavored noodles with orange ice cream but it was too much tanginess in a dessert I felt. They could add a whole lot more items to the dessert menu surely as it is lacking variety right now.


                       Orange Darsan

                                                                                                Chef Pasang posing with the dessert

Finally, noticed the "Toss it up" menu after the meal was done and it looked promising as well. They offer any combination of sauces, meat/veg, type of noodle and style of preparation on this ticksheet and they will prepare it as per your request. Seemed pretty good to me, should check it out sometime.