Golden Dragon, Taj Coromandel - Restaurant week India 2016

Last year this time I was asking a few friends if they would like to accompany me and dine at any of the luxury hotels that this event brings within reach. Quite unfortunately, they were extremely busy and just couldn't find the time. This time, however, I succeeded in visiting the Golden Dragon restaurant at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai and the experience has justified the wait and the pent up expectations. Before I write about the actual experience a few words about this most interesting event.

The review comes after these questions so skip ahead if you just want to read that.

So what is Restaurant week anyway?

Link: www.restaurantweekindia.com

Simply put, it is a biannual 10 day event that showcases a highly curated menu from some of the finest restaurants this country has to offer. The menu is for a 3 course meal for the RW event and 6 course meal for the Chef's table which is a spinoff event that costs more to attend. More than a 100 hotels from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are participating this time. The menu I assume is chosen to reflect the essence of each restaurant's culinary focus. Or maybe portray new and interesting dishes. There are lunch and dinner slots priced at Rs 750 and Rs 900 respectively in Chennai. Other cities are priced differently. The event has been running since September 2010 until now.

How do I choose the best restaurant for me?

Personally, for me, trying to choose the best place to go to out of all the tempting options was a lot of fun. I looked long and hard at each restaurant's menu trying to decide which would excite everyone's tastes the most. If a certain ambiance is what matters then keeping that in mind is important too. For example some places are more suited to a cozy date while others lend themselves better to a group meeting with friends. Doing some research about the restaurants and their themes beforehand will help meet expectations you have. Each restaurant has its own page explaining about the philosophy of its dining experience and an introduction to the chef in charge.

Booking procedures and any extra details?

The RWI website is simple and functional thankfully. All restaurants are displayed with the status of reservations displayed in a color coded format (waitlisted, unavailable and available). You just need to make an account and get choosing based on your preferences. To confirm a reservation you should have chosen a slot that's available and starting this year, full payment including a non- refundable booking charge per diner has to be paid in advance. Earlier, only the booking charge had to be paid in advance. But this isn't an issue since payments are refunded if you cancel more than 12 hours in advance or if your reservation doesn't get confirmed after being wait listed. You can even switch your reservations if you feel like wanting a change later.

Since this event is sponsored by Ola Prime this year, all the participants got mailed a coupon code of Rs 150 each way to travel to and from the restaurant in comfort. All I had to do is summon an Ola Prime cab, punch in the unique code and voila! An almost free ride for me since my place is only a few miles away! Gotta love that free wifi that's provided to prime riders too. The wifi password is your cell number, remember that!

First Impressions & Ambiance

                         

So after getting dropped off at the imposing Taj Coromandel I stepped in. This decades old hotel is itself partially shrouded from the main road and once you're inside you don't feel you're actually in the city's center. When you exit the hotel, you do feel the place is an island. And from the outside, it definitely gives off an air of mystery and grandeur revealing only a glimpse of it's ferned high walls. This was my first visit to this Taj property. I chose the Golden Dragon because from all the hotels having Asian cuisine which I was in the mood to have then, this one had some menu items that were closer to my taste. The kitchen is run by Master Chef William Ho who has more than 40 years of experience at high end restaurants around the world.

                                

                               

The main hallway was huge and classically grand. I asked a suited managerial sort for instructions to the Golden Dragon and it was the first restaurant to the right from the end of the grand main hallway.

                                

                                

                                

The restaurant decor and setting was minimal and understated. Only later did I notice the muted lines on the cutlery. High ceilings and cloth draped seating makes you feel you're somewhere communal yet gives you a familial feel. It did make me feel at ease.

                                                          

                                                                                               

There was couple seating adjoining the French windows but the view outside wasn't inspiring. Just the backside of the hotel with some flowering plants outside. The blinds were half drawn but the strong daylight provided enough natural lighting to brighten up the whole place. I chose these seats so I could take decent photos with my below average cell phone camera.

On entering, a bright looking waiter Mr. Sagai had greeted me and I told him about the reservation for the event. Once seated, the special set menu was brought but I didn't really need to check it much since I had already seen it online.

                                                     

Food experience. finally..

                                         

                                                    

Soup

                                            

For the soup, I chose Chef Ho's spicy lung fung soup. It was between that and a veg parsley and chestnut soup. Chef Ho wasn't kidding when he termed it spicy! Got quite a spice kick the first sip that it pretty much startled me. But it was delicious. The spicy broth was interspersed with bits of tender bits of prawn that kept me interested. It was a zesty start to the meal.

Appetizer

                             

In the appetizer menu, I was planning to try either the prawn har gao, tai chin chicken or the juicy tenderloin Mongolian style (beef). Had read good things about the har gao. But unsurprisingly, the tenderloin won in the end. And thank heavens it did because this was a stunner for me. The sliced beef was neatly clumped in a little heap and I tentatively took a first peck from the fork. Wow. Just. Sublime. The unpleasant memories of the so called tenderloin cuts I've had in Chennai and Bangalore until now were wiped clean in an instant of the first bite. The beef cuts were unbelievably tender and the Mongolian based sauce it was coated with was just what this prime cut deserved. The menu at the Golden Dragon's website had indicated this was quite spicy so I had enquired with one of the waiters if it would be. I found it to be of normal spice, not sure if the heat was reduced for me. Anyway, I certainly did not expect to be having such tender meat anywhere in Chennai, star hotel or not so this was a lovely surprise. However that said, I did find one piece that was extremely chewy and couldn't even be swallowed. That can be excused I think.

Staples

I did not finish off the tenderloin dish as I wanted to pair it with the Stir fried vegetable rice with golden garlic that was coming up next. I was asked if I wanted egg added to which I said yes.

Main Course

I again had quite some difficulty choosing between the nice options here. Stir fried lamb in crushed pepper sauce, Pan fried bay prawns in Murraya and seafood sauce, sweet and sour pork and Stir fried chicken in chili oyster sauce with water chestnuts and mushroom caught my fancy.  Since I had already had red meat in the appetizer I didn't want lamb again. The prawn preparation looked interesting but I wasn't too keen on tasting curry leaves in it (Murraya) so I went with the Stir fried chicken in chili oyster sauce with water chestnuts and mushrooms. 

I gave my preference and waited for some time. I got time to observe some of the crowd now. The place was filling up by now. The large round central table was now occupied by a group of friends who had come for the restaurant week menu as well. They were having a hell of a time I could see. There was a smaller table occupied by a family who were ordering a la carte. Meanwhile Mr Sagai and me got talking and he was telling me how some customers frequented this place for years. He could attest since he has been with the place for more than two decades now.

                            

                            

The two dishes came together and were served immediately. The Stir fried vegetable rice was pretty much perfect to me. Extremely tasteful, the rice wasn't dry but very lightly moist which I found super. Went perfectly with the stir fried chicken that was another winner. The chili oyster sauce was mildly spiced and its flavor was subtle and seemed very fresh. The small sized mushrooms were delightful nibbles in between the crunch of the chestnuts. The portion sizes were quite generous and I was actually unable to finish the whole dish! Although initially I thought the portions may not fill me up this was not the case here at Golden Dragon.

Dessert

                                     

Finally it was time for dessert. The chocolate terrine was recommended but I had also thought of the Flambeed toffee vanilla custard(v) but since I overlooked the veg portion of the menu I forgot about that option. Anyway the terrine looked small at first glance but it was a solid chunk of concocted chocolate solids. Unfortunately this dessert did not impress me all too much since it was very hard to take a spoonful of. And that sort of ruined it. I had to resort to try and break it up with a fork. Since it was served quite chilled it was even more hard. I've not had this dish before so cannot comment if this is how it is usually served. I wished it was a lot more softer so it would be easier to relish. However, the flavor of the bites I had were pretty good. However, the texture of the dessert didn't really impress me. I wish I had tried the Flambeed toffee vanilla custard instead.

                                 

  

                                      

                                        The restaurant's manager Mr. Tilak (R) with Mr. Sagai.

So that's it. This turned out to be a longer than expected blog post since I enjoyed recounting this experience. The return trip home was again very comfortable because of the Ola prime ride being available. If you're thinking of trying out a restaurant at the Restaurant Week this time, hurry and go right ahead. This is sure to be a very good experience at the least and at an amazingly less price for such luxury.

                                  

Cafe Amin, Royapettah

Cafe Amin, Royapettah

Was heading to a movie night show yesterday at Express Avenue so had to get a light dinner. Decided to try out something light from here instead of spending at the food courts and still feeling hungry and penniless. 

tongue emoticonThis place has been renovated some time back. It has been here for ages serving good food and I remember coming here plenty of times with family when I was a kid. They are known for typical Muslim non veg fare, tea and their faloodas!

As soon as I entered the place around 8 pm, got into the AC section and was happy to feel the full blast of cool air. I took a seat at the last four seater table and asked for a menu quickly. Got a paper menu instead of the large one.

Decided to go for the chicken egg roll priced at rs 110 in the menu. Since it was a saturday, the resto was quite busy and my order took a long time to come. However, the waiters were apologetic so it was okay. Also ordered a Tea which came with the food. While waiting could see nice appams, naans and chicken gravies being delivered to the other tables. Next time, I thought! Finally after almost 40 mins it came. Wow, my first thought was they probably gave me a fatter roll for waiting patiently. It was quite thick and wrapped with foil at one end. Which was good because it was served very hot.

Loved the very soft and fresh shell of this roll. It was obviously made just then. Personally not a fan of the boring roti shells of faasos et al so this was a welcome change.

The piping hot filling inside was a good masala mix of chicken bits, onions n chillies. It looked and tasted pretty good! There was a slight tikka flavor. They placed bottles of tomato ketchup and green chilly sauce. Ketchup went really well with the roll. I am not sure if mayo was skipped for this roll today since they had mentioned that mayo wasn't made for the day to another customer who asked for it. All in all a very filling n tasty roll.

The Chai (rs 25) is good here. It had just right flavor without being too strong. A good end to this mini meal!

Total came to rs 145. Roll was billed at 120 bucks. I guess they added the taxes into dish price rather than separately.

Brownie Heaven, Royapettah

This little cafe is pretty close to Cafe Amin so decided to go here. Wanted to have a small sweet item for dessert. They had just the thing. A brownie cupcake for 50 bucks which I took a parcel of. It was warmed up a bit too much and boxed in the nicely designed box. Was planning to give a taste to my friends at the mall but couldn't resist the great brownie smell coming from the box! Great chocolately taste and lovely crust but felt it was lacking in salt a bit. It was missing the wow on first bite but still pretty good!

Vergheson Bakery, Mandavelipakkam

It's not everyday that one gets to eat at the best restaurants or afford to go to the costlier ones to get quality food. Most of the time we frequent the Mcrennetts or local Hot puffs to satisfy the sudden cravings for a snack. Hence it is important that such places stick to quality at an affordable price. However, it is rare to find such places.

Verghese bakery is one such place that has been catering for decades to the locals in the Santhome and mandaveli areas.They are a household name this part of town. Personally have been eating from this place since more than 20 years and most importantly the quality has always been the same for a good price. They use only Amul butter and cheese for their products and the difference in quality can be tasted in their puffs and buns and breads which are super soft when fresh. You won't get the greasy dalda taste that you get from local puffs. The donuts are coated in melted Amul chocolate as well. During school days, used to stop at this place almost daily to hog some of their light flaky puffs.

Today evening went for a walk to this place. They usually are fully stocked in the evenings by around 3 or earlier. But after 7 30 pm most of the puffs are sold out so go early. They sell 7 or 8 varieties of puffs (vegetable, mushroom, paneer, gobi, capsicum, egg, cheese lava), donuts, cream and jam buns, plain and cream cakes and many other bakery items as well.

Prices are approximate since I forgot to note them down or get the bill. I took parcel of a mushroom puff (< rs 25 ), chocolate donut (around rs 25), cream bun (rs 12) and 2 plain buns (rs 8 each). Also had an egg puff right there (rs 19). The puffs are much more delicate and layered than the local hot puffs variants which are thicker layered. Fortunately or unfortunately don't think they don't provide the "sauce" which is given at other place but they will cut it up if you ask. :DThe egg puff It was hot and seemed a tad small in size but tasty.

Once back home, had the cream bun which was great as usual. Cream in a soft fresh bun with plenty of coconut scrapings around the edges! I love to add some fruit jam which makes it even more tasty. The mushroom puff was delicately spiced and good too. Chocolate donut was yummy too! It's a plain donut but the Amul chocolate coating used is better than the crusty sugar coating of other places so great VFM. However the donut wasn't as soft as it usually is when fresh.

Their breads are very soft and sold in most of the local shops too so don't forget to get a loaf if you visit. They are closed on Sundays.

After exiting the place spotted a nongu seller at the junction of the rountana so bought 6 nongus for 25 bucks as well! Do ask them for bigger sized ones if they give you small ones at first. They said they are there from morning till 6 pm daily.

Bombay Kulfi, Adyar

Decided to try out the much talked about kulfis here today. We took a walk from nearby to reach this place. It's in the same complex as Tuscana pizzeria and some others. Place looked packed. People deciding what to order. We got in as soon as a big gang came to have the ice cream outside. It's a pretty small place as far as parlors go with tiny seats around the perimeter. During times of crowd customers choose to exit and eat outside.

The person in charge who I think owns the place was very courteous and answered to everyone's queries briskly and was tending to orders fast too. Good to see. We have to choose the ice creams, pay first and then take a seat. At least that's what we did seeing others. Many were taking parcels of the disc shaped kulfis in boxes too. They cut it up and serve on a plate if you order that.

We can opt for either stick or disc shaped kulfis we all chose the stick version.

We ordered 1 strawberry, 1 kesar pista, a malai for me and later I had a mango sitaphal combo since mango wasn't available presumably sold out. There are 50 and 70 gram kulfis for rs 30 and 40 respectively.

Since we were seated in AC and the ice cream was frozen quite hard too, it took a while for it to melt. The malai I tasted was pretty good. Not as creamy/thick as I expected (had tried a kulfi at sowcarpet few days back which was creamier!) but the flavor and milk was very fresh tasting. Friends said the strawberry and kesar pista were great too.

Since I really wanted to try the mango as it was recommended a lot, decided to go for the half mango, half sitaphal combo altho Im not a great fan of sitaphal. Mango was kickass, like biting into a partly frozen mango pulp grin emoticon No wonder it was sold out! Sitaphal was great too, mild flavored and one thing I noticed even the texture of the sitaphal was there, a greasy one which we get while eating it! I took a while to realize this so it means this is made totally naturally.

Anyway, great kulfis and amazing pricing for the quality! Hope it stays the same. Once outside we felt refreshed in the humid heat. Would have been great if there were seating for lot more people so everyone could enjoy the cool.

Sorry did not click pics inside! Was busy eating. ;D

Surf Turf Cafe / Social Surf School / Covelong Point

These days a lot of us plan big outings on whatsapp and finally nothing happens. :D This outing was an exception for my gang of friends. For once, a sudden plan worked out and we found ourselves on the road at 6 am this Saturday going to Surf Turf to try our hand at surfing. Of the four of us who went, only two were going to actually surf. The others including me were happy to sit at the beach and visit their cafe in the nice building that overlooks the Dwarka beach. The building itself is beautifully designed with a thatched roof and two hut like enclosures that hold surf boards and other gear.  There are also other rooms holding big surf boards inside. They also have scuba diving, kayaking and some other sports there. Shower facilities and changing rooms are available. When we arrived around 7 am there was already a mixed crowd of women, young men and kids assembled there to learn to surf.

The introductory class cost 1500 per person and was for two hours. They provide you with surf boards whose size depends on your body type and then classes are taken where the young instructors who come from the fishing community of the nearby villages explain about the tides, currents and how to finally ride the wave with perfect technique. After this, each person is given a board to practice stance before going into the sea. By 7:30 am, there was a group of wannabe surfers in the ocean waiting for their first wave. There were also expert surfers who were easily catching the wave and doing impressive moves on the board.

Meanwhile, the sun was blazing so I moved indoors into the cafe after spending more than an hour watching my friends surf. They were learning quickly and having fun!

The cafe is housed on the first floor and has a balcony with a stunning view of the blue and emerald coastline. The sea water seems noticeably cleaner away from the city.

Mornings, they have a set veg n non-veg breakfast for around 150 and 250 bucks respectively. All the items on that menu are also served a la carte. So I just ordered a plate of chicken sausages (rs 70) with toast (rs 30). The waiting staff were also local youth. Sausages came quickly and was served with sides of tomato ketchup and mustard sauce. They were quite soft n juicy. There were 9 half pieces of sausage so good value. Although I wanted to wait for the toast to be served to have it with this, it took a long time to come so almost finished the sausages by the time the toast arrived. Paid the bill of 100 bucks and went back to spend time at       the beach.

After one more session of surfing, all of us came back to the cafe to have some food. The others ordered two chicken sandwiches which came in a few minutes. I just had a tea (rs 40) now. The coffee (rs 50) smelled pretty great and I wish I had ordered that. Friends said the chicken sandwich was well made so I took a bite. It had a lot of chicken pieces and wasn't overloaded with mayo or spiced up too much. Seemed pretty low fat. A good snack! The day's menu had beef steak for 500 bucks! Should try it one day!

More about the Social Surf School: Surfing here was pretty unheard of about a decade back. Until a local fisherman named Murthy took it upon himself to learn to surf with a wooden door, that is! Then a foreigner Yotam Agam of Earthsync (his record company) noticed him and gifted him a surf board which he used to teach others in the community to surf with. Later, they realized the social improvement aspect of local youth teaching people to surf and started this surf school with an aim to help the community. Now the place is sponsored by the TTK group after someone in the family noticed the initiative and decided to support it.

Tips if you're going to surf here:

The place is located after Taj Fisherman's cove. Call them to ask directions after this point.
Wear tight fit clothes
Bring spare change of clothes
Have a plastic bag to keep the wet clothes
Bring sunscreen
Go early to avoid the crowds during weekends
Weekdays are much less crowded


Website: covelongpoint.com