The Soup and Salad Cafe, Chennai – Soup in a coffee cup? Leaves you wishing for more!

At end of work day y’day had a feeling that many things have been accomplished (indeed a couple of my long postponed tasks were checked off from the list).
After a good days work, it is a right to feel famished. On a suggestion, went to “The Soup and Salad cafe” http://www.thesoupandsaladcafe.com/, http://www.sandscafe.com/ in T.T.K. Road, alwarpet.

I have been a frequent visitor of “Pure and Natural’ in Bangalore, as well as a fan of Jamba Juice from CA. Both are good and have sizable portions. Went with my tongue out for something similar.

The ambience is quite nice – Nice colors and setup
An Antique radio & nice/mild music
Very clean and nicely laid out tables & place mats
A touch of creativity and nicety all around
The best part is the smile and pleasant approach by everyone.

Since we felt famished, decided to order a soup (Zoupe?) as the menu suggested that it is quite filling. I ordered a Minestrone (too many confusing choices) & My cousin ordered a Spicy Chinese soup.

Our expectation was they are not just thin soups but will be filling.
The spicy Chinese soup was quite spicy (Of course!, what did I expect) and the minestrone was also slightly spicy (It is a diff kind of minestrone for me with thick broth, hints of pepper and a slightly tangy taste)
But the surprising part was the soup bowl (hmm..) Actually it was not a bowl but a coffee cup, the sizes of those in café coffee day etc.
Obviously, the soups did not service our appetite well enough and so we decided to order a sandwich(Zondich) – Calcutta karukkumurkku zondich and share it.
The sandwich came in a grilled pocket bread (much like a pita bread).
A) It was a tad difficult to share with the odd shape and what not.
B) The portion is much less compared to what could have been for the price.

Positives:

• Excellent and pleasant service – Its been quite a while seeing smiles on service people in Chennai.
• Quiet ambience
• Nice colors
• Genuine – Menu mentions bottled water at MRP and bill conforms to it!

Guys, If your costing permits, please increase the portion sizes.

Many a famished stomach will patronize you! & help our philosophy of making this a way of life.

Cholayil Sanjeevanam, Adyar – Great Satvik food experience

Went to Cholayil Sanjeevanam, a good Vegetarian Restaurant in Adyar (http://www.cholayilsanjeevanam.com/health_res.htm) during the weekend. Have gone there a couple of times earlier and have liked their approach, cleanliness and food.

They offer a Satvik Vegetarial Meal (Rajakeeyam) which consists of different series of juices, vegetables and food to tingle the taste buds, enable good digestion etc.

The first set is a set of 5 juices in shot glasses (date juice, Nuts & Milk, Vegetable juice, mint buttermilk, rice bran kanji)
Then comes a set of 4 uncooked vegetables
Followed by a set of 4 semi cooked vegetables
Finally, you get to the fully cooked items.
Brown rice is served with Dhal which is followed by a choice of brown or white rice with sambar, morkozhambu and rasam.
A spoon of honey to aid digestion
A nice Payasam for Desert
And a Paan that is made of carrot and other vegetables.

Here is a picture of the meal

From Citi Notes

Overall, there is no oil or fried stuff and seasoning. The food is kerala style and even after these many items, you feel filled by not too stuffed or heavy.

Note of caution: There is little spice (I did not see any chilli or chilli powder in any dish) and the food is kerala style. One or two of my friends have not found that to their liking.

But, if you are game for a tasty, vegetarian meal cooked based on healthy principles and if you are open for a new experience, this is the place to go.

The lunch is priced @150+ taxes and comes to around Rs. 175/-

Anyone tried this ?

Vegnation in Thiruvanmayur - Please do better!!

Went for lunch@Vegnation y'day. Had seen an article in Hindu a week back that has praised the outlet and has been waiting to go there.

The ambience is pretty good.

Had tomato Soup, Mutter Makkai masala, schezwan noodles , veg kadai.
The tomato soup was okay - Not fresh and the bread crumbs were over fried (smelt of oil)
The Makkai masala was good - Nice Paneer and tasty
Veg kadai was a let down - Seems Frozen or Canned Peas,beans were used - Atleast they tasted like that. Mainly the beans were horrible.
The schezwan noodles was spicy and good

Tried to round things off with nice Desserts - Strawberry mousse and Sizzling brownie - Both were not available! and the choice was Chocolate mousse and a Chocolate pastry.
Both were big let downs. They were not fresh and not too tasty
Mainly my nephew slumped on seeing the plastic mousse container - The photo showed a nice chocolate wrapping for it. (Even the name board outside shows the mousse in a wonderful chocolate wrapping -So much for advertisement)

Even after the Ordinary lunch, a wonderful dessert would have lifted our spirits.

Vegnation - Please do better. Atleast for the cause of having good vegetarian restaurants around.

Copper chimney in R.K. Salai - Good taste, decent service.

Went to copper chimney y'day with my cousin and had a couple of veg items.
The place is spacious and service is pretty good. Price is equivalent to other similar level restaurants - For a 2 person veg food costs around 400/person with starters and main course.

The only delay was a 10 min time in bringing the bill.