Narayan Reddy Sweets and Chaat

Before I begin, let me make one thing very clear, I’m a HUGE fan of Gangotree (A review of Gangotree can be found here) and nothing can ever replace my love for chaat from Gangotree. It has been over a year since I moved to Hyderabad and there is no chaat shop that has come close to Gangotree. Narayan Reddy aint as good as Gangotree, but it’s definitely much better than most. Narayan Reddy is actually a sweet shop but they also have a small chat ‘bandi’ (stall) outside that serves some decent chaat items. I happened to visit this place for the first time 10 months ago when I had gone to the ICICI Bank right next to it to withdraw cash. I was really hungry and my cousin suggested this place. He had eaten there before and he guaranteed that I would not be disappointed. After eating chaat in Gangotree all my life, I have developed this weird notion against all other chaat shops. You can call it a mental block But on that day hunger won the fight against my mental block and I finally ended up having chaat at Narayan Reddy. Now coming to think of it, I am wondering if it was my hunger or my karmic bond with the name Narayan that made me eat there.

Narayan Reddy offers all varieties of sweets and savories. Among the sweets, Gulab Jamun (Rs 8 per piece), Rasamalai (Rs 8.50 per piece), Doodh Peda (Rs 160 per kg) and Motichoor Ladoo (Rs 180 per kg) are really good. The rest I have not tried but I assume they taste good too. Out of the wide variety of savories, I have tried only the Masala Peanuts (price unsure) and they were not as good as the ones you get in Adyar Anand Bhavan.

Being the only decent chaat stall in the area, they do pretty good business. I guess they make more money from the chaat stall than from the sweet shop The chaat stall is really small but they have small chairs lined next to the railing for people to sit. I always have Samosa Ragada (Rs 13). The Samosa Ragada is really nice compared to all the other chaat stalls in Sainikpuri. They also have the usual chaat stuff like Bhel Puri, Sev Puri, Cutlet Ragada, Aaloo Chaat (all Rs 13), Dahi Papadi Chaat (Rs 15) Pav Bhaji (Rs 22) and Pani Puri (Rs 10 for 8 pieces). The prices are low compared to the chaat stalls in Chennai, but when compared to other chaat stalls in Hyderabad they are pretty expensive.

The chaat here is good, but not as good as Gangotree. The Pani Puri that Narayan Reddy offers is nothing compared to the Gangotree in Chennai. I never have pani puri anywhere else and always wait till I go to Chennai to have it. The wait is too long; so can someone please help me in filing a petition to open Gangotree in Sainikpuri?

Narayan Reddy is located right next to ICICI Bank, A.S. Rao Nagar Branch and diagonally opposite to Tandoor.

Tandoor

Good food, good locality, and good service – that is what I associate with Tandoor. There are many restaurants in Sainikpuri to give Tandoor a run for its money, but Tandoor retains its customers with its service and easy on the pocket menu. It is a fairly big place with the capacity to seat around 70 odd people. They also plan to open a banquet hall above the restaurant soon, so if you intend to take a big gang for a treat then this is the right place.

Tandoor offers North Indian and Chinese cuisine. They have a wide variety of dishes on the menu catering to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I have tried pretty much everything on the menu and I can vouch that they are all worth the try. I’m gonna mention just a few of them coz if I have to mention everything on the menu, it will probably take me a lifetime to write it .

I’m gonna start with soups. The soups on the menu are pretty much what you will find in all restaurants. The Sweet Corn Veg Soup (Rs 35) and the Cream of Tomato Soup (Rs 35) is really good. They serve it boiling hot and the aroma of the soup makes your mouth water.

My Tip: Order Masala Papad (Rs 20) along with the soup. Tandoor’s Masala Papad is simple yet superb or should I say simply superb The tangy papad and the soup is a great combination to start with.

Then comes the starter. In the veg section, try Crispy Veg (Rs 70) or Paneer Tikka (Rs 75), and in the non-veg section try Chilli Chicken (Rs 110) or Chicken Lollipop (price not sure). We normally have vegetarian food when we go there so I’m not too sure about the other non-vegetarian starters that they offer. Going by the vegetarian dishes, I’m assuming that the non-vegetarian food is also equally good.

When it comes to rotis we always settle for Tandoori Roti (Rs 12 each) or Butter Naan (Rs 19 each). They also have Roomali Roti (Rs 20), Kulcha (stuffed and plain) and Paratha, but we always settle for Butter Naan. Ordering the side dish is the toughest. We are always contemplating what to have. I love paneer so I try and order something that has paneer in it. The Paneer Butter Masala (Rs 70) is my all time favorite. They also have Veg Khandari, Aaloo Gobi, Mutter Paneer, Veg Mughlai etc.

They also have desserts but we’ve never really tried out any.

The service is pretty fast even on days when the restaurant is full. I don’t know if that is for everyone or just for us . We have been going to Tandoor for almost a year now and everybody there recognizes us and make sure that we are attended to immediately.

Tandoor is located in A.S.Rao Nagar above PCH eZone, diagonally opposite Ushodaya Supermarket and ICICI Bank. Also note that this restaurant has nothing to do with the Tandoor in White House, Begumpet.

The CN Tower, Toronto

Hey there! This is Vasisht from Toronto, Canada. Yup, the same place India and Pakistan used to meet in those Sahara Cup matches. Well, otherwise we haven’t heard much about Toronto. Well, imagine my surprise then, when I landed at this place! I shall be writing about the hangouts in Toronto from now on. Lemme start with a brief intro to Toronto.

Toronto is in Canada, as you might have noticed. No, it is not the capital. It lies somewhere on the South East edge of Canada, on the shores of lake Ontario (I don’t know why they call this a lake, it is so damn huge!). It is a sprawling city, and supposed to be one of the most multi-cultural in the world. You can see people from everywhere! It is just like any other city in the U.S, though much less crowded. When I landed here, the first thing I thought was – Hey! Where are all the people?!.

Whenever you see a pic or come across something on Toronto, you see this nice tower standing in the background. That, is the CN Tower. You can dig up more about The CN Tower here – The CN Tower Portal. I shall continue with my perspective on it.You can see the CN Tower the minute you get down anywhere at downtown. The first thing that strikes you when you see this tower is – Cheez…u kiddin’ me? That was supposed to be one of the tallest towers?. Yup, it looks so small from a distance. But it grows bigger as you get closer, yeah, really. You understand the sheer size of it when you stand right under it. It is HUGE!

When you enter it, you are greeted by a ticket booth. This place is no hangout – it costs around $25 CAD (Canadian Dollar, 1CAD ~ Rs 37) to enter this thing. When you do make up your mind and splurge, you join a queue to a photo. They take your photo in front of a greenscreen, and will hand it over to you later, with the tower instead of the green. You then proceed to a strange contraption, something like a metal detector, but more like the body scanner in Doom 3 (yup, it has red lights and stuff).

Then comes the lift. It takes you to the sky dome. The lady in the lift shoots out statistics, some very helpful, like the speed of the lift, and that no-one died when constructing the tower (or I guess it was 2 people). Anyway, you come out of the lift, into this sky dome thing. It is just a big circular room, with great big windows, and you see the whole city below you. There is even a restaurant here, where you can eat, and stare at the Ontario lake at the same time! They have some binoculars, which, sadly, doesn’t work until you drop some coins.

Once you are done drooling at the city, you can go to the glass floor. The glass floor is where they have made a part of the floor out of glass. You can see right down to the road underneath you. It takes some getting used to, but after that, it is fun. You can then roam around, reading the history of the the tower. After you are done, you can do two things – pay $15 more and go to the Sky-pod (which is still higher), or get the hell out.

Well, the photo I mentioned before, they show it to you when you come down again. But it ain’t free. You can also buy some CN Tower themed stuff at the mall downstairs, like some small silver keychains, and all sorts of things with the photo of the tower. All said, it was a good experience, and a must for anyone visiting Toronto. The view of the lake looks awesome from the tower.

Bay Leaf – Authentic North Indian Cuisine

If you have been missing authentic north Indian cuisine, then its time you paid Bay Leaf a visit. Its located in the heart of the city and is easily accessible. The board outside welcomes you saying, “Authentic Lucknowi, Bengali, Frontier, Punjabi Cuisine”. So it pretty much covers the popular variety of cuisines we get from Punjab in the West to Bengal in the East.

Once you get inside, you tend to feel relaxed. I think it because of the lighting which is neither too bright nor dark and the place overall is very decent. As its off the main road, not too many people know about this place, so you end up getting a nice quite place to dine in. There are about 8 tables which is more than enough for the crowd this place gets.

Ok. I think i’ve described the place enough. So lets get to the food. You’ve got quite a long menu card. Most of the items here are Non-vegetarian which is understandable considering it’s purely a North Indian place. But there are enough items to try out for a pure vegetarian to go and enjoy a nice filling meal.

Firstly, I have to warn you about this starter called Paneer Potli. I hated it so much, that it’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about bayleaf. I ordered it with great expectations, but it turned out to be big let down. Maybe the dish by itself is supposed to be like that, but the cardamom in it, just made me hate it. Anyway, moving on, the tomato soup was watery but quite tasty. The Biriyanis are just amazing. The one I had was called Lucknowi Vegetable Biriyani. If you do end up going thereDon’t miss out on having the Biriyani. They also have tandoori items such as roti, naan, etc. and a range of side dishes. The ones I had were all pretty good, so its worth checking out. The quantity of each portion of any dish is also quite huge.

Apart from the standalone dishes, you also have meals which work out pretty cheap. There is one meal at Rs. 55. Me being a vegetarian I have to say, my experience of Bayleaf was pretty limited. But for all you non-veggies out there, you must check it out and I’m sure you’ll have a great time. As a place to dine out, its great to relax over the weekend or even take someone out on a date. But before you do take out someone, make sure they like this kind of cuisine. An average meal for 2, works out to somewhere between Rs. 300 and Rs. 400.

So go ahead and relive your north Indian food craze at Bayleaf which is located at Gopalpuram. It is off cathedral road, and on the street that goes in next to Gangotree and opposite to Stella Maris.

Sandwich Shop @ Alsa Mall, Chennai

I couldn’t name it any better because this shop doesn’t really have a name. Or probably, it has a name but without a board. Anyways, who cares? I’m talking about the roadside sandwich shops in front of Alsa Mall, which was once upon a time one of the most happening places in Chennai.

There are three to four such sandwich shops in the same row and all of them are pretty similar. All of them are around four feet by four feet, made out of wood and there is place for only one person to stand inside who prepares various types of sandwiches and toasts and another person standing outside who makes wonderful omelettes. Surprisingly enough, they have power supply and what’s more, there is a menu card too!

The sandwich shop that I am referring to in this post is the one on the right corner when you are facing Alsa Mall. This is the only shop from where I have eaten and hence I will recommend only this one and not the others.

Like I mentioned earlier, they have a menu card, well laminated and lists all their offerings like Veg Sandwich, Egg Omelette, Cheese Toast, Chilly Cheese Toast, Mixed Veg Toast, Aaloo Toast, Bread Omelette etc. All of these are reasonably priced, ranging from Rs. 8 for the Veg Sandwich to Rs. 13 for most of the toasts. I’m not sure about the egg varieties as I’ve never tried them. All the toasts are served hot and that makes them even more tasty. My favorite off the lot is Chilly Cheese Toast. It is probably the best Chilly Cheese Toast I’ve had ever. Damn tasty, trust me. The cheese melts in your mouth and the Lays tagline really suits it, i.e. ‘No one can eat just one!’ Anyone who goes there must definitely try out the Chilly Cheese Toast; otherwise you are definitely missing something in life.

Now, you may be thinking in your mind, “you say it is a roadside shop, in front of a mall, you haven’t mentioned any seating arrangements, where the hell will I sit or stand?” You can sit on the steps of Alsa Mall for eternity and no one is going to disturb you. As you wait for your order to be ready, you are given ‘Time Pass’. Time pass is nothing but cucumber pieces with Chaat Masala sprinkled over it. And here is the best part, the so called ‘Time Pass’ is on the house!

I clearly remember the first time I went there. My friends and I were debating on where to hangout. We were all short of money and therefore couldn’t go to Coffee Day, Planet Yumm etc. That’s when one of my friends mentioned about a certain ‘Sandwich Shop in Alsa Mall’. Since the others hadn’t been there, we all decided to check out that place. That visit led to further frequent visits and we used to spend close to 5 hours every time we went.

I’ve been going to this place for close to 5 years now and not only have I have enjoyed eating there every single time, but everyone who has been to that place have a similar experience to share.

The shop is open from 11 A.M. to 11 P.M. There is no address as such and it is very easy to locate. Just ask for Alsa Mall once you near Egmore and once you are there, just look for a really small shop with a huge crowd around it on the right and you’ve got it.

Sandeepha – TTK Road

These days there is no shortage of high quality pure-veg eatouts in Chennai and Sandeepha’s new branch on TTK road just adds to the list. Though this doesn’t exactly qualify as a “hangout”, if you wanna hangout with your parents or grandparents, why not give this place a shot.

The first thing you’re most likely to notice about this place is the HUGE menu. And I’m not kidding. They have practically every vegetarian dish you could ever hope for! For starters you can choose from the usual stuff… Chinese/Tandoori (Rs 40 – Rs 60). Rice varities (Rs 50 – Rs 60) include everything from plain jeera rice, pulav, masala pulav to mushroom and paneer fried rice. Noodles fall under the same price range too.

One starter there that i like a lot was the Paneer Balle (It even sounds different). The dhal varieties don’t have anything extraordinary that is worth mentioning. You can choose from thadka dhals, tomato thadka, makhni and the list goes on. The kumb malai palak (Rs. 60) is one of my favorites. I really don’t know whats there in it (apart from malai and spinach) so I can’t really tell you why its so tasty.

Sandeepha primarily specializes in south indian dishes. You get everything from the boring Idlis and Vadas to Stuffed dosas (which includes a paneer stuffed dosa!) There are 23 (yes Twenty Three) varities of dosas to choose from. The dosa that stands out there is the Masala Paper Dosa (Rs. 90).

For older folks, there is the tried and trusted “meals combo” available. They range from lunch meals (Rs. 35), Andhra meals, Tamil Nadu meals to North Indian combos (Rs. 70). Plus you also get the boring sambar rice, lemon rice etc etc (yuck!).

Finally, to finish it all off, they offer a choice of exotic mocktails and icecreams (I don’t remember much here, but the dessert menu went on for a good 3 pages).

A word of caution – Under no circumstances should you ever order the Malai Kofta at this place. Trust me, it SUCKS!

Sandeepha is located on TTK Road, right opposite Narada Gana Sabha. It is open between 8am and 11pm on all days.

Food Village

Today is the first time I actually entered Food Village on the ECR (East Coast Road) though I had been planning to do so for a few years. It just never happened. Anyway, I’m glad I finally did.

Entering the place, you could mistake it for anything but a restaurant. It looks like a park, has a lawn and some ducks and turkeys moving around the place. Anyway, now coming to how it does as a restaurant.

They have a number of wooden huts. Each of these are separated from the others, so its more like sitting in separate rooms. There is one hut, which has 2 levels. These huts are surrounded by trees on all sides and lots of greenery. So even if you go there for lunch, chennai’s heat doesn’t get to you. Also, each hut also features a fan. Lol.

I know there might be some of you (like me, ) who just can’t stand the heat anyway. So for the likes of us, they have got an A/C facility, but then you don’t get to be one with nature inside the artificially cooled room. On the other hand, this place would be worth checking out for a relaxed dinner and then followed by a lazy drive back into the city.

Now to the food, the average meal for 2, works out to about Rs. 500 and that includes everything from soup and starters to your final dessert. The tomato soup that I ordered was pretty good. For the main course, some usual North Indian dishes along with some Shezwan Noodles. I must say, while the North Indian stuff were pretty good, having the Shezwan Noodles was kind of let down.

Finally, here is how I’ll put it. If you are just looking for a place to suppress your hunger then you will be better of going elsewhere. Food Village is a good option, for those wanting to spend some time outside the high paced life of the city and relax along the beaches of the ECR. A good plan would be to, go there as a group and after lunch take a ride along the ECR to one of the amusement parks or some beach.

Food Village is located on the ECR at Injambakkam, immediately after Prarthana Drive-In Theatre. They’ve got big boards put up, so its difficult to miss. You will find it on your left, if you are driving away from Chennai.

Bowl O’ (Oh No) China

“To err is human” – You bet! The best part is that we learn through our mistakes. I have made up my mind never to make the same mistake again. The mistake of eating at Bowl O’China. The Bowl O‘ China that I ate in, is situated in Kharkhana, Secunderabad, it also has another branch in Begumpet, Hyderabad. Bowl O’ China is a part of the famous food chain “The Hyderabad House”.

Hyderabad House is known for its mouth watering Biryani and that’s all the more reason why I was surprised when Bowl O’ China served such crappy food. I have been to Bowl O’China when they had first opened in Kharkhana. The food wasn’t that great on that day too, but I didn’t bother too much about it cause it was their first week and I gave them the benefit of doubt, thinking that they will be fine once they settle down. I guess I was wrong.

My sudden craving for Chinese food was the reason behind my decision to go to Bowl O’ China. I persuaded my boyfriend and he readily agreed cause that was the closest Chinese restaurant to Sainikpuri and therefore by going there we would be avoiding the horrendous city traffic. But little did we know that by avoiding traffic, we were compromising on a good meal. We got there and placed our order. We ordered for a Veg Manchurian (Rs 55) for starters, Veg Hakka Noodles (Rs 65) and Gobi Manchurian Gravy (Rs 60). We were really hungry and the thought of eating good Chinese food increased our anticipation even more.

We waited and waited and waited… and waited My appetite was now half of what it was when I initially got there. While we were waiting, I was observing the ambience of the place. The restaurant has used dark red and black (both my favorite colors) for the walls and the furniture. The highlights of the place are the lamps that they have hung from the ceiling. I would love to get couple of them for my own house. It is a very small restaurant with a seating capacity for 40 people or so.

While I was analyzing the ambiance my guy reminded them about our order for the second time. Finally they decided to be nice to us and brought the food. My appetite had vanished by the time they laid the plate. Then came the biggest disappointment. The Veg Manchurian turned out to be over cooked. It looked like they had already made the Manchurian and fried it again just before bringing it to our table. We somehow managed to eat it. Then we were served the Veg Hakka Noodles, and the Gobi Manchurian Gravy along with it. The noodles was nice so I was under the impression that the Gobi Manchurian will also be nice, but I was wrong once again. It was really hard and ‘kaccha’ you know what I mean right. It was like I was eating raw cauliflower soaked in some weird soya sauce gravy. That was the heights; we called the Manager and told him that this was not what we expected. He apologized and had the order changed to Veg Manchurian Gravy.

The Veg Manchurian Gravy arrived after we had finished eating more than half of the Hakka Noodles. It was the same starter we had had at the beginning of the meal, put in the same weird soya sauce of the previous gravy. We dint eat it. Why should we? Don’t we deserve value for our money? This was the first time in our lives that we had wasted so much food, and didn’t feel bad about it.

Bowl O’ China is all show and no quality. It is a sad attempt by Hyderabad House to satiate the needs of the Chinese food lovers. I think they need to improve or shut down and just stick to making what they do best, Biryani. The only thing that I liked about Bowl O’ China was the decor and the lamps.

For those who are still interested in checking it out, here is the address

Bowl O’ China, Plot No. 28, New Vasavi Nagar, Karkhana, Secunderabad.

Sigma Mall – The Highlight of Cunningham Road

Situated right in the middle of Cunningham Road, the wavy structure of Sigma Mall does get its vote as one of the hangout hotspots in Bangalore. This is a follow-up to my write up on Cunningham Road that I had posted earlier. Anyway, I decided to write about Sigma Mall separately, because there is much that can be said about it, that you should know as you dig for new and exciting hangouts.

Initially when I saw it from outside, it did look like any other mall. The McDonald’s (which needs no introduction – as the most popular place for Burgers and Fries) occupies a chunk of the front portion. Being a weekend, I went in prepared to face the crowd thronging the place, as is the case with any of the more popular in Bangalore such as Garuda Mall and Forum. But to my surprise, it was quite empty and the perfect atmosphere for relaxing on a Saturday afternoon while doing some shopping or sipping some coffee.

Its pretty big on the inside with 4 levels, and with one look I was sure that it had almost what every other mall has, probably on a slightly smaller scale. But it’s the kind of place that works for me. I decided to take a walk around the place and found shops where people of all ages and various interests can kill time.

At the Ground Level, as soon as you enter, Bread Bazaar on your left treats you to a number of bakery stuff to munch on. Go further in and you’ve got a nice setup by Cafe Coffee Day. Its not enclosed, giving you the feeling of being a part of the happenings at the Mall. But if you are looking for some privacy, check out the Food Court at Level 3. You’ve got Louis Philippe, Reebok, Nike, Levi’s, Pepe, Provogue, etc. to check out the latest trends in apparels. You can also find other outlets of Swarovski, Oyzterbay, Blue Sky (great collection of cooling glasses – slightly expensive range) and Solitaire (check out this place for its diamonds). There are also some shops exclusively for women.

Level 1 is fully occupied by a Pantaloons showroom having a great range of clothes.

At Level 2, for people into photography, there is an exclusive showroom called G.K. Vale which I believe has pretty much everything you’ll ever look for. Next to that is a Chinese Restaurant called Nan King, which I wasn’t able to check out on the inside, but it looked decent from the outside, but I cannot vouch for the food that you get there. If any of you have tried it, please enlighten us with your experience. There is electronics gadgets store called t-base that sells laptops, computers and various other tech accessories.

Level 3 is where you can hog at the Food Court, which has outlets of a number of restaurants. I liked the ambiance of the place, probably because of the relaxing lighting. That coupled with a variety of food to choose from makes the perfect solution for a quick date. You’ve also got Food Bazaar (a supermarket) to buy out your needs without needing to go elsewhere.

And finally, Fun Cinemas is coming up. I’m not sure as to how many screens they are going to put up, but I’m sure Sigma Mall is well on its way to becoming a regular hangout to many. So if you happen to be in Bangalore, don’t miss out on this great place which houses literally everything under one roof.

Fifth Avenue Bakery aka FABS

Fifth Avenue Bakery or FABS as it is famously called is located in Sainikpuri, Secunderabad. Eventhough prices are steeper than other bakeries, this place is always crowded because it serves two purposes, that of an eatout as well as a hangout. It is most frequented by the students of Bhavan’s College who sit there for hours together yapping nineteen to a dozen

FABS is well known for its burgers, pizzas, rolls, pastries, chaat items etc but the chocolate eclair tops it all. Priced at Rs. 15 it is such a delight! The eclairs are prepared at around 4.30 in the evening and is a great hit among all. In fact it is such a great hit that you will be lucky to get a chocolate eclair at 6.00 in the evening! The eclair has a whole lot of cream inside and therefore is much softer when compared to eclairs made at other bakeries.

FABS offers various combos for burgers and pizzas which come with a variety of pastries and soft drinks. The burger combos are priced under Rs.50 and pizza combos around Rs. 75. While at first look one may feel that they are slightly over priced, one must also understand that most people order something and sit there for hours together

Another thing that I like about FABS is the cleanliness. Considering the high footfalls, they still manage to keep the place clean. Also, the person manning the counter, an elderly gentleman has a pleasant and cheerful smile on his face all the time which makes your experience even more better

Fifth Avenue Bakery also provides free home delivery (radius of 2 km i think) if your order is above Rs. 50. All those who wish to have their orders delivered can call +91 40 65270289 and your order will be delivered in half an hour or so.

So go ahead, check it out, don’t forget to eat the chocolate eclair, and let me know what you feel!