Sunday evening I was given the arduous task of taking my little cousin out for dinner. Now, this guy is all of 12 years old, is an american citizen and is quite fussy about what he eats. He refuses to eat the dosa’s and idli’s at Sangeethas and the Saravana Bhavans of the world. Even before we left our home, he was very clear that he wants Tandoori stuff and Paneer (cottage cheese) for dinner.

From Dhabha Express to Dhaba to Tandoor I had run out of options. We started driving having no clue as to where we were heading. After much deliberation I reached the Gyan Vaishnav Dhaba on Mount Road, only to find it absolutely packed. I had heard about Lotus Pond from one of my friends, so I went straight there just hoping that we would find a place. And yes we did. The place in the basement of Kakani Towers on Nungambakkam High Road. This was where Cascade used to be.

The menu was exhaustive, but the vegetarian options were much lesser. We started off with the Tomato & Pudina shorba and the Dahi (curd) Kebab. The shorba was served piping hot, tasted more like rasam, but still good. Considering the fact that a lot of other places give you the cream of tomato soup when you ask for a shorba this was much much better.

The Dahi Kebab was the out of the world. They look like those aloo-tikki’s, absolutely soft yet crisp outside, with the goodness of curd and had a mild flavour too. I don’t think any one else in the city makes this and I bet even if they did it wouldn’t be as good. There are also mini fried papads, which are on the house. And you have the Kebab Dip, Mint Chutney, Ginger Chutney and Chat Masala as accompaniments. Sprinkle some chat masala on the papad and add some mint chutney. Mmm….

For the Main Course we had the Panneer (Cheese) Chutneywala, Mutka Aloo (Potato) Curry and butter nans. The Panner Chutneywala was a tangy green gravy, with pudina (mint) chutney sandwiched between 2 layers of paneer. The paneer was really fresh. I loved it. The Mutka curry was actually baby potatoes, really well-cooked in medium spiced gravy. Haven’t had something so simple and yet this good in a long time. The nan’s were absolutely fine, nothing to complain about. My little cousin thoroughly enjoyed the food, he didn’t quite like the Paneer. The portions were quite good indeed. We skipped the dessert though.

The ambience was pretty neat, the service, with a smile and prices slightly steep but I wouldn’t mind paying that little extra. I would give this place 7/10 for the ambience, 8/10 for the service and 8/10 for the quality of food. Incase you haven’t been there, do check it out.

And don’t miss the Dahi Kebab.