Chennai Metblogs » che_vinod

Senthil Juice Centre

che_vinod — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:57:27 +0000

Well, there is the Fruit Shop @ Greams Road, and the corner stores and Saravana Bhavans to gulp down a glass of fresh juice. But where will one head if he wants to have Chocolate Milk. Read not milkshake but simple pure Chocolate milk, a cold glass of which costs under Rs. 10. Look no further, head straight to Senthil, on Kutchery Road, Mylapore, opposite the E1 Mylapore police station. The place is a small one, no frills to it, serves all kinds of fresh juices, but their Rose Milk and Chocolate Milk are specialities. The Chocolate Milk is always served just at the right temperature, the perfect mix of milk and chocolate, not very sweet but just right and the quantity good. I have searched all through Chennai, though a couple of places claim to serve Chocolate Milk no one comes close to Senthil. The shop is normally open from 9am in the morning throught till 10pm in the night. Do drop in sometime and check it out. I am sure will be a welcome change from the orange juices, colas and the likes.

Hotel Sapthagiri - Value for money

che_vinod — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:34:47 +0000

For those of you who want an instant association to hotel Spathagiri here it goes - these people own the Brilliant Tutorials Kai Yendhi Bhavan. Rather ironical that the road-side eatery of theirs is more popular than the parent. I happened to visit this hotel which is off Masilamani Street in T Nagar, just about 100 meters from the Kai Yendhi Bhavan. And I must say it is true value for money. The hotel is a simple no-nonsense hotel spread over 2 floors - ground and first floor. Plastic chairs are what is seen and the walls are anywhere between half clean and dirty. They serve ala carte in the ground floor (namma ooru tiffin) and meals in the first floor. Since I went at about 1pm I decided to have the meals. I picked up a token, all of Rs. 21 and walked up through the narrow 1970’s staircase.

It is like a huge hall upstairs which can seat 30 -40 people comfortably. One guy, looked like a supervisor came up to me and asked for my token. I handed it over to him and within seconds a huge banana leaf was laid on the table. Another guy came, was served mint chutney, french beans and peas curry and spinach kootu. The Chutney was nice and spiced mildly, the beans grated with coconut was perfect and the spinach piping hot. Then came the rice, at Rs. 21 it was a plate full. I started off with Paruppu Podi (Dhal Powder) and ghee which was brilliant. The podi was very andhra, spicy. They had sambar, rasam, morkuzhambu (kadi) and kara kuzhambu. Plus butter milk and curd. The kara kuzhambu in particular was quite nice. No complaints about any of the others too. All I can say is at Rs. 21, this is truly more than what you expect. Check it out and you are sure to check in again.

Prestige Forum Mall in Chennai

che_vinod — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:10:06 +0000

Bangalore’s most happening mall Forum is all set to enter Chennai. The construction for the same has already started and looks like it will take another 18 months to complete. But what scares me the most is the location of the mall. It is located on Arcot Road, Vadapalani right next to Green Park Hotel. As it is, it is a nightmare to drive on that road even today. Is the government taking any notice at all, while sanctioning approval for the malls. Thanks to City Centre RK Salai is now a mess. Forum on Arcot Road will only add fuel to fire. I hope the mall at least has enough parking as I do not know how much the Government can do considering the congestion in the area.

Haldirams coming to Madras!

che_vinod — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:37:40 +0000

For those of who who have been longing for Haldirams in the city the wait is almost over. They are opening in a couple of weeks. Somewhere near McRenett on RK Salai. From what I have been given to understand it is going to be over 3 floors, with one floor exclusively for sweets and savouries, one for chat and the third one for lunch and dinner. If I am right they are opening under the name of Rajeshwar or Rameshwar. Watch this space for more updates on this.

Brilliant Tutorials - Kai Yendhi Bhavan

che_vinod — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:58:42 +0000

While they have been offbeat mentions about the above in some posts, I certainly thought that this Kai Yendhi Bhavan deserves a post by itself. To me, it is the mother of all Kai Yendhi Bhavans in the city. For those who don’t know what I am talking about, I am here referring to a road-side eatery in Masilamani Street, off the crowded Pondy Bazaar. I don’t think they have a name to it. We call it Brilliant Tutorials Kai Yendhi Bhavan as it is right in front of Brilliant Tutorials - an educational training centre extremely popular for its IIT preparation courses.

The Kai Yendhi Bhavan is nowadays practically open through the day. I will restrict this post to the what is being served and must be relished from 4pm as I really haven’t been to the place in the mornings. The best thing about the place is, it is good food, very tasty, very quick and will not burn a hole in your pocket. The minuses of course, it is a road side eatery, cleanliness might not score a 100% really and it is a high traffic area, so lots of dust around. Now, to the best part, what do these guys have and what to eat?

The best in his menu is undoubtedly the Nei Podi Dosai. Better known as Ghee Gun Powder Dosa to people outside India. It is crispy. Yet soft. It spicy. Yet a little sweet. It has just the right amount of ghee with an aroma that will take you to a different world. Served with Chutney and Sambar on a 6 inch plastic plate covered with a banana leaf. I must tell you please request for the Getti Chutney (thick one) and not the regular one and you will enjoy the dosa much better. Move over to Madras’s own parota (not paratha). Crispy and layered, this is served with a piping hot kurma. The korma is normally a pot pourri of vegetables and mildly spiced. You could also opt for the Idiappam (String Hoppers to some) with kurma and this is a good combination indeed. I was there yesterday evening around 10pm and man I hadn’t seen such crowds there in a long long while. The last thing you guys want to do is wait for your food at a road side shop. So, here is a suggestion. Ask for the Idly or Parota first, they are normally readily available and simultaneously order for the Nei Podi which takes about 5-10 minutes. You’ve 2 options, go to the cart or opt for the drive-in. These guys have employed about 6-7 people who will come and take your order and serve you right in your car. The guy is expanding rapidly and has even set up a Chinese counter serving veg. fried rice and noodles but I advice rather stay away from it. Don’t drink the water there, pick up a bottle of Aquafina which is sold right in front of the shop. If you guys are looking for simple, no-nonsense food which at the same time is good then this is where you need to head. He is normally open till about 11.30pm. A good hearty dinner for two should at best make you poorer by Rs. 75. That’s the outer limit. Reassuringly inexpensive.

What’s with the rains?

che_vinod — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:20:43 +0000

It actually seems pretty strange. It hardly rains during this time of the year in the city of Madras. Rains in Madras is a function of the North East Monsoon and this normally sets in only post September. This is the time when it is supposed to rain in Bombay and barring a huge spell 2 weeks back, it has practically been dry in Bombay. But the South West Monsoon is gathering steam and parts of Ahmedabad is reeling under floods. Coming back to Madras, this weather change I am told is a function of the overall global climatic shift and the melting in the polar caps. The weather is almost always cloudy, with intermittent showers to heavy rains with thunder and lighting. And that is something that was not expected. The true colours of the roads which were laid during and after elections is coming to light. The RK Mutt road is in shambles, so are parts of Mylapore and so on. The Kathipara Grade Seperator is going to get delayed further and so is the IT Highway due to rains. I am sure it is raining grievances at the Ripon Buildings (Headquarters of Corporation of Madras).

The Sivaji Phenomenon

che_vinod — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:56:03 +0000

I think every one from Madras(I still prefer to call it that way) can feel proud of the movie Sivaji. Not because it has the Superstar as the hero. Not because it is directed by none other than Shankar, the man behind Gentleman, Indian, Jeans etc. Not because it has the Mozart of Madras aka AR Rahman wielding the music. Not because it is produced by one of India’s oldest production houses viz. AVM. I think this movie has put Madras, and the tamil movie industry not just on the Indian map, but the world map. For the last 10 days, the only programmes I see on NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and the likes is Sivaji; the movie, the excitement and the popularity across the world starting from Chennai. Reuters had it on their news scroll. BBC on their international feed. iTunes had the Sivaji ring tone on it is home page, a first. Tickets in Europe are being sold at 20 Euros plus, and people the world over are googling Rajnikanth, Chennai, Kollywood to know what Sivaji is all about. In Madras the movie has opened in a record 16 screens with initial 10 day collections of close to Rs. 17 million. 20 shows a day in Mayajaal (a city based Multiplex) alone, and an estimated 65 shows a day. I haven’t seen such frenzy for any movie in recent times. And the movie is already a runaway hit, expecting to cross 1000 days in Madras. It can’t get better for the industry as a whole.

Give Madras back to us!!!

che_vinod — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:55:36 +0000

We don’t want any of those integrated townships. We don’t need no DLF. Nor a Mantri. Nor a Hiranandani. One thing that all these new age builders coming into the city has done is made this beautiful city of Madras completely unlivable. Land prices have shot up the roof. Rs. 4500 per sq. ft. in Siruseri. Rs. 10,000 per sq. ft in T Nagar. Come of it. This is Madras and the beauty of the city lied in its quaint colonies and the mada streets. Where are those now. Today when I drive past CIT colony in Mylapore it is difficult to see a single independent house. Only apartments. It is really sad. Look at SS Vasan’s House on Radhakrishnan Salai. It is a piece of disaster today. An ugly looking building which calls itself Acropolis. To people living in the city like me since birth we are quite happy to be wear the conservative hat. Of being a city with enduring values and new age thinking. Of being a city with a higher state of mind. I clearly see Madras going the Bangalore route and it is time to wake up.

Sangeetha @ City Centre - a let down

che_vinod — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:58:29 +0000

It was last Thursday. Must be about 9.30 in the evening. Me and a friend decided to head to a movie at the INOX at City Centre. We managed tickets for Unnale Unnale and decided to have a quick bite as the movie was only at 10.15pm. I didn’t want to go the food court so suggested to my friend that we go to Sangeetha. We stepped in to the restaurant. It was half empty. The air conditioning was fairly good. The decor halfway decent and a couple of tables were left uncleaned. We were just two of us, and we managed to find a table ourselves and sat down. We waited, waited and waited. Must have been at least 10 minutes or even more and no one came to attend to us. There were loads of staff running here and there and 2-3 managers but they were busy doing something else and had an ‘I don’t care about you attitude’. I can understand if the restaurant was full but in this case there was no excuse. We just walked out and even at that time no one actually bothered to come to us and ask why we were leaving. I don’t think I will ever go to a Sangeetha again. As they say, it takes a helluva lot of hard work if you want to match up to Saravana Bhavan. Not just a posh locality and good decor. We ended up eating at Little Italy in the Food Court.

Moving Goalposts

che_vinod — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:41:19 +0000

Moving goalposts. That’s right. That seems to be the mantra of the government departments involved in either the IT expressway or the kathipara flyover or the pallavaram/chrompet flyover or even the mrts expansion facility. The first time I passed through the kathipara junction there was this yellow board, which outlined the project costs, the name of the construction company, the proposed method of construction, start date and date of completion. The board still exists though, but just that the date of completion seems to have shifted. On one hand, I am at least happy to see significant progress on the other it is disheartening to see the gross violation of deadlines. The more the time taken directly results in increased costs and by the time the said project is open for public use it is just not able to handle the capacity. Demand forecasting is something that is totally absent. The city is at the threshold of a major expansion and unless we wake up now and spruce up infrastructure we are in for another Bangalore in the making. Why not learn a thing or two on project management from the Delhi Metro and its team which is completing its projects ahead of schedule.