Prems Grama Bhojanam - Adyar

Prems - Grama Bhojanam

19/90, Sardar Patel Road,Kasturibai Nagar, Adyar, Beside GRT, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600020

Ambiance: Is tucked away inside a compound adjacent to GRT jewllers. A flight of stairs to climb and you see a big hoarding with pics of the things you could order. Once you walk in, you get the feeling of being inside a "kudil" hut esp. with the wall colors and decoratives. That elusive "kolam/rangoli" on the walls leaves and some folk melody playing (flute) not there leaves me dissatisfied even after my 4th visit here. There is a sample of all the millets used in small boxes at the billing counter. Everything looks simple and neat and is well maintained over the year of its existence by the whole family of NSK Sir.

 

There is no parking unless you are on a two-wheeler. Find parking in the by-lanes or on the main road if available.

Water needs a special mention as it tastes exactly like the temple "theertham". So you get that divine feel and the ingredients (beetle leaf, edible camphor, tulsi, cardamom) helps you in many ways including digestion.

Food: The concept of health food scares the hell out of people and we have still not gotten used to these as they are long forgotten even in the villages these days. But millets are rich in fibre, minerals, micro nutrients and less on the GI than our traditional cereals of rice and wheat (ideal for diabetics and health conscious). To bring back those hidden treasures and run it as a resto in a prime location successfully is no mean feat. People are slowly realizing its value and patronizing it and make it a regular part of their diet is a welcome sign. If the place is relatively free and if you spot NSK sir around, he will be more than happy to fill-in a lot of details
PS: These millets need very less water compared to regular cereals to grow and many governments esp. telengana is providing a lot of benefits to farmers to grow the same

Millet Rasam sadam - Sampler, but tasted very good, so much so that I had to point out to my wife how rasam is to be made. I keep teasing her rasam to be "hot water" all the time.

Tumkur Thatte idli 50/- : Soft melt-in-the-mouth idli (1/2 in the pic) is the signature dish at this resto. We Chennai-ites traditionally go for idli first, then the other items like (dosa, poori, pongal etc). So the trend is pretty much the same here 

 Oothampam : The three taste oothappams were yumm with the tomato-kollu (horse gram) chutney, the peanut chutney and delish sambhar. There was also spicy aromatic channa for the rotis in the four-dish container
Kuzhi paniyaram (hot): 5 pieces per plate and we got two complimentary as he realized we couldn't finish another plate. 






 





Davanegere benne dosa: and the highlight was the Davanegere benne dosa. He specially topped it with a dollop of butter to make it yummilicious
Red rice dosa: Next up the Dosa made with red rice and absolutely no oil, wafer thin and crisp melted in the mouth in no time along with the chutneys and sambar

 

Service: Was prompt, responsive and friendly. The epitome of  service, NSK himself was at the table suggesting things to have and carefully deciding the portions so we can eat the max items and not feel stuffed.  So more of 1 by 2 of everything helped us go through many items on the menu

Dessert: A complimentary asoka halwa was mild in sweetness that comes from the use of country palm sugar and the ghee just right satiated the sweet-toothed me

The total bill was 622/- and everyone was filled to the brim. Happy tummies and we bi-adieu to the village inside the city

If NSKrshnan was for comedy.... NSKrishnamurthy is for food (village food, healthy food, homely food, millet food). If you know him too well, you will also see the comic side of him 

Hail the wellage caterers catering the village concept food from around South India!

Mana Andhra - Khadar Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam

Mana Andhra

24, 18, Khader Nawaz Khan Rd, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034

044 4210 6860

The day I saw this on CFG (Chennai food guide), I had decided to make a visit to find out if they can  satiate my craving for  "mana" andhrula bhojanam. On Monday. a quick bike ride from Ambattur to Nungambakkam in 30 mins at around 2 pm to join my foodie friends Gudduji and Nikhil of CCfame.

This resto has replaced the once popular Kryptos. Located on KNK road, you have to climb down a small flight of stairs to the basement to enter the resto.

Ambiance: First looks give an impression of a classy supermarket or some organic super store with racks lined up with jars of spices,  savories, condiments, pickles, dal powders et al. I loved their creativity but the concept doesn't gel with the traditional andhra resto IMHO

 

Service: It was rather slow since the newbie staffs had to keep asking their seniors about what next. Stewards were fending questions but unable to give us satisfying answers about the taste, quantity, food etc. My fellow foodies had already had a tete-a-tete with the Chef Durga prasad briefly too before my arrival

Food: We only had a choice of either biryani or thali for lunch. Most of the menu items are available only during dinner. Plus we could order from the menu of any of the starters and curries

Fish fry 190/-: Two small masala coated pieces of fresh water fish deep fried was tasty but the portion size was too less

Kamuju pitta  vepudu (quail/kaadai) 225/-: This was fried nice and crispy and tasted good but the size again of was of a little chick than a full grown bird. the reason given was they only get such a size in market.

Mutton fry 190/-: This was definitely not andhra style. It is usually pressure cooked with tomatoes onions, whole spices and masalas. Then the cooked meat is tawa roasted in oil to get it to a thick consistency

Ratham: Usually, there is this standard tray display of non-veg items in most of the chettinadu hotels. Here they have taken it to the next level with some innovative thinking of  using the dim-sum cooker to keep the curries warm and moist (electric powered). This is taken around for the customers to choose their curries.

Raju gari bhojanam  375/-: The rotu pachadi was probably old as I could see it browning on the sides and looked dry. I would have liked some vadiyalu (rice fritters) instead of the ubiquitous appalam since its andhra bhojanam. Payasam had no trace of a cashew or raisin and was pretty ordinary. Even the pootha reku was only served as a small block cut from a whole piece. A scoop of vanila ice cream with chocolate sauce was the dessert and a killi (beeda) to finish the course.  The portions, the taste leave us with a lot to be desired and Rajugaru would have definitely left wailing

This has replaced the once popular Kryptos. Located on KNK road, you have to walk down a flight of stairs to the basement

Kachi ghost ki biryani 365/-: There are two type of hyderabadi biryani availabel Kachi and pakki. I already got a negative feedback from a friend about it but still wanted to try it first hand. Seriously, if this is hyderabadi biryani.. I wonder what they eat in hyderabad is called. Even the mirchi-ka-salan was touch n go (mine had a chicken chunk sized ginger in it) I have never tasted such a bland, yellowish rice that is served as biryani. The bony mutton pieces hardly had any meat on it and only 3 pieces in the bowl with less than half an boiled egg. After the first serving, i requested for them to get me some masala to make it better, but what they got me back again was still no better. I had to innovate and mix some pappu podi to eat it like podi rice. I don't waste food and therefore took the remaining biryani as parcel to give away.

Suggestions: Please make the thali interesting as you serve only 2 things in the afternoon.

Ulava charu with freshcream instead of vatha kozhzambu, mudhapappu dhappalam instead of sambar, pachi pulusu instead of rasam, bendakai, dhondakai pakodi instead of beetroot poriyal,  vadiyalu (gummadi, regular) instead of papad. Guthi vankaya, mirchi bajji etc... change the source of pootharekulu.. get a thin one with just ghee and sugar powder (it tastes best that way)

Iguru can definitely be added to the menu as it would make the Chennai people's mouth water if prepared right. The staff could also mention the customers to mix the vepudus to rice and eat first as we do in Andhra (chennaiites dont mix poriyals in rice rather eat it as sides (thottukka) with rasam/sambar/thayir sadam)

Verdict: The price point, service, the taste, quality and quantity all are a big miss here. They need to re-look into the menu and set it right before its too late.  Having paid a heavy price I went home half hungry and would like to forget the experience soon enough

I would definitely want to try their other dishes esp their guddu pulusu (my fav) and other few dishes to see if they can make me happy... but may be after a few months

The expression says it all!

Mana andhra: there was no mana as it was their/chef's perception of Andhra which I am not familiar with