AARAMBAM SWEET HOUSE
Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Ambal Nagar, Ekkatuthangal, Chennai, Tamilnadu
When our Co-admin and good friend Guddu Paaji informed me about a common friend of ours starting a chain of sweet shops "I was sweetly surprised". We both met him at his office to understand the dynamics of the business. I was always curious of how this industry survives and more importantly how they handle wastage/expiry etc. After almost 3 long hours discussion about various relevant topics the drooling and temptation peaked to visit the outlet at once. On my way back homes stopped by at the shop. A catchy logo and a bright lit interior with white and blue decor was nice and inviting. The counters were clean and the bright lighting making everything catch the eye.
As soon as you enter, to your right you find a warmer in which you find samosa, kachori and cutlet kept warm. Since it was evening snack time my eyes feel on Kachori which is unusual for a South-indian sweet shop. The outer shell was crisp, the dal masala inside tasted decent and was served with a mint and sweet chutney in zip lock pouches (impressive). An addition of a mini freezer would help the mint chutney stand the test of time.was my suggestion
Next-up was to check out were the counters glittering with gold, yellow, white and brown delectables. The setup looks spic-n-span. They trays, the glasswalls, the flooring was clean
Sweets: Chandra kala, Surya kala, Kaala jamoon, Dry jamoon, Kaju katli, Milk burfi, laddoo, Motichur laddoo, Jangri big, Jangri small, Badam halwa, and more
Picked up one each of the varieties to try and then go back for more if I like them. Unboxed them at home patiently and tried each one of them to register them for quality, taste and authenticity
They quality was good with no oil smell and only of ghee
Taste was fresh and yummy and was tad dry to bite - kaju katli and jangri the sugar had crystallized
Authenticity: Many hits and a few misses is all I can say and definitely room for improvement to unlearn a taste and relearn e.g., chandra/surya kala - my standard in chennai is definitely agarwal bhavan
Then savory section was the next to explore
Ompodi, Corn mixture, hot mixture, madras mixture, navratan mixture, and kara boondi.
Perfect accompaniments with all types of sadams sambar, rasam and thayir and also for evening snack. happily finished them all in successive days.
Then there was this bakery section which a variety of cookies and cookies only. Told them to pack 2 each of 5 variants. They were mostly millet based, so crispy and melt in the mouth tasty.The sweet in the cookies was just right and yummy in the tummy. Will definitely try them again
Have to make a mention about a few improvisations that they have made to their outlets - POS billing with integrated weighing machine so you only pay for what you buy exactly not more not less. When you want to give your customers good quality at a reasonable price such attempts are welcome.
Verdict: Good quality at an affordable price. I was told only 4-5 day shelf life incl. refrigeration but they survived more than a week without issues. Savories were yumm. The quality good, price affordable and I know they are sweets but less sweeter and softer juicier please
Book your order for this diwali and have a blast from the start... "kondattam arambam aagattum"
aarambam/beginning to great things to come...
