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Culinary Yatras, Chennai (2026)

13/03/2026

The Navalur Haleem Eat-Off – 2026 Edition

For many years now, I have run an annual Haleem Eat-Off — sampling haleem from different outlets around Navalur to see who gets it right that year. In the early days, this used to be a proper field expedition. A few colleagues and I would drive around to different places and taste them fresh at the restaurants. But over the last five or six years, practicality has taken over. The Eat-Off is now mostly conducted through food delivery.

This year, the experiment lasted just two sessions, and given the caloric consequences of haleem consumption.

Last week’s tasting involved two contestants:
* Barbeque Nation
* ITC Master Chef
I always include the ITC Master Chef haleem in the lineup. The reason is simple: I know it will be mild. With my very limited tolerance for chilli heat, I need at least one bowl that I can reliably eat without distress.

Barbeque Nation was actually better than my expectations. Nothing extraordinary, but certainly not disappointing either. A no fuss option for haleem cravings
The ITC haleem, however, seemed a little different this year. It has always been very mild and heavy on ghee, with a thin, porridge-like consistency. But, one change this year is clearly for the better: the saffron is no longer overpowering. Best in mind, though, that the dish is not only mild in chilli heat, but also mild in flavour overall. Even visually, it shows up in the very pale colour of the haleem.

Today’s second round featured three contestants:
* ’s
* Master Chef
*
For me, Paradise represents Hyderabadi food cooked in Andhra-style. With my minimal tolerance for spice, I have never liked anything that they make (even in their Hyderabad original outlet). But I thought Vishnu may tolerate it so why not have it as the third option.

The Paradise haleem was not as fiery as I expected. However, it leaned heavily on garam masala, to the point where the taste of the meat was just a background note. It tastes like a very 'masaledar' curry with a haleem texture.

The absolute surprise of the day — and the clear winner of this year’s Eat-Off — was Abid’s Haleem. It was simply the best haleem I have tasted in a while.
Perfect balance of meatiness and spices, something that works for me - intense flavours without excessive heat. And yes, proper haleem texture with very good packaging.

I had honestly never heard of Abid’s before ordering. A quick check suggested it is a Hyderabadi / Middle Eastern food joint, apparently with an original outlet in Chetpet (though I’m not completely sure about that). Once I saw hints that it specialised in Hyderabadi cuisine, I decided it was worth trying their haleem.
And thankfully I did.

Final Result – Navalur Haleem Eat-Off 2026
🥇 Winner: ’s

[With one caveat: the legendary Pista House Haleem is not available to us via delivery this year — unless I order the packaged version directly from Hyderabad.]

22/02/2026

Like everything in Vegas, this is also super size stuff. More than 200 varieties of nigiris, rolls, and grills - they won't win 'best in class' prices but giving carpaccios and nigiri sushi for $50 (Rs. 4500) is still cheap. I cannot think of any place in India where you can eat unlimited quantities of this quality.

I could barely walk and was above the calorie count for the day, even though I planned this as my linner (lunch+dinner).

Some of the stuff that I tried:

1. Carpaccio
Must Have: Yellowtail Carpaccio (Yuzu Yellowtail) - High value, refreshing, and clean.
Must Have: Salmon Carpaccio (w/ Mango Salsa) - The sweetness of the mango pairs perfectly with the salmon.
Must Have: Cajun Albacore Carpaccio - For a smoky, seared flavor.

2. Nigiri
Must Have: Uni (Sea Urchin) — Limit 1 per person. It is the most expensive item on Menu B. Order it immediately.
Must Have: Amaebi (Sweet Shrimp) — Order the nigiri, then ask them to deep-fry the heads (a secret "Hot" appetizer).
Must Have: Ikura (Salmon Roe) — Premium salty "pop" that isn't on Menu A.
Good: Yuzu Yellowtail and Lemon Salmon - These are much more flavorful than the standard versions.

The grills and the rolls seemed out of place, and were filling for me, and not the best use of an AYCE meal:

3. Robata (The Grill)
Good (Pork): Original Pork (usually Pork Toro/Jowl) — This is the fattiest, best cut of pork.
Good (Pork): Kurobuta Sausage - Japanese pork sausage with a great snap.
Must Have (Seafood): Salmon K**a (Salmon Collar) — Rich, fatty, and tender. It takes time to grill, so order early.
Good (Chicken): Black Garlic Sesame Chicken — The black garlic adds a different flavour

4. From the Kitchen:
Good: Chicken Karaage — Japanese fried chicken.
Good: Softshell Crab — Crispy and savory.

5. Rolls - Typical American fusion rolls
Good: 888 J Special — (Softshell crab, spicy tuna, salmon).
Good: Popcorn Lobster — Topped with tempura crawfish. It’s the ultimate "guilty pleasure" seafood roll, though I was too full for this unhealthy delight

11/02/2026

NY RESTAURANT WEEK
(A Michelin Star Meal)

I decided to take advantage of New York Restaurant Week to finally step into , a Michelin-starred brasserie with Italian influence. The offer was a three-course dinner for $60—a steal by New York fine-dining standards, even if the math tells a different story back home. By the time I added a selection from the happy hour menu, tax, and a standard tip, the bill landed at $90. At roughly 8,100 rupees, it is certainly more than I’ve ever paid for a single meal in India, but for a seat at a Michelin star restaurant in NY, it’s about as accessible as it gets.

I started with an order of littleneck clams from the happy hour menu (in addition to the Prix fix restaurant week menu), served with a horseradish-parsley juice. Nothing could be tasted other than the horseradish - It was the kind of heat that forces a physical head-shake, leaving me unable to taste much else for a few minutes.

The meal moved into the formal menu with the fried artichokes. They were fried with the delicacy of a tempura paired with a Meyer lemon dip topped with smoked trout roe. This tasted much better than the description suggested. If not for the server's recommendation, I would have chosen the duck consumme (who eats artichokes?!)

For the main, I had the rigatoni with "hot" Italian duck sausage. The pasta was technically flawless and the duck sausage was deeply flavorful. Rather than being drowned in sauce as in common in the US and in India, the rigatoni was expertly coated, with just a couple of spoonfuls left at the bottom of the bowl to scoop up at the end.

The end was disappointing, though. Between the chocolate and the carrot cake, the waitress suggested the latter. It arrived with a mandarin gelee and yuzu ice cream, but the citrus flavour of mandarin and yuzu were so loud and dominant that the carrot cake itself was barely noticeable.

Some things that stood out was how well staffed the restaurant was (almost a server per table) and how well informed the servers were. I didn't not talk much with the server but those next to me at the bar were chatting, and I just wished that the servers in Avantara (the best we have in Chennai) were half as informed about each ingredient and technique, and wine pairings as she was.

(Check this out to see what it takes to serve meals to these standards
https://youtu.be/LQdfE66rAwc?si=gbYH7WK753c_Nt-K )

28/01/2026

THE LOW CEILING FOR JAPANESE FOOD IN INDIA

Located in Bandra West, Izumi is widely regarded as one of Mumbai’s most serious Japanese restaurants, known for its focus on ingredient integrity rather than fusion nautanki. Aamir Khan, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, etc supposedly visit, but since Sachin Tendulkar also is a regular, I stopped my search (I was considering Mizu and Kuura ku as well).

First on pricing – we were two but ate at least for three, so consider this a 2.5K per person kind of place (without drinks). We also ordered more expensive stuff on the menu like chutoro nigiri.

The only disappointing part of the food was the shoyu ramen. Since my son had ordered the shio, I could taste that broth, which was fine. But shoyu was extremely salty – it almost felt like they made shio and then added soy sauce on top. Perfectly boiled egg with jammy yolk, nori, etc. The noodles are thinner than usual, but I had read about it in the review, so was expecting it (and maybe it is one of the varieties in Japan that I hadn't tasted earlier). Couple of months back, I had the same tonkatsu ramen at the NY outlet of , which claims to have invented the tonkatsu ramen. So, I did have a benchmark in mind. (On a side note, how do you de-shell a boiled egg when the only instrument you have are chopsticks, because Ichiran gives the egg in its shell. Mio do you know?

But the low ceiling of Japanese food isn't because of things that we get wrong, but because of how limited we are in things that we get right. If I consider the constraints that this restaurant would be operating in – weekly sourcing of tuna and other imported fish, probably – they don't do that badly. But their chutoro is of a level you would get in an ordinary Tokyo restaurant or a mid-level one in NY. Possible reason is that there would be 100 restaurants buying such stuff, and hence there would be daily supply from Tsukiji and other global fish markets to NY. So, accounting for constraints, 5/5; else, 4/5 which is the ceiling for a Japanese restaurant in India.

03/01/2026

COASTAL CURRIES - THE CANARA CHRONICLES

(Sampling the best of Mangalore, Udupi and Karwar)

If you travel along the East Coast—through Tamil Nadu, Andhra, or Odisha—the food culture doesn't change drastically when you move from the coastal towns to the interior districts. The transition is indistinguishable.

The West Coast is a different story. Here, the Western Ghats act like a massive wall, separating the coastline from the rest of the state. The moment you descend the Ghats, everything shifts. The food, language, architecture, and mythology of the coast (from Malabar to Canara to Konkan) are completely distinct from the Karnataka interiors just an hour away.

We just spent a week driving and eating from South Canara (Mangalore & Udupi) up to North Canara (Karwar).

Here is the honour list.

The Undisputed : , Mangalore
They are so good that they are the best even for dishes they aren't the flag bearers of. We had planned to eat the ghee roast at Shetty Lunch Home (the place credited with inventing it) later that night. We tried to decline the Prawn Ghee Roast here, but the waiter insisted we try it.
We are so glad we relented! It was rich with ghee, not so spicy, and perfectly roasted masalas. It ended up being much better than the "original" we had later.

Ale Piyao (Ginger-Onion fish Curry) at Machali was the best curry of the trip. We also had a variety of their fish fries:
Anjal Tawa Fry (King Fish / Seer Fish): The gold standard (in quality and price) of tawa fry slices
Disco Fish Masala Fry (Bull's Eye): A fleshy, tasty fish that is a local favorite.
Kane Rava Fry (Lady Fish): The local standard for the rava (semolina) fry.

: Fish Hotel
Maybe our expectations were so high, that we felt it did not live up to the hype. Quality of fish is great at Thimappa, service is good as well, but the quality of cooking is inconsistent. The first tawa fry had properly roasted masala, but when the crowd had become huge, and we had an additional tawa fry order, it felt that fish had barely spent any time on the tawa. Same dish, same meal, 15 mins apart!

I knew they expanded from a small home to a larger space, and now suddenly they have expanded to a space that will put wedding halls to shame. I am not sure that pace of expansion and that scale is manageable easily.

The : Lunch Home
We went here for dinner, excited for the history. Unfortunately, the experience didn't hold up. The room felt a bit like a dingy drinking den of yore, and the service was indifferent. When the large plate of Chicken Ghee Roast arrived, the sauce wasn't bad, but the chicken was sadly undercooked. Forget pulling it apart with a Neer Dosa; even biting through it was a struggle.

As we drove north toward Karwar, the language shifts to Konkani and the food changes character. I had to redo my fish, name in English, best suited fry type, level of bony-ness table with Google Gemini. The Anjal (King Fish) of Mangalore becomes Iswan or Viswon here. The sourcing also seems to change, with some new local varieties appearing on the menu.

The : Lunch Home, Karwar
This place served one of the most sumptuous fish thalis of the entire trip. We stuck to staples like Iswan (King Fish) fry, but we also tried some unique North Canara specialties:
Saundale Fry (Butterfish / False Trevally): A new discovery for us. The meat was soft and buttery, living up to its English name.
Teesrya Vada (Clams/Mussels Cutlet): A fantastic snacking dish with the perfect crunch.
Squid Butter Garlic: Served with Neer Dosa, this was excellent.

The Mixed Bag: Hotel , Karwar
This is a well-known spot in Karwar, but our experience was split.
For Seafood Lovers: It was good. The fish thali was tasty, the fish was incredibly fresh, and the Prawns Butter Garlic hit the spot.
For Vegetarians: A letdown as I had shared the veg options from the show Highway On My Plate (Rocky and Mayur), which highlighted unique Konkani vegetarian options here. Sadly, we didn't find those. They were served standard North Indian fare—the "Cashew Curry" was just cashews in a generic restaurant 'masala' gravy.

Surprise Pick: At Devbagh Beach Resort, we learned a great tip: fresh Bangda (Mackerel) should look plump. If it looks lean or bony, it’s likely frozen. Their Mackerel curry, by the way, was a surprising runner-up to the Ale Piyao at Machali.

Another pleasant surprise was the kori roti at The Mills in Manipal. Their rest of the food was ordinary, but kori roti was really good.

The Final Verdict: Other than times when resort food was the only option, we lived on fish thalis, and don't regret it a bit. It was tough to pack more in - so much so that highly recommended Giri Manja didn't find a place.

01/01/2026

KASTURI OF KOLKATA
When marketing rather than cooking takes over, legacy withers away

I have been a big fan of Kasturi in Kolkata. I am not an expert on east bengal food - I cannot even distinguish between East Bengal and West Bengal food. But, they served fabulous food. In the manner of the old military hotels of Tamil Nadu, there was no menu card - a waiter moved around with a tray full of bowls of different dishes that were available that day and you made your pick.

Some of the dishes they served were rare to find in Bengali food outlets that were designed as restaurant chains.

Suddenly, I saw they had many more outlets. Initially it felt great because even during a transit, I could get out of the airport, and take a cab to a nearby outlet and grab a meal. Kochupata chingri was always amazing, but some of my favourite dishes like and were missing. In some cases, the quality dropped. Then Kasturi started appearing a lot on my social media feeds. It was easy to figure out what was happening as this has happened with innumerable restaurants with great legacies. A new generation takes over, the focus shifts from heat and spice of the kitchen, to marketing and media. Many of them have earned foreign degrees, and are keen to 'add value'. In a few cases, a private equity investor joins in. That is the death knell. I have had the chance to see the business plan one such restaurant had to make as part of the private equity investment discussions - even if their cooks multiplied by mitosis, they wouldn't have managed good cooking in so many outlets (and I don't want a restaurant I visit, to be run like a McDonald's).

I know of at least a dozen such cases in India, and not even one has managed to keep the legacy intact (even though odd ones have become commercially successful).

As my exchange with Kasturi ownership team suggests, the change I could sense is a change by design. I still ordered their kochupata chingri through 'Just My Roots' and it was good. But, the best days are certainly behind it.

20/12/2025

During the on-off COVID lockdowns of 2020–21, we stayed at a resort in Pondicherry and received a complimentary bottle of wine. In a family of teetotallers, that bottle quietly migrated from cupboard to cupboard for nearly five years.

Eventually, we decided that if the wine had to be used, it should be used well—and as food, not drink. That led us, somewhat improbably, to Coq au Vin.

Today, with ingredients easily sourced on Blinkit and expectations firmly modest, we made our first amateur attempt.

Simple Coq au Vin (1 kg Chicken)

The Shopping List (Blinkit/BigBasket)
Chicken: 1 kg Curry Cut or Thighs (Skin-on is best, but with bacon it can become too much fat).
Bacon: 1 pack (150g–200g) Streaky Bacon (Prasuma/Meatigo), chopped small.
Veg: 1 pack Button Mushrooms (halved), ~15 Sambhar Onions (peeled & whole), 2 Carrots (diced).
Aromatics: 5 cloves Garlic (minced), 1 tsp Dried Thyme (or 4 fresh sprigs), 2 Bay leaves.
Liquids: 2 cups Dry Red Wine (Grover cabernet shiraz), 500ml Chicken Stock (2 Maggi cubes in hot water).
Thickener: Mix 2 tbsp Butter + 2 tbsp Maida into a paste.

The Steps
Crisp the Bacon: In a large heavy pot, fry bacon pieces until crispy. Remove bacon, but keep the fat in the pot.
Sear the Chicken: Salt and pepper the chicken. Fry in the hot bacon fat until brown on all sides (3-5 mins). Remove chicken.
Sauté Veggies: In the same fat, sauté carrots and whole onions for 5 mins. Add mushrooms for 2 mins. Add garlic and thyme for 1 min.
Deglaze & Simmer: Pour in 2 cups Red Wine. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom. Return chicken, bacon, and bay leaves to the pot. Add Chicken Stock until meat is mostly covered.
Cook: Cover with lid. Simmer on low heat for 30–40 mins until the chicken is tender.
Thicken: Stir in the Butter-Maida paste. Simmer for 2 more minutes until the sauce becomes glossy and thick.

Serve with: Mashed potatoes or crusty bread.

17/12/2025

KOLKATA HAS THE BEST BIRIYANI
The debate is over — the chela has beaten the guru.

Kolkata got its biryani culture from Awadh. In fact, some of the famous biryani outlets in Kolkata are still owned by Muslims from Awadh. This is the reason Kolkata and Lucknowi biryani share aspects that are unique to the duo: strained yakhni to make the biryani like a yakhni pulao, milk or milk solids in the yakhni, and the use of kewra to stress fragrance.

But does Lucknow have places that serve quality as good as Aminia, Arsalan, Shiraz, etc.?

To do a Kolkata biryani feast in Egattur in Chengalpattu district, we ordered double portions of Arsalan and Dada Boudi biryani through justmyroots.com. I had heard a lot about Dada Boudi, but I had never tried it before.
If you don't care about the environment, the packaging was great—multilayered and delivered at a very high cost through a cold chain. Things like potatoes and large pieces of meat don't take well to microwave heating, but it was a feast nonetheless.

We had also ordered Kasturi's kochupata chingri, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. However, we did manage to make room for mishti doi. It came in a 'bhanr' (handi), and it was the best I have tasted since Amrita in North Kolkata.

15/12/2025

OG of The Plum Cake

I came across the story of the the first Indian plum cake. So, I ordered a couple of boxes from those who introduced it to us. Legend has it Mambally's were first the bake a plum cake in India.

Plum Cake is an Indian original. Christmas cakes elsewhere or Caribbean Black Cake or the Sri Lankan Rich Cake, have similarities, but nothing is identical in name, ingredients or taste.

The story below js as told by Google Gemini Pro...

The Indian Origin Story: Thalassery, 1883
The Indian plum cake as we know it—dense, dark, and rich with soaked fruits—traces its specific lineage to November 1883.
The Characters: The story involves Mambally Bapu, a local biscuit maker, and Murdoch Brown, a British cinnamon planter.

The Request: Brown approached Bapu at his bakery, the Royal Biscuit Factory, with a rich fruitcake he had brought from England. He asked Bapu to replicate it for Christmas.

The Challenge: Bapu had never made a cake before. Brown explained the basics and provided some ingredients (dates, raisins), but there were significant gaps that Bapu had to fill with local ingenuity.

The Indian Twist:
Alcohol: Brown suggested French brandy for fermenting the fruits. However, Bapu improvised by using a local brew made from cashew apples and kadalipazham (a specific variety of banana).
Leavening: In the absence of imported yeast or baking powder, Bapu used a local fermenting agent based on toddy (palm wine).
Baking: He baked it in a wood-fired oven using hot sand to regulate the temperature.

The Result: When Brown tasted the cake, he reportedly declared it "excellent" and arguably better than the original. This birthed the distinctive "Kerala Plum Cake," which eventually spread throughout India

12/12/2025

The Burnt Cheesecake
(Or the Basque Cheesecake)
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/what-is-basque-burnt-cheesecake-where-to-eat-san-sebastian

From Chennai to New York, wherever I go, Basque Cheesecake is a rage these days. In New York, the home of the eponymous cheesecake, even Japanese Cheesecake is a more desirable choice than their own (ghar ki murgi dal barabar, as they say in Hindi!)

I have also fallen in love with the Basque Cheesecake, the lighter, crustless cousin of the more famous NY number.

I follow The French Cooking Academy youtube channel and when I came realised that it was a simple recipe, with ingredients just a 10 min Blinkit delivery away, I decided to give it a try.
https://youtu.be/zIPZPYvZRsM?si=lcXXBFUKvQkLETR2

With everyone else in the family (I still prefer a good kheer over a cheesecake) crazy about western desserts, I knew a half decent version will also have takers.

Oven temperatures were slightly lower than the dial indicated, hence not as burnt as it ought to have been. Another result of the lower temperature was that it was not as runny in the center as it is supposed to be.

But all in all, I am in the good books of everyone A # # #, Hiranandani Upscale.

30/11/2025

THE KULCHA CON

(This post is about what is considered as the Amritsari kulcha. There is the biscuit like kashmiri kulcha and gilafi kulcha from Lucknow which are different.)

So many punjabi/tandoori/North Indian restaurants claim to serve kulcha, but what they are essentially serving is a stuffed naan.

Any restaurant that is making any other bread - roti, naan, paratha - and has just one tandoor, CANNOT make a kulcha.

The reason is simple - naan and roti are made in tandoor which is one of the hottest ovens across any cuisine; kulchas are made at a temperature which is like baking a cake. This is why in Amritsar, there are specialist kulcha shops that do not make anything else.

Another thing that distinguishes the kulcha from a stuffed naan is that it is layered - prepare almost like puff pastry by layering with fat and folding many times. This may still be done by a restaurant, but they can do nothing about a tandoor if they are making any other bread.

Next time, you see a restaurant with a list of Indian breads with 'kulcha' as one of them, ask them to stop the con. There is nothing wrong in serving stuffed naan - Kake di Hatti near Fatehpuri Masjid is a legendary place serving stuffed naans (and also proudly displaying a photo of a 'multi-national' group that I took there as part of a food walk :-)). They had no need to call it a kulcha.

23/11/2025

I had lunch at Dum Pukht at ITC Grand Maratha during a short stopover in Mumbai, as it was a convenient place to catch up with my son, who is in college there.

Dum Pukht is part of Indian culinary folklore: it brought Awadhi food into the fine-dining leagues, and also made the Qureshi clan a major name in Indian cooking (as Imtiaz Qureshi transformed from an NCC caterer to the doyen of Awadhi cuisine).

In reality, the food is “Awadhi inspired” at best. A galawati kabab put on the seekh and called the kakori kabab is a creation of Dum Pukht, and the town of Kakori near Lucknow adopted it afterwards!

And if you can't invent dishes, invent names. For example, gulab jamun in rabri instead of sugar syrup becomes “Zauq e Shahi”.

I have eaten at Dum Pukht earlier and, with such chains, the variance across outlets is minimal. I felt the saffron in the kakori needs to be reduced a lot; otherwise that is the only flavour and smell that comes through. The breads, the nihari, and the biriyani are all good, standard Dum Pukht fare.

Fried bread with rabri is Shahi Tukda; gulab jamun in the same rabri is Zauq e Shahi. That should give you an idea of the desserts.

But if you’ve got money, and eating biriyani next at a municipal garbage dump at Idrees Hotel is not your idea of Awadhi delight, then Dum Pukht is a great (and probably the only) choice. It also underscores the unfortunate reality that there are few Awadhi food options between Rs 300 and Rs 3000 for a main-course dish.

Culinary Yatras

13/03/2026

22/02/2026

11/02/2026

28/01/2026

03/01/2026

01/01/2026

20/12/2025

17/12/2025

15/12/2025

12/12/2025

30/11/2025

23/11/2025

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