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The much hyped launch of Bombay Blue in Chennai took place yesterday. The occasion was by invite only and yours truly was one of the lucky few thanks mainly to one of my Mother's friends - Ms. Ranjana.
The restaurant has indeed managed a plum location. Though situated on the one way side of College Road, just before the Met Dept. office, it is an area bereft of quality dining options while still being in the centre of the city. The neighbouring Subba Rao Avenue and other residential areas would finally have an interesting meal option worth "walking in to".
The interiors are bright - typically Bombay Blue - with generous use of the house colour Blue, well hued with Yellows, Oranges and Reds. The wood is dark and used quite evenly. To go with the colors, the lighting too is quite bright and all in all, presented a happy picture.
A major irritant through the evening was the music - which restaurant today plays Air Supply of everything!!!!! After having lived through 40 mins of Russel Hitchcock and fellow artists, the damn CD just repeated itself! In addition to this was the freezing air conditioning with a direct blast on to the guest seats. The restaurant has preferred going in for individual split units which cool alright but aren't tactically and ergonomically, the most suited.
The staff were courteous but seemed a little jaded and under prepared for the launch. Quite a few items ordered were not served (one was forgotten, another had run out in the kitchen, etc) and over all, service was a tad slow. But then again, being the inaugural, I did have my hard hat on.I was willing to work with the boys :-)
The menu is quite elaborate. It has everything from:
* Bombay's famous road side chats to
* Pasta and Pizzas
* American Junk
* Mexican finger food
* Salads & Sandwiches and
* Decently long Sizzler list.
Being a group of ten (very hungry) people, we ordered quite a bit.
Appetizers:
* Cheese Amigos
* Bombay Blue falafel
* Corn & Cheese Balls
* Onion Rings
* Chicken & Mushroom Croquettes
* Chicken Fingers Remoulade
* Cheesy Fish Fingers
* Reshmi Tikka
* Puerto Rican Chicken Tikka (!!)
* Kodi Vepudu (An Andhra speciality fried chicken)
Yes! We did order every single item on the Non Veg side of the appetizer menu!
Entree / Main Course
* Hearty Meat Sizzler with the option of Noodles or Rice (seemed a favourite on every table)
* Paneer and Vegetable Shashlik
* Mutton Biriyani
* Goan Fish Curry with White rice (which we were told after the others had finished, was unavailable)
* Pav Bhaji (was mine, HAD to try it!)
* Three Cheese Pasta (Penne)
Most of the food was good. The sizzlers were both appetizing while the mutton biriyani might not find favour with the Chennai palate since its more the flavoured rice variety. The Pav Bhaji is highly recommended and is not your usual rich, overflowing with butter and spices style Bhaji.
All the appetizers except the onion rings were a treat.
The 2 most popular desserts on every table that evening were the Nut Fudge Crunch with Ice Cream (might have got the name wrong) and the Sizzling Brownie. I did try the latter and the brownie was quite nice - not too soft, slightly gooey (as it should be!).
I was quite impressed with the pricing, though we didn't need to pay! - it seems to have slotted itself somewhere in between fine dining and fast food and created a category which probably could be referred to as casual dining. An average meal per head here should cost Rs. 250 - 300/-. Alcohol is not served.
It's now left to see how Chennaiites lap up the fare from this latest addition to Chennai's growing eatery scene. One thing's for sure, the options are definitely opening up.
Bombay Blue is a brand of Blue Foods which has given Chennai Copper Chimney and Cream Centre till date. More details of their other brands are available on their website.
I was handed a menu at the time of leaving which purported to be a Home Delivery Menu. I just checked it to post a phone number and cannot believe that they have a menu without a number on it! They have numbers for all the other cities that Bombay Blue is present in but don't have Chennai in it! Relax - Home Delivery is not yet open for Chennai. I will post up the details once it is open. Scanned version of the menu coming soon.
Price per head- Rs. 300/-
Website - www.blue-foods.com
Reviewed by: Harish Anand Thilakan
Date: 20th June, 2008
Address & Phone - Bombay Blue, College Road, Chennai - 600006. Ph: NA
Driving Directions - Turn in to College Road from the traffic flow side (Good Shepherd school end) and travel down 200 metres. It falls on the left side, just after the left hand bend in the road after the school.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Chennai, Bombay Blues in Chennai
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4 comments:
Wow! Thats a pro review, wonderfully written. Its nice to find a fella foodie from chennai who can write so well.. i write restaurant reviews too at chennai.burrp.com.. i jus tht will let u kno bout tht site, seems like u ll b interested in writing reviews.. n hey ur welcome to chek my blog too :)
PS: m gonna chek out this place soon, thnks to ur review
I'm not a regular blogger but i feel compelled to write about Bombay blues because it evoked a strong opinion in the few minutes I spent there.
I have been to the Bombay Blues in Hyderabad and had a very pleasent experience. I expected similar standards and walked in with high expectations. The first thing that ran through my mind when I entered was the interior decoration or rather the lack of it. It seemed as though the walls of the appartment had been broken down and the painters were asked to go to town with blue and white paint. The budget for the interiors seemed to end with two colours of paint, the painter's labour bill and some cheap furniture.
The staff seemed friendly and we were escorted to a table where we were handed a long and elaborate menu. One side of the menu had adverts and the other side was the actual menu. I pictured the management of the restaurant sitting on a pedastal looking down on me as a walking ATM machine waiting to be milked. When I eat at a restaurant I like to think that I pay for the food and the experience and if the management is able to meet my expectations as customer the restaurant will do well. I don't like to have look at advertisements when im trying to choose what to eat. Im especially irritated because the food pricing is certainly not cheap. If the owners made money by selling menu space and passed on the financial benefit from that to the customer by bringing down the food prices I would be all for the idea. In addition to all this it took us about 10 minutes for the waiter to serve us water.At that point I had about had enough and the guys I was with quite detested the place as well for reasons other than mine. That was the end of my Bombay Blue experience.
I'm a hotelier and evaluate a restaurant from a slightly different perspective as compared to an average foodie. Perhaps the most important criteria for me is value for money and im sure there are a lot of people out there who subscribe to that ideology!
Nice!!! a very elaborate and perfect review of the restaurant!! :)
My God.... thats a good review.. and its mouth watering..
Work from home India
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