Not so scintillating veg-edge...

Outlet: Nungambakkam

Address: 21, Greams Road, Opposite MRF Building, Nungambakkam, Chennai.

Cuisine: Only Vegetarian. North-Indian, Italian.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Though Chennai city is blooming with restaurant for each sunrise, it is quite difficult to find a Vegetarian restaurant that gives fine-dining experience and quality food at an affordable price. As it’s been a week, I was craving to eat something that isn’t my preparation. And vegetarian food is the important element while we (my husband and I) were hunting through food forums. We were keen not to visit the same restaurant that we have been to, so my Zomato bookmark list reminded me of ‘Jalpaan’. It was a Sunday lunch-time visit, so we were hoping the restaurant to be crowded at 1.30 PM; didn’t make prior table reservation as well.

As we both have been to restaurants at Greams Road, we could easily spot the MRF building and the restaurant is located in the opposite street; a small hoarding that says ‘Jalpaan’ with an arrow pointing towards the restaurant direction will invite you. There is ample space to park the vehicles but the parking details could have been mentioned better. The two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking are spaced at different places. As my husband was figuring out the parking spot, I rushed through the staircase to spot the crowd at the resto. And to my surprise, the place seemed deserted (my version). I rather spotted a few including one family enjoying birthday celebration of a kid, but for a Sunday lunch-time I expected at least 15 minutes of wait before grabbing a table. I am still not sure whether I was happy or sad about my waiting time being cut-down.

Finding a table was easy but deciding with the food took quite a while. As I opened the menu card, some (ok, most) of the dishes reminded my dining time at Cream Centre (CC) – Veg Edge. Not a photocopy of the menu card but there were resemblance. Putting that resemblance aside, we ordered for Pani Puri, Apple & Kiwi Delight, Big Nachos and Birbal Ki Kichadi. As we were waiting for our order to be delivered, the ambience gave a visual treat with the cosy lighting and they elevate the look of the restaurant as well making you feel “Royalish”. Our focus totally turned towards the food as they started landing on our table. Though the order was less, here’s the take on each one of dish.

Paani Poori

Pani Puri: My long lasting love affair with pani puri pushed me to order them. I was surprised while ordering as they were priced just Rs.60 INR, I was puzzled to see the dish being priced less for the tag “fine-dining”. So I was hoping either one of them: (i) less puri’s (quantity) (ii) compromise in the taste / quality.  And my suspicion was right and the pointer has hit the quality. There were 8 puri’s, the puri’s weren’t crispy and when I compare with other fine-dining resto’s the size was small. The aloo stuffing is the simple yet important part for the dish and they didn’t please my palate either. And my favourite part with this dish is the mix of sweet and hot-mint flavoured pani, but here they served just the mint pani. Overall the price is economical but I regretted ordering the dish.

Apple & Kiwi Delight

Apple & Kiwi Delight: Not a big fan of either of the fruit, this order credit should go to my husband and the drink really turned out to be a delight. It was similar to a milk-shake with apple and kiwi flavour infused in them. The portion of the drink as well as the quality was yummilicious.

Yummy Big Nachos

Big Nachos: This is a favourite pick of mine at CC. And seeing the same food item with similar description and priced less, it was a pretty easy decision to order. As the nachos reached my table, they looked visually the same as CC but the quantity was little less and taste was OK. Yes, just “OK”. The nachos weren’t crispy and the dish turned to be warm and not hot. The taste of the cream sauce and the kidney beans curry with the salad definitely tasted good. But as a complete dish this was a let-down.

Birbal Ki Kichadi

Birbal Ki Kichadi: We weren’t pretty sure about ‘what’ and ‘how’ a Kichadi would taste. Though there was a vague memory of eating Dal Kichadi at Rajdhani I wasn’t sure about the dish, so we decided to go for it. The quantity was sumptuous, the fragrance of the dish filled me up with all the flavours infused in them. The kichadi was full of richness with the blend of basmati rice with spinach and dal, and what-so-ever the spices used they elevated the taste of the dish. They tasted delicious when served hot. As we continued to eat them the richness was overwhelming that we found it hard to finish. This Gujarat dish is a delight to taste.

We settled for the bill and including the Service Tax of 12% and Service Charge of 10%, billed for Rs.713 INR.

The service could have been better. Though there isn’t anything specific to complaint, the service seemed lethargic and made me feel lazy during a Sunday lunch-time. The service time as well was slow starting from food service till the moment we got our balance money. Wish, they can be more prompt and clear when they describe about the food served; though they were knowledgeable about the food that isn’t enough.

Breaking Down Points:

Location & Parking (5/5): Biggest Positive. Easy to locate and parking is ample enough.

Ambience (5/5): Positive. The interiors, lighting, tables and utensils are nice to experience.

Food Variety (4/5): Positive. They serve good varietyof starters and main-course in the cuisine they specialise.

Taste (3/5): Let-down. Not a negative for their resto but they will be prone to comparison. Hope they strive to score more here as this is the only reason people drop-by for the second time.

Quantity (3.5/5): Good. The portion quantity is good in comparison with the price paid.

Quality (3.5/5): OK. The food quality should be improved. The overall restaurant quality as well is developed when it comes to serving cleaner plates and glasses.

Pricing (4/5): Positive. They have priced (considerably) less. Is that the reason for compromise in something else?

Service (3/5): Negative. With a lesser crowd they showcased a service that is slow and food that isn’t served hot or plates that aren’t clean.

Vegetarian delight. Could serve more promising and tasty food but turns out to be a let-down. A Value for Money (VFM) meal when the quantity, variety and pricing alone are considered.

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