One More Barbeque - Coal Barbecue - Restaurant - Bloggers Meet

Outlet: Velachery

Address: Rajalakshmi Nagar, 7th Cross Street, 100 Feet Bypass Road, Velachery.

Cuisine: Unlimited Barbecue (North Indian, Mediterranean, Arabian, Asian)

And there opens "One More Barbecue". The area changes or the franchise or the partner but the concept and food is same across all the barbecue restaurants at Chennai. One another addition to that growing list of BBQ restaurant is Coal Barbecue (CB) at Velachery; with the bright and glittery name-board it's hard to miss them while driving in the Velachery 100 feet road. Of course, the maps will guide you properly. The parking area could manage a good count of vehicles.

As I took the stairs to reach their dining space, the ambience pops with vibrancy. The wall-hangings with witty quotes, brick-alike interiors and dazzling lights are the eye-catchers while dining at CB. After settling down with the mocktails, the usual barbecue ceremony took place. As none of us were new to the concept or the food-style we started the food-show without much delay. The BBQ grillers were set-up and food started flowing.

Disclaimer: On-the-house bloggers meet. With many BBQ's I definitely can't avoid comparison.

Even I was thinking the same as you guys were, "Everything is the same so what's special!". Maybe you and I shall discover the answer as I near the finale (I meant the post's finale :-D). So, now's the food time:

Mango & Chocolate Milkshake - Pic Credit - Jayasuriya

Watermelon Mojito

Food and cold-shakes make a perfect medley for me. The Chocolate & Mango shakes were at right consistency - rich and delicious and the Watermelon Mojitos was refreshing with a hit of mint. Apart from these the other mocktails weren't worth tasting and needs to be improved. As the grillers started overflowing, the Paneer Rawalpindi (like tikkas) in veg and Celery Fish in non-veg became my favourites. Anyways the dishes count and options on the grillers weren't different from other BBQ places.

On the Griller: Veg - Paneer Rawalpindi, Lebanese Mushroom & Assorted Veggies. Non-veg - Garlic Prawns, Celery Fish & Peshawari Chicken.

Simultaneously, the other starters (i.e. not part of grill) kept pouring on our plates. And to my surprise, vegetarian starters were almost equal to the non-veg. And there was one positive, as most BBQ places either reduce the veg-starter option or provide us only after request (most annoying part). I loved the Chili Cheese Potato (my reason to visit CB), Gobi Manchurian, Fish Tikka & Punjabi (Chicken) Tangri.

Other Starters: Veg - Brazilian Pineapple, Chili Cheese Potato, Crispy Corn, Hara Bhara Kebab, Chef's Special - Gobi Manchurian & Masala French Fries. Non-veg - Punjabi Tangri, Pudina Seekh Kebab, Chef's Special - Fish Tikka.

Starters

Soup Counter

Once the starters initiated the boredom waves, I stood up to relax and checkout the food counters.  Look-wise, the Soup counter was prettier and the soup-bowls were prettiest! But taste-wise the Chicken Tom Yum Soup was far better than the Veg Manchow Soup. After not-so impressive soup encounter, I went to find some food at the Teppanyaki Grill. The most popular and diners favourite Wish Grill concept made its way to Chennai via Absolute Barbecues. It's your wish grill so make your choice of meat/veggies, sauces and rice/noodles; with right choices it should taste good. But I chose to stay away from the counter seeing the crowd; they have to find some way to manage the crowd else it would turn messy. The wish-grill orders and desserts made the table at the same time; huge delay - hope they get this right immediately.

Teppanyaki Grill: Veg - Broccoli, Zucchini, Baby Corn, Paneer, Green Peas, American Sweet Corn, Cauliflower. Non-veg - Rabbit, Turkey, Squid, Duck, Quail, Shrimps, Chicken, Egg, Shark.

Teppanyaki Grill 

Leaving aside a small space to eat desserts I tried almost everything I could from the Main Course counter. Thinking hard, I realised this is the first time I enjoyed Mains at a BBQ place. A biggest positive of CB's according to me; and happy that these guys got the Biriyani taste right :-) Though I likes most of the mains I tasted, the best & delicious ones were Palak Paneer, Coal BBQ Dal, Subz Dum Handi, Ghost Rogan Josh (Mutton) & Chicken Dum Biriyani.

Main Course: Veg - Veg Biriyani, Palak Paneer, Nariyal Mirch Aloo, Coal BBQ Dal, Subz Dum Handi, Makai Muttor Teen Mirch, Aam Wali Bhindi, Steamed Rice. Non-veg - Chicken Dum Biriyani, Methi Murg, Ghost Rogan Josh, Crab Masala, Fish Achari.

Salads

Mains

It wasn't just the gravies and rice, the BEST part of mains was the Indian Breads. The varieties they offer is impressive and new. The finest one was Olive Naan, with a punch of olive and chilli flakes. It was a buttery-cheesy bite. They also serve the usual Naan, Roti, Tooty-fruity Naan, Kulcha, etc.

Finally, the most awaited and delicious counter - Desserts. They had a good number of desserts to try. But the Indian sweets were a hit - Gajar Ka Halwa and Jalebi was out of the world. But the Phirnee, Kesariya and some Pastries can be improved by miles in taste. The cold stone ice-cream counter was great except for the ice-creams as they had just three may be more flavours would be interesting.

Desserts: Chocolate Pastry, Strawberry Pastry, Walnut Brownie, Mango Shots, Chocolate Shots, Blueberry Cheese Cake, Rasmalai, Gajar Ka Halwa, Kesariya Phirnee, Gulaab Jamun, Cut Fruits & Live Cold Stone Ice Cream.

Jalebi & Cold Stone Ice-Cream

The buffet is priced at Rs. 649 INR for Weekday and Rs. 749 INR for Weekend Lunch. For dinner, Rs. 699 INR for Weekday and Rs. 749 INR for Weekend. Isn't cheap but definitely reasonable considering the spread and taste. They can definitely push the other barbecues back as my recent visit to some oldies weren't as impressive (as the food qualities have come down).

Breaking Down Points

Location & Parking: Good. Not a ideal location if you are not anywhere near Velachery as the travel time would kill you. Parking, no worries.

Ambience: Good. Simple and Vibrant.

Food Variety: Positive. Honestly a good and equal number of dishes in veg & non-veg.

Quality: Good. No complaints on the food quality but the flavours used in starters could have variations.

Quantity: Positive. Hey! it's unlimited who cares.

Taste: Good. They definitely have scope to improve. But personally, they serve some delicious food in Mains.

Service: Ok. Friendly and courteous but they struggle managing the mass and hope they nail that too.

Pricing: NA. Glancing through the buffet price it is almost same as other BBQ places. Seems 'Reasonable' for the variety and food.

So my Verdict!

Coal Barbecue! The new baby among the popular giants. To their support comes the food variety, price, quantity and taste. But they should remember to work on the minor drawbacks on their service and taste. But to answer my earlier question, they personally win the barbecue battle right now. But let's wait and see. If you're bored trying the same BBQ place then here's a new one.

P.S. This write-up is based on my food palate & dining experience during my restaurant visit. On-the-house bloggers meet. Remember, no two person's food palate can be same. 
Busy eating so bare with the not-so good photos! :-D