Chennaiyil Oru Naal (Part 1 of 2)
An ode to a random plan but a nice memory
I know, I know. It has been a while. I do not remember the last time I decided to write and publish something. At the start of this, I promised myself I would be regular and dedicate myself. As life got back to normal in this ‘new normal’ the onus to thrive and be even more successful than the pre-pandemic kept me occupied professionally as the work-life balance started to blur.
As I was scrolling, through the archives of my highlights or stories, I realized it has been a year since I traveled to Chennai on work and made a trip out of it so why not talk about it?
Coincidence? Maybe or Maybe not
It was pretty much a normal work trip. Go a day prior to the event, check out the event venue to ensure everything is on track, go on the day of the event, ensure it goes smoothly and head back home the same night. Pretty much the standard procedure.
This time it was in Chennai and my friend, Arjun works there. So, I decided to stay a day longer to explore that part of the city and basically wind down before I head back to the hustle and bustle of it all.
Crazy enough, the location of the event was very close to where he worked and stayed so we started off by catching up for lunch where he works. We felt like a good for Biryani (like every other day) so we headed to this place called Mummy Daddy Andhra Mess. As a big fan of Andhra food, everything on the menu caught our attention, but we finally settled on the Gongura Boneless Chicken Biryani.
The presentation caught us off guard and the food too (in a good way). It tasted really good, even though we couldn’t really taste the Gongura but the rice and the semi gravy chicken had the perfect balance of spice and were super flavorful. Great quantity and super light on the pocket too. No wonder it was highly frequented by the students of that area. Felt like a nap was the answer to top off this great meal.
Always going big
As I shuttled back and forth, between the venue and room I saw this place called OMR Food Street. So, I told Arjun, this was going to be a place we will be exploring for our dinner plans.
Going to explain this place in a few words - a one-stop area to try out all types of cuisines within a span of 500 meters
These were the things we tried there:
Burma Square
We tried the Atho, a Burmese dish that is made using flat-ish noodles, cabbage, carrots, and garlic oil tossed in egg and chicken served with a cup of hot soup. Sadly, it did not taste as remarkable as I explained it.
Mrs. Ramen
Trying to salvage to need to have decent street fare, we headed to this place. Sadly, it was worse here. Just a big bowl of Maggi with some veggies and chicken
Kurtosshhh
Thank god we did not go wrong with this choice and decided to go with the Oreo Kurtoskalac. Always wanted to try these chimney cakes. It was okay. It was basically a chimney shaped cake filled with ice cream, rolled in Oreo biscuit dust, and topped with whipped cream. at least it had Oreos, right?
There’s more
There is still another 12 hours’ worth of eating (yes, there is another Biryani) and a brilliant dessert place.
Oh, and we see Arjun slip up and goof around. See the pic on the next one. Until then, have a good one.