Chutneys - South Indian at its best !!

This Saturday night, yet again, we ended up at Chutneys for a nice dinner. Its been like a ritual for us to hit Chutneys anytime we dont feel like cooking at home (and not ordering a Biryani at home from Hyderabad House, which btw has been happening quite often as well !!).

So here is the story in pictures...

The Chutneys is located right next to the Nagarjuna Circle, near Punjagutta. You can spot it from a distance with its quite different colours and the long queues that wait for table in late evenings..

Thats the first floor seating area.. As you see, it isnt execeptionally plush or luxurious. Quite basic and simple. Well, it isnt really the experience that pulls you here.. Its the food, period !!

The USP.. Chutneys.. With most (or even all) dishes they serve, this is the standard fare. This 4-in-1 serving of chutneys. The all white one is pure/ fresh cocunut chutney. Its amazing.. beyond words, with minimal masalas etc to ruin the natural coconut flavor. Moving clockwise, the off-white/ creme colored chutney is a daal-based chutney.. Next is the Red chutney.. thats also real cool, with a spicy tange and goes real well with most dosas. The last one is the green-adkrak (ginger) chutney...

Steamed Dosa - My fave item in the menu.
At the risk of sounding boring and truly predictable, I have to admit that on most occassions I have been here, I shamelessly end up ordering the Steamed Dosa.. Its really the best of the lot for me.. I have tried a Steamed Dosa elsewhere as well, but nowhere did I find anything close to Chutneys thing.

So, you get the drift. They also serve some real nice conventional Masala Dosas, Uthhapas, Idli-Vadas. Also, high on the popularity charts is their South Indian Thali. And we never fail to miss their Buttermilk, which has been consistently good.

Actually that is one aspect that makes it easier for us to pick Chutneys again and again.. their consistency. Rarely, do you find their preparation gone bad.. The chutneys are always fresh and the Sambhar always nice and spicy.

Another interesting thing I have noticed about them is that their pricing for South Indian dishes is reasonable. So you get a Masala Dosa for Rs 35, and the Steamed Dosa for Rs 42..

They also serve North Indian and even Chinese stuff.. which I would never advice you to order at Chutneys.. Also, they price these 'other' cusines a little on the higher side. Dont really remember exact costs, but a Chinese Soup will cost you about Rs 60 and a North Indian dish about Rs 75-80. Not, this isnt out of the roof, but compared to their South Indian dishes its definitely expensive.

My theory is that they basically cater to the South Indian cusine lovers.. But if these folks bring in people (and kids) who are admant on eating North Indian/ Chinese, they can still be the choice of this group. And, they also manage a bigger margin on these 'other' cuisines, for which their Cooks/ chefs would need more time to put aside a conventional order or two and get on with the a Chinese noodle dish (say).

Anyway, I do recommend you visit Chutneys on your next visit to Hyderabad and do do try out the Steamed Dosa. You wont regret reading my post for a change.

Vizag snaps !!

Check out the latest pics from my recent Vizag trip.

Vizag 06

Doorie - Atif Aslam's new album

Just released... Doorie
Atif Aslam's second music album..

Much awaited.. I hope to hear all its songs soon..
heard on the radio the title song :
"Doori sahi nahi jaaye.."

Sounds fun !!!
Watch out for updates..

KANK - Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

This might sound blasphemous.. I saw KANK last weekend, and contrary to my expectations, I thought it wasnt as bad as it was made out to be.

KANK is a solidly made movie with very strong direction. I cant say the same about its story and to an extent screenplay. The story is.. well.. a story, you might like it or hate it, I personally didnt like it that much. The screenplay on the other hand is very patchy.. very inconsistent. It starts off at such a jarring note, I wanted to stop the movie at the 20 mins stage. Then it started becoming interesting, only to again go down via the predictable and cliche alley.. So thats the way it goes.

The acting is again quite patchy. SRK really sucks.. To an extent he gets unbearable at places. Well, he isnt alone to be blamed. The screenplay alleviates the problem. The best of the cast is definitely Abhishek. He alone brings a lot of energy and realism to the otherwise over mythical characterization. Rani and Preity are quite ok.

Another mention I must make is for Amitabh. I know he looks a little weird and unexpected as SAM in the movie, but for me, his is the best written and most exciting role in the entire movie. He is the most complex of all the characters and after the intial unease in watching AB doing all the unusual stuff, found his story the most interesting. I wish the movie was more about him than SRK. :)

Another thing you should see the movie for is Karan Johar. See, you might agree with his vision or not, you might buy into his story's credibility and POV or not, but you have to agree that he projects his own vision so well. His is a unique style of story telling, however similar it may look to the over-stylized look of a the new breed of directors.

I only hope KJ brings out a somewhat more interesting subject the next time round.

Sony Ericsson W810i - My latest crush !!

Last weekend, I bought myself a spanking new Sony Ericsson W810i, a high end mobile phone from the Sony Walkman stable. And boy, am I pleased with it...

If you know me a little, you would know that I have never been a fan of these high end mobile phones that give you a wide array of features. I have resisted buying one of these for all these years and even might have recommended friends against buying themselves..

But I guess I got smitten by this one. All this time, I always felt that these so called high end models were really over hyped with really no substance. They boasted of cameras but what resolution - 1 megapixel or VGA.. They would claim to play MP3, but the quality of playback and earphones was crappy at best. And then the LCD screens these models boasted were soo tiny and dull, it wasnt worth all the money.

When I set my eyes on W810i, I was blown away. Here was a phone optimised as a musicplayer, it has special dedicated keys for music playback, its loudspeaker plays out as good music as is practically possible on a mobile device and they were giving out a high end earphone in the kit, which could even connect to a conventional earphone as well (using the in the kit adaptor). And they give you a 512 MB memory stick in the kit as well, leaving you fully equipped to start using
the device as an MP3 player without a need to buy accessories.

And then there is a 2-megapixel camera as well, the results of which, not paralleling digicams
though, but are still classy enough, specially in the daylight.

And the designing with its satin black finish is alluring.

I am kinda busy to write an indepth review on the phone, but take my word for it, its the best damn thing that you can buy below 15K. The only drawback I saw when buying this one is that this is not a Symbian device. So all the Symbian apps on the net wont work on it. In short, if you want a business phone, wherein you would like to read/ create word or Acrobat docs, this isnt the model for you. But I didnt feel I would use it too much as a business tool, and went with it.

So, W810i rocks !!! :-)

First A530 Pic !!

This is the first upload of a pic taken with my new Canon Powershot A530 !!

I had been trying to upload the first set of pics for a while now.. but have been having trouble with blogger..

Lets hope the problem is resolved and you guys get to see more of the pics !!

Ciao !!

Zune incompatible with Windows Vista !!!

I couldnt resist posting this !!
This is almost comical !!

As per reports, Zune, the brand new MP3/ Music player from Microsoft is Incompatible with Windows Vista, the brand new Microsoft Operating system furthering the legacy of Windows XP.

Hard to believe, but if its true, God help MS !! :)