(This post was originally written in March 2012 for my Reflexions blog). The mercury has been gradually rising in this southern city of India. However that has done little to dampen our spirits so far! And with every passing week I am getting quite excited about the series of cultural events like plays, concerts, art exhibitions, dance shows etc that happen pretty regularly here not to mention the endless food festivals at some restaurant or the other!
A few weeks back we went to an amazing ghazal concert to listen to some wonderful renditions by none other than one of my favorite ghazal singers–Talat Aziz. It was organized in Sir Mutha Venkata Subha Rao Hall on Harrington Road in Chetpet–an excellent auditorium for such concerts I must say.
As one of the reviews later on described.. “The voice of Talat Aziz is a rare blend of inconsolable depth, infinite range and sophistication – perfectly suited for poetic Urdu ghazal singing…” I knew this before like so many other fans do and it was further reconfirmed after that one evening of splendid music. From his guru Mehdi Hassan’s ranjish hi sahi and phir chidi raat to my most favorite of all his songs–zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein…it was an absolutely magical three hours with his songs echoing pain, romance, pathos and verve all so beautifully. The audience cheered him on with lots of enthusiasm and farmaishe and he honored it all, making us-his ardent fans, very happy indeed. And of course when the intermission came, we all spent those 10-15mins doing what we love to do the most during such intermissions–eating!There were delicious samosas, dosas, pakoras and rolls being served and no one missed their chance! A totally worthwhile and wholesome evening 🙂
Talking of food, we have discovered two fantastic restaurants in Chennai-both not very far from our house and the credit entirely goes to two of my colleagues/friends with whom we have now started to do this alternate weekend brunches. One is Tuscana Pizzeria on Chamiers Road–serving absolutely delicious Italian food–their pizzas are to die for and any fish preparation (I had grilled Bhekti done in Italian style!) or pasta are equally good. Only downside is they don’t serve wine because they don’t have alcohol license like so many other stand alone restaurants in Chennai. That apart, I would recommend this place to all Italian food-lovers!
With Sharon, V and Azhar at Tuscana Pizzeria on Chamiers road
And the second one is Teppan–a Japanese Grill & Sushi Bar on TTK road in Alwarpet, on top of Benjarong. They now have an ongoing Sushi-Yaki festival featuring international maestros of Japanese cuisine, Chef Joseph Ruiz and Chef Renato R. Bautista Jr. who prepare easily one of the best sushi I have ever relished! We had lunch there today and we were all quite impressed with their food, ambiance, service and the overall authenticity of the place. Amongst the four of us we ordered Miso soup, Tuna Yaki and Cuttlefish Yaki as appetizers and for the main course-California Maki (sushi rolls), Sake Maki, Prawn Tempura Maki, Seafood Tempura and Spicy Tuna Rolls–all strongly recommended! These were from the festival menu–they also have a set 8 course meal wherein the Chef cooks in front of the diners in typical Hibachi-meal style.
Chef at work at Teppan
Our next plan is to head to an Iranian restaurant on ECR–will keep you posted on that! 🙂 Lots of new restaurants are opening in the city and hopefully we will continue to be able to do justice to our passion of eating out 😛
And as far as art goes, while we have not managed to visit any art exhibition in the city so far, we have our own art installations in our living room now! We have a Picasso (Girl before a Mirror), a Van Gogh (Colors of the Night) and a Dali (Persistence of Memory)–my personal favorite.
So we are reasonably well-settled in Chennai now at our TNagar residence which I find extremely conveniently located with hotels (and hence their restaurants and bars) like Residency Towers, Accord Metropolitan, GRT Grand, Hyatt Regency etc all within walking distance as well as pubs like 10 Downing Street and cafes like Kleio and Coffee Central (which btw is quite chilled out to visit with friends & spend a couple of hours yapping!). So would surely recommend this locality to anyone moving to Chennai for the first time.
We have managed to make our living room look more ‘livable’ and kitchen more ‘functional’ (as opposed to what it was 4 months back when we first moved in!) and I have even attempted to cook chicken curry 😉 (That however is history now as we have decided to give employment to an unemployed woman who is very sweet, cooks really well, speaks hindi and cooks non-veg..a miracle combo in Chennai :P)
Our living room finally up and functional!
Dining area and our open kitchen
The notable point in this picture is the fridge with NYC marked on it all with magnets collected from New York city! My small work of art 🙂
I have also embarked on my hobby of gardening starting with two potted plants!! So LOTS of improvements in 4 months I must say 😛 Now all that’s left is for me to learn Tamil!
Everyone has been scaring me quite a bit about the coming few months when the weather gets really nasty here–hoping this won’t prevent me from continuing these mini-explorations in this city!! More to follow soon 🙂
From California to Chennai 
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