Ashvita - Fine food, minus the fine service.

Ashvita is a green oasis tucked off a small lane branching out of the busy, uber-cosmopolitan Radhakrishnan Salai, at walkable distance from that shopping-mecca, CitiCenter. Under the brand Ashvita Fine Living, they run a restaurant, and have a potpourri shop "Masala Chai" that sells everything from handmade jewelry to recycled paper products. They are famous for their unlimited platters, and we paid them our first visit in November 2011. Had this review followed that visit, it would have been an overt exercise in positivity. However, impressed by what we saw, and ate during the first visit, we decided to pay a second visit, and take a dear friend along, for Christmas lunch. What follows, are our impressions from the second visit.



The first time around, we went for a late dinner, and preferred indoor seating. This time, we (the two of us, the other friend being a stickler for punctuality, arrived dot on time) arrived fashionably late (this is a term you will read often on this blog), and chose to sit outdoors, amidst the greenery, it being a cool December afternoon. The folks at Ashvita have chosen some nifty furniture, with glass topped tables and minimalistic high-backed chairs blending in with the landscaping.

Though the website mentions that they serve four different kinds of platters, (namely, Asian, Indian, Momo-based and Kebab-based) only two were available when we visited - the Asian platter and the Kebab platter.

Of the merry party of three, two are vegetarians, and Yours Truly is a meat eater. Through all the reviews in this blog, I (Shreedhar) will be the sole meat eater, and Hari will be the grass eater. Two of us went for the Vegetarian Kebab platter, while one settled for the Asian platter.

You are first served a welcome drink, and this time around, it was Mango. Then comes the soup. The Asian platter (AP) had the Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup and the Kebab platter (KP) had Tomato Shorba. Both the soups were tasty, but the shorba looked a bit too "colourful". We first mistook it for a carrot soup!

Then come the starters. The AP had sweetcorn, mushroom, paneer and potato starters. All had the essential flavors of Asian food - a tad of honey, a tart taste of ginger, some chilli and of course, soy were present. Delicious, with the mushroom starter trumping the rest by a decent margin.

The Kebab starters were potato, mixed vegetable, paneer and capsicum and a vegetarian shammi kebab. What one must really appreciate about Ashvita's food is the restraint that they show with the spices, especially the hot spices. The food has just that right tinge of heat, and not the tongue-burning, profuse-sweat-session-inducing, eyes-watering heat that people like me abhor. The shammi kebabs could have been cooked better, the rest were very good. They were served with a green chutney, which again looked too "Technicolor" (De Ja Vu moment from the soup), which made it look unpalatable. But, one hardly needed the relish, as the kebabs were tasty by themselves.

Once we were done with the starters, we dove deep into conversation to let the stomach acids do their work, and create some space for the main course dishes. After a considerable amount of time, we left our tables, and headed to the buffet counter, which was neatly laid out, vegetarian dishes on one side, non vegetarian on the other, piping hot and labeled.

The breads (naan) would be brought to your table, and the carbohydrates present in the buffet platter were rice-based: a corn and capsicum fried rice, and a vegetable biryani. As accompaniments, you had a paneer mutter, a vegetable dumpling curry, a dal and a thai red curry. The naans were soft, the biryani was yummy, the fried rice passable, and all the north indian side dishes were delicious, and special mention goes to the vegetable dumpling curry, which was the best in the platter. However, we experienced technicolor syndrome again with the thai red curry. Ashvita, go a little easy with food coloring, that's all I would say.

Though strictly speaking, the KP should only have the biryani and the northie side dishes, and the AP only the fried rice and thai curry, the staff themselves encourage you to sample everything on the buffet menu, irrespective of the platter chosen. Brownie points to Ashvita!

It has to be mentioned again that everything on the menu is unlimited, so much so that, my friend asked for a refill of the welcome drink and got it.

With the main course taken care of, it was time to head on to the crowning glory of any meal, Dessert!

Dessert is simple, choose from three flavors of ice cream, and have gulab jamun along. But the best part, unlimited, again!! The friend that we had taken along has a reputation for hogging on dessert and ice cream, and we were prepared to count how many scoops he could stomach. But, alas, it was not to be. The strawberry ice cream came in hard chunks, the vanilla tasted like frozen milk, and the chocolate, for lack of a better word, tasted like, mud. Have you ever heard of something as preposterous as people having a hard time eating ice cream, and leaving leftovers? Well, you just heard it from us. Of course, forget counting, our friend refused anything more than the first two scoops he ordered. And after reminding them that we still hadn't received the gulab jamuns, the waiters brought them along, and well, they were OK.

The food at Ashvita certainly had its highs and lows. But the service completely stuck to the bottom of the chart. From standing right next to our table and humming loudly and talking and laughing amongst themselves, to needing reminders to bring in our dessert, the service was an affront to the term "Fine Living". Some etiquette lessons are in order, QUICK!

Since we do have the luxury of having dined twice at Ashvita, we only consider it fair to mention that the waiter who served us the first time was almost too polite, and the ice creams were delicious. However, the mark of a good restaurant is consistent quality, which Ashvita needs to work upon.

The cost of the AP is 475 + tax and that of the KP is 450 + tax. Pretty reasonable considering the quality of the food (minus dessert) and the true unlimited nature of the meal.

Thumbs Up
Ambience
Starters and Main Course
Price

Thumbs Down
Dessert
Service

Shreedhar's Rating: 3 / 5

Hari's Take:
A very good place for a long lunch/dinner where you can engage in a long conversations with your friends and family while you have a decent albeit not so great food. I have tried both the Asian and the Kebab Platter at different times like Shreedhar did and they both had very good starters which is their highlight, a decent main course, bad desserts especially ice creams (this was during the recent encounter) and a deteriorating service.

Hari's Rating: 3 / 5

Tuscana Pizzeria - A fine little slice of Italy, in namma chennai.

So, for my birthday this year, two of my friends and I chose to go to the Italian restaurant Tuscana Pizzeria, part of the Tuscana - Kryptos (Greek restaurant) establishment maintained by Chef Willi. Both the restaurants are located in Wallace Garden, just off Khader Nawaz Khan road, Nungambakkam. We booked a table for 3 at 1:30 and arrived fashionably late.

The restaurant is designed in simple earthy tones, with lots of framed paintings on the walls, well-picked cutlery and glassware; but it is not a very big space and feels a bit cramped. The waiters are friendly and polite, though a bit slow.

We went in on a hot afternoon, and I wanted to try a cold soup, if they had one. They didn't. So, we went for a Cranberry flavored Boston Iced Tea, which was light and refreshing, and Chef Willi's Health Elixir, a combination of 10 fruits and vegetables, which pretty much tasted like nasty beetroot juice. It was served in a very attractive glass, so I guess that took a little bit of the edge off it.

After poring over the soup choices, two of us went for the Pappa Di Pomodoro, a soup made from roasted tomatoes, garlic and artichoke hearts - it is the last item that attracted us to this soup, as ex-Farmville enthusiasts. The soup came in, and we were enchanted by the aroma and taste and were heaping praises on it. Suddenly, the waiter came rushing, and with an air of apology said that we had been served the Minestrone col Pesto (a very famous Italian vegetable soup) instead of the Pappa Di Pomedoro. He offered to replace the soup immediately, but gentiles that we were, the mistake was pardoned and forgotten. It also helped that the Minestrone was the best we have ever had.

We also went for the the Focaccia all'Aglio e Cipolla, a very soft and warm Foccacia with fried red onion on top; this was too mild for our palate, and was remedied by the addition of extra virgin olive oil and oregano.

Moving on to the main course, this place is famous for its wood-oven baked pizzas. We went for the Sicilana, a goat cheese/mozzarella combo with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto and olives. PLEASE stop eating at these American pizza outlets. This is how pizza is meant to be: a thin light crust, soft on the inside, crisp at the edges, a simple, aromatic sauce and simple, real Italian toppings, good quality cheese, high quality olive oil and of course the magic of wood oven baking. Easily, one of the best pizzas I have ever had.

For pasta, we chose a Penne Rigate (tube shaped) with a cream-based sauce. This also did not disappoint, but I would rate it at the bottom of the list of 3 main courses we had, nonetheless.

I am usually the one who picks the non-vegetarian choices, as my two friends are veggies. I had almost settled on the Ravioli di Emu (Ravioli with spiced Emu bird stuffing!!) but had a sudden change of mind, and chose the vegetarian Ravioli di Melanzane e Caprino - aubergine, goat cheese and sun dried tomato filling, tossed in a tomato sauce with olives. This was divine. I love Ravioli, and this is the first time I chose a vegetarian Ravioli, but was most certainly not disappointed. The pasta was soft and tasty and the sauce was a great complement to it.

Dessert time! Our three choices were Panna Cotta, a cream dessert flavored with vanilla and accompanied by a yummy berry compote; a Panna Cotta al Cioccolato, a chocolate flavored Panna Cotta, with vanilla ice cream and an orange compote as accompaniments, and a Torta Soffice di Mele, an apple/raisin cake with strawberry gelato. The only sore point here was the orange compote; while the berry compote was a rich concoction and tasty, the orange compote was just a few small slices of bitter orange, which was really disappointing.

A vegetarian meal for three will cost a little less than Rs. 3000. The food is sumptuous, but the portions can be bigger. There is a large variety to choose from for the veggies and an even larger spread for the non-veggies. I would suggest that the restaurant start serving alcoholic beverages, especially wine, as Italian food is meant to be had with wine. Also, some of the items on the menu might not be available when you visit.