It is probably a year since I’ve been to Kryptos. Basically after they changed it to a Vegetarian restaurant, this is my first experience here.
A visit to the prime areas in Chennai like T-Nagar and Nungambakkam used to be quite a normal thing until Phoenix Market City opened in Velachery. Blame it partly on traffic and partly on laziness, it has been quite a while since we ventured beyond this mall. Any shopping to be followed by dining out finished within the boundaries of Velachery. For a change, somehow we decided to go to Landmark in Chennai Citi Center and proceed to some restaurant in Nungambakkam for lunch.
A little behind schedule to what we initially planned, we finished shopping around 2:20PM and headed to Nungambakkam. We had Sandy’s in mind and actually stepped into the restaurant. It was way too crowded and it did not look like we would get a table in the next 15 minutes and the AC was absolutely non-existent. So we decided to try Jackob’s Kitchen which was right across the road. I’ve never tried these two places, hence this choice. Kids were in no mood to eat South-Indian, and on Saturdays, wife eats vegetarian. So it did not make much sense to go there either. So we decided to go to Kryptos. We lost about twenty minutes and the time was close to 3:00PM.
We entered Kryptos and only two tables were occupied at that time. We were seated and promptly informed that the kitchen would close at 3:30PM. We were assured we could take our time to eat though. I ordered ‘one by two’ of Pureed Tomato Soup with Pesto and Cream of Spinach soup with crumbled Feta. For the starters, ordered Chickpea and Sesame Dip – Hummus which came along with Pita bread and Ricotta Balls with tomato sauce. The pita bread was absolutely soft and the hummus tasted wonderful. The cheese balls were very tasty with crispy outer covering and soft savoury cheese inside. Spinach soup was brilliant and Tomato soup tasted decent.
For the main course, there were different variants. Some included a salad, some included a side dish, and some included both. We ordered Paneer Skewers. It was served with a paratha, and we could order a side dish from another section in the menu. We ordered Dal Makhni to go with the paratha. I went with Burritos and ordered Buttered Vegetables for the side dish. One interesting option was that we could ‘add’ a salad to our main course, limited to one bowl only and that is priced at Rs 75. So we took two bowls of salad for both the main courses. Paneer was absolutely melt-in-the-mouth stuff ! Tasted wonderful. The paratha along with the paneer skewers was pretty ordinary, so had to pack the Dal Makhni as it was literally untouched. Burritos was a bit spicy to my liking, but tasted good. The salad was wonderful and there is a nice spread you can choose from. From what we remembered from our last visit, the portions seemed a little more now and were already feeling full.
We decided to order just two desserts and share it among ourselves. I ordered Baklava and Greek Yoghurt and Honey. The Baklava was wonderful, but the Yoghurt was just ok. I was expecting more honey and nuts all over. After a couple of spoons, it felt like eating just plain sweet yoghurt. Not sure if that is how it is meant to be !
Had to pack a bowl of salad and the Dal Makhni as it was too much for us. Mr. Natesh waited on our table and was helpful and polite.
This lunch set us back by 2K and was well worth it in my opinion. Overall, a wonderful dining experience and in spite of turning vegetarian, Kryptos did not disappoint !
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