When eating out becomes a sort of an obsession, then you know its time to step on the brakes. Been thinking about exploring the food scene on MGR Salai, Kandanchavadi. With two very prominent IT office spaces here, once a silent street has now transformed into a very happening place with umpteen hole-in-the-wall places for street food. There are many small restaurants too where you can sit and have a nice meal. Today, myself and a friend decided to check out some such small places, not necessarily proper restaurants.
We started with one of the oldest place Gaurav Vada Pav. I have been here quite a few times and this time just wanted to sample the standard classic vada pav. It was good, and for 15 bucks it is a steal and easily one of the best vada pavs in the city !
Next stop was Petuk Express. I decided to check out their Egg Chicken Roll, while my friend tried their Fish Fingers. I saw the preparation closely. Generous amounts of stuffing went into the roll and I should say it was a meal by itself. Priced at 90 bucks, it was very tasty and I asked for some kasundhi(mustard sauce) along with it and it was yummy. Friend liked the fish fingers and managed to finish it off pretty neatly too. That is priced at 80 bucks.
Just in the adjacent street there is Paanch Foron. Decided to check out their Chicken Momos. While we were seated, spotted Mishti Doi on the menu on the wall. Asked if they had and they said no. Quite disappointed, asked for rasagulla, and that was decent, nothing raving about. I had one piece and friend had two. It was priced at 15 bucks a piece and was a bit steep I thought. I’m used to eating 4-5 pieces at a go and never thought about the price when daddy used to buy the canned ones and the ones in earthen pots many years ago. Chicken momos were average, with very small quantity of chicken stuffed. All the while I kept checking if there was really chicken inside. The red chutney was decent, and the soup kinda thing was good. Overall, average.
Immediate next building on the first floor was Chaa. Based on my friend’s recommendation, decided to try the Corn Cheese Balls and the Dhokla. It was a fairly big dining space and it was self service. Three pieces of Dhokla was priced at 30 bucks, It was soft and tasted good with the chutneys. Dry dhoklas can be a pain to eat, this was just nice and soft. Corn Cheese Balls took a while to come and it was yummy too, fully loaded to cheese and corn and jaljeera masala sprinkled on it. It was priced at 60 bucks.
Finally one last stop, The Egg Stop. Wanted to taste the Egg Soda. A bit skeptical about the smell of egg, and the guy assured us we will not even realize there is egg in it. 🙂 Don’t know why, but remembered a dialogue instantly from the movie Pardes – ‘Jis Saagar ki Ganga us saagar mein jaaye, jahaan sur sangam na taal mile, woh bhalaa woh pardes kyun jaaye’ 😛 LOL…When you can’t even make out that egg is added, why add it in the first place? 😉 Fine whatever, it tasted good and we ordered a Spanish Omelette, this was barely okay, first of all, the egg was a bit too much on the tava, could smell it, and it already came after a bit of a delay, were in no mood to change it and it was an overdose of potatoes. Didn’t enjoy it much. 99 bucks for the Spanish Omelette and 39 bucks for Egg Soda.
Since we already visited 2 Bengali places, decided to skip Bengali Fun Foods, just a few metres away. There are also many restaurants on this road in case you wanted a proper meal and not just street food. With that we ended our episode of exploring the food scene in this part of the city.
Finally, on the way back home, decided to have a lemon tea at Namma Theyneer Kadai on Velachery Main Road, just next to Gandhi Salai junction. Wonderful finish to a nice food hop. Though this has nothing to do with MGR Salai, had to mention ! 🙂
Now if I were to rank the places based on what we had –
1. Petuk Express
2. Gaurav Vada Pav
3. Chaa
4. Paanch Foron
5. The Egg Stop.
If you liked what you read, feel free to share the post. Hope this helps as a pointer for people waiting to explore this stretch with a food walk !
Happy Eating ! 🙂
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