Achayathis Restaurant, Velachery, Chennai

A recent addition to the Velachery food scene, Achayathis Restaurant is located on the Velachery Bypass Road, which is already quite happening with a lot of restaurants.  Located Opposite to Murugan Kalyana Mandapam, Achayathis is on the Second floor of a building that has a Gymnasium on the first floor and Kovai Pazhamudhir Nilayam on the Ground Floor.  It is quite prominent and hard to miss.  I’ve been to their other outlet Achayathis, Nungambakkam for their Onam Sadhya, liked their food!

Parking is not the most comfortable aspect here, but you can manage to park slightly away on the wide Road.  There is a Lift, exclusive for guests of Achayathis, that was comfortable.  As we walked into the restaurant, we couldn’t help but notice the elegantly-designed interiors as much as we noticed that the AC wasn’t working.  We were told they had some problem with the AC and only Fans were switched on.  We were fine, decided to go ahead.  We were the only ones in the entire restaurant.  Only after looking at the watch, realized that we were quite early for dinner, at 7:15 PM.

As we sat down, realized that the Chair was specifically designed for the slim and svelte figures.  Definitely wasn’t comfortable for me, but managed.  A relaxed seating, definitely not!

We ordered main course along with one starter, so weren’t really looking at a clear demarcation between starters and main course. 

Kandhari Chicken, the name sounded interesting!  A fiery hot dry chicken dish with lots of Kandhari chillies is what I had in mind.  What came was visually pretty much in line with my expectation.  Eagerly took a couple of pieces, and realized it was Chicken with bone, and not boneless.  That was still fine, but on first bite, I wasn’t pleased!  The chicken was smelly.  Again, my assumption of this typical smell in chicken is due to not thawing it properly.  All of us felt the same, and decided to leave the dish. In the end, I did pass on a feedback on this dish and we weren’t billed for it too.

More than just one dish being bad, this led to a lot of skepticism in trying other Chicken dishes.  The confidence had taken a huge hit and it wasn’t going to be easy.  Meanwhile Parotta, Aappam, and Chicken Varutharachathu were served next.  Aappam had a distinct fermented taste, I suppose it was toddy.  It tasted great!   Parottas were soft and flaky, wonderful too!  If I was too picky, I’d have liked it a little longer on the tawa just for some Browns on the sides.  It definitely wasn’t undercooked.  Chicken Varutharachathu was good, the chicken pieces in it were good not a slightest smell in it.  Slowly, began to eat with a little more ease!  Egg Roast was wonderful, loved the flavorsome onion and tomato thick base.

Meanwhile Kids were eagerly waiting for the Chicken Kizhi Porotta! It wasn’t like a soggy mess in many places.  However, the Chicken gravy in between the parottas was wonderful ! Again, chicken piece was good too! 

Ordered two more parottas before moving to desserts.  Same as last time, done well, but a little more Brown would leave the mind in peace. 🙂

Decided to try a dessert each.  It wasn’t like we were stuffed to the gills, so there was definitely some scope for desserts.  We ordered Paalada Paayasam, Tender Coconut pudding, Tender Coconut Ice cream, and a Sulaimani.  All of them were good!  Tender Coconut pudding was wonderful, we ordered one more of that.  Unlike most places, Sulaimani was not just Black tea with a mint leaf! 🙂  A nice flavor of cinnamon and masala., a nice end to the meal. 

Overall, the dinner outing started of very shaky, but ended on a good note! 

To dine when AC wasn’t working was an informed choice we made, hence not complaining about that.  We were there for a little over an hour and until the very end, we were the only people in the restaurant.  Finally towards the end of the meal, two more tables were occupied.  Service was pleasant overall.  We paid 2048 bucks in all, the overall experience could have been better this time, but certainly worthy of a visit sometime.