OMR Food Street

19/03/18

All you can have under 100 bucks at OMR Food Street

For most people nowadays, having a decent meal under 100 bucks has become somewhat of an impossible proposition. You can forget about having an entire meal and probably just focus on a single food item. But will it fill you up and give you the satisfaction of downing an entire meal? Probably not. Here’s how you can do traditional South Indian food, OMR Food Street-style.

Starter: Plantain Soup at Star Burma Hotel — Rs.20

There can be no healthier a soup than the plantain soup from Star Burma Hotel. Essentially made with the banana plant’s stem, the soup is quite appetizing and healthy when compared to the regular ones, considering the fibrous nature of the banana stem. Just slurp and go!

Main Course: Appam Kuruma / Coconut Milk at Hot Dosa Restaurant — Rs.50

Nothing screams South Indian tiffin more than the food at the Hot Dosa Restaurant. Dig into a plate of hot Kerala-style appams with your own choice of spicy kuruma or sweet coconut milk. If you wish to turn things around a bit, you can also go for the idiyappam and kuruma or coconut milk combination; both the dishes letting you savor the tastes of Kerala.

Dessert/Drink: Badam Milk at Kumbakonam Filter Coffee — Rs.25

Grab a hot cup of badam milk to top the meal you just had. Known for their strong aromatic coffee, Kumbakonam Filter Coffee doesn’t let you down with their hot badam milk either.

These are just some of the dishes you can enjoy for under 100 bucks at OMF Food Street. The combinations are virtually never-ending if you are willing to experiment with various outlets at one shot, to craft your own sub-100-buck meal. If you happen to do so and come up with something truly awesome, do give us a shout out on our social media pages.

About Author:

OMR Food Street is the best street food in Chennai. And it is best drive-in cum drive-thru hub for foodies, with a speciality of serving up street food recipes from around India making it the best street food joint in Chennai. Omr food street is the home of the best street food outlets in chennai.

Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

The Food Street Experience

Happening and exciting are certainly two adjectives anybody would use to describe the OMR food street in Thoraipakkam, an agglomeration of various street food vendors aligned in the pattern of a street, where one can treat themselves to quick bites from a vast array of cuisines. Although eclipsed by the much larger and recent OMR food street outlets at various corners of the city, this original agglomeration stands strong drawing in people from other parts of town as well as the IT corridor populace.

The place is lit and abuzz especially in the evenings, when eager foodies throng it’s lanes for delicious treats. One can sample local delicacies like the Madurai based jigarthanda to exotic snacks like the Burmese Atho, which is slowly becoming a favorite in the City, all within its two lanes. The jigarthanda, a cross of a payasam and falooda, is a delight to try and is made in authentic Madurai style in two versions. The special Jigarthanda is certainly a personal favorite. The Atho , introduced to Madras near Parry’s corner makes its presence felt in ‘Burma square’ in the food street and has cut down travel time and distance for enthusiastic foodies wanting to try it in this side of town. Other staples like Chat, ice creams, sodas, pizzas are also available in various stalls.

Despite being the oldest one, innovation is a constant facet in this food street, where the team is planning to establish a coupon system that can be obtained and redeemed in the stalls. Certainly a mecca for foodies, do pay a visit to enjoy it as much as I did!

About Author:

OMR Food Street is the best street food in Chennai. And it is best drive-in cum drive-thru hub for foodies, with a speciality of serving up street food recipes from around India making it the best street food joint in Chennai. Omr food street is the home of the best street food outlets in chennai. Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

21/02/18

Food Focus – Chole Bhature from Chandni Chowk

Food reflects our culture, resources, tastes and affordability. Hence when you have any food, you’re literally taking a bite of the food’s journey from its home. Punjab is easily the biggest influencer when it comes to unique flavors and recipes in the long list of North Indian cuisine. It is home to the famed Chole Bhature, also popularly known in Chennai as Chola Poori. Chandni Chowk in Delhi is the place that has adopted Chole Bhature as its own and has since become synonymous with the dish.

Chandni Chowk to Chennai

Suman, our in-house Chole Bhature expert, who runs the ‘Chandni Chowk To OMR’ food joint at OMR Food Street, in Injambakkam, ECR, says that the magic of Chole Bhature is in its earthy flavors.

What’s in it?

The Chole a.k.a. Chick Peas a.k.a Channa is cooked to well but not till it gets mushy, with wholly native spices like cumin, turmeric, cloves, pepper, chilli, cardamom, garlic and asafoetida. Then it’s topped off with tangy lemon, tomato and butter garnish. While the Bhature a.k.a Poori a.k.a Indian Bread is made of maida and whole wheat flour with a pinch of salt, finely kneaded, rolled, pressed and eventually fried in oil until it’s puffy, golden brown.

While Chole Bhature gives you a taste of Punjab, it also tells you a lot about how great food can have non-descript ingredients, easy recipes and humble origins. The appeal though is across classes. People throng the Chole Bhature outlets in Chandni Chowk almost on a daily basis to relish this food of the masses, from the heart of India.

That’s what good food can do to you. It’ll bring you to where it is. Get your Chole Bhature fix at the Chandni Chowk To OMR outlet, in the ECR stretch and you’re sure to taste the authentic Punjabi-ness of this amazing dish, right here in Chennai.

About Author:

Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

4 Reasons Why We Love Street Food

For foodies everywhere, food is more than just the taste. It’s about what goes into the making of the dish, the story behind it, where it’s available, the people who make it and much more. Food should be that because it completes the experience and makes it memorable. You remember how amma makes laddu or kozhukattai more than how it tastes. It’s because watching someone make something as delectable as a laddu, at home, rolling each laddu by hand from a bunch of boondhis, while you keep stealing the cashews, are all memorable experiences. Those are again the reasons why street food fascinates us in a huge way. It’s made in front of us, it doesn’t burn a hole in our pockets, it’s fast and its genius!

1. It’s made in front of us

2. It’s not expensive!

3. It’s fast!

4. It’s genius!

About Author:

Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

Kari Dosai, Parotta Platter – A Chettinadu Style Taste Riot

For a person revisiting OMR Food Street, the Injambakkam Food Street is chock full of mini surprises. A row of new food outlets dot a couple of already recognizable ones like Tibbs Frankie and the anchor outlet, Ajanabi. Being one of those work visits isn’t the easiest to handle at a place like Chennai Street Food. It was exactly that until our job was done and we decided to head into Namma Chettinad, to get over two hours of nibbling at our temptations.

Tucked away and invisible from out front, one has to get to the end of the OMR Food Street to visit Namma Chettinad. The interiors of the outlet are quite plain, with only the wooden tables serving to catch your eye.

We ordered three dishes in total; a chicken kari dosa, a prawn parottizza and an egg veechu parotta. The element that was common and fit the bill for all three dishes was the spicy chicken gravy or kuruma that came with the dosa and parotta.

The Chicken Kari Dosa is essentially a kal dosa (like an oothapam) with cooked chicken layered atop in an almost seamless manner. By the looks of it, one would assume there isn’t any meat to chew on, which isn’t the case. The little chunks of spicy cooked chicken keep your taste buds rooting for more, along with the magic that is the kuruma.

The Prawn Parotizza is exactly what it sounds like… prawns, parotta and pizza, with the only exception that the prawns taste unlike any other preparation I’ve tried, although in small quantity. They were cooked with masalas or spices to an extent it looses its signature, seafood taste. Topped with cheese and cut into four slices to put the pizza in parotizza, Namma Chettinad brings an interesting note to a food item that’s most common to Chennai.

The Egg Veechu Parotta is a simpler variety, which isn’t as layered, but spread out and cooked with eggs, to form a thinner version of the parotta. Served with raita and chicken kuruma, the egg veechu definitely packs more of a punch than its counterpart. We walked out of Namma Chettinad having eaten our fill, content as ever and hoping to return back sometime to savor and experience food, the Chettinad style.

About Author:

Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

Navratri Special

Everyone has fond memories of celebrating Vijayadashami or Dusshera holidays with pomp and splendor. It’s one of those festivals that is widely celebrated across India and in a different manner from region to region.

Vijayadashami or Dusshera marks the end of Durga Puja, denoting Goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura; the end of Ramlila, denoting Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana; or paying

reverence to Saraswathi, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Activities during the Navaratri festival culminating in Vijayadashami or Dusshera range from dandiya and garba dances during the evenings, enactments of Ramleela, decorative arrangements of bommai kolu dolls and so on.

Food is an important part of the Navaratri festival depending on where you happen to live. Down south, the food item that tops every other is the chickpeas sundal, a stir-fired dish made with white chickpeas and various spices and condiments. Another that is a staple of every South Indian’s pooja holiday snack would be a readymade mixture

of puffed rice, groundnuts and split roasted gram (pottukadalai), and is normally consumed in no small quantity.

Sweet pongal or sarkarai pongal is prepared on the day of Vijayadashami, and also for Ayudha Pooja, when all the implements and tools of one’s trade are cleaned and set aside for performing a pooja.

Jalebis are the ‘hot cakes’ of Navratri season as you go up North, with the delectable twirls of fried, sugary goodness being sold and consumed in quantities that are never seen all year long. The savory equivalent to the jalebis are called fafdas, an authentic and crunchy (Gujarati) snack made from chickpea flour and served with fried chillies or a special chutney of sorts. Some of the sweet treats for Dusshera in other parts of India include besan laddoos or fried boondi drenched in sugar syrup, rasgullas, gulab jamuns and a variety of kheers.

Although the Navaratri season is celebrated under varied names with different kinds of rituals carried across India, among the most famous is the Mysore Dasara, a 10-day festival starting with Navratri (nine nights) and culminating in Vijayadashami on the 10th day. The city of Mysuru is known to have celebrated Dasara with pomp and grandeur, for centuries together, with the Mysore Palace to this day being extensively lit up for 10

days of religious and cultural activities. The sweet of choice for Dasara, the ’mysore pak’ aptly derives its name from this great city, having been first prepared in the Mysore Palace kitchens during the regime of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, by a palace cook named Kakasura Madappa.

Along with the festival of Diwali, the varied rituals and traditions of Navaratri, Dusshera and Vijayadashami take place during two of the most eagerly awaited months of the year in the Indian calendar. And rightly so, because they also happen to be the most anticipated months of the year, for those who enjoy food in all its festive forms.

About Author:

Footnotes : Chennai Street Food | Street Food Restaurants in Chennai | Food Court in Chennai

Diwali Delicacies!

Diwali is that time of the year when people of all ages are really excited about the festival of lights, for reasons of their own. For the kids and youngsters, its the prospect of putting on new clothes after an early morning oil bath, followed by the incessant lighting of crackers and fancy fireworks all day long; for those middle aged and elderly folks, its more about making those yearly house visits and spending quality time with their loved ones.

The only aspect that ties all age groups together during Diwali is the food, consisting of sweets and savories that are easily prepared at home (or bought) and distributed among family, friends and relatives. Following are the most common sweets and savories relished during the Diwali season.

Adhirasams are sweets that top the list when it comes down to Diwali preparations at home. Similar in shape to a vadai, albeit a little flatter, the doughnut like pastry is made using rice flour, jaggery and ghee, and is known to have a long, popular history in Tamil culture.

Prepared using chickpea or gram flour and ingredients such as cashews, raisins, saffron and cardamom, Boondi Laddoos are the staple, Diwali sweet treats that are sure to be enjoyed in every home.

Originally known as ‘Mysuru Paaka’ denoting the city of its origin, the Mysore Pak is yet another Diwali staple, prepared with generous amounts of ghee, sugar, gram flour and cardamom. Taking a bite of this sweet treat is so good that it quite literally melts away in your mouth.

A traditional South Indian (Iyengar) savory, Mullu Murukku or Maghizhampoo Murukku is a deep fried, rice-based snack, prepared with flour, moong dal and channa dal. It is a common snack usually served with evening tea or coffee, but also prepared during special occasions like Diwali.

A delicious variation of the traditional murukku, the Ribbon Pakoda is also known by the names Ribbon Murukku or Ola Pakoda. This crispy snack is made using rice flour, besan, fried gram and mild spices like chili powder and cumin, remaining as one of the most prepared and consumed savory snacks during the Diwali season.

Diwali is the most colorful festival of lights and crackers. The only thing that connects us this Diwali is food! Have a colorful and safe Diwali everyone!