Eat. Eat. Love.

"Weekdays la weekend-ukku wait pannu vome."

That's just a lame line from the comedy track of an equally lame movie. Tamil movies are rampant with guys-with-no-jobs or whatever. But seriously, who doesn't count the hours until it's Friday/Saturday? Mostly to catch up on The Simpsons. Or if you feel like losing money the good way (eating, duh/d'oh), here are the places I emptied my wallet at, recently.

I would like to warn you though. Vegetarians, all of it is... not vegetarian.

And my meat-eating friends, all of it is chicken.

1) Bombay Sheek House:

Saturday night. You've just watched a movie/play/concert. It's 8:30 PM. And you've landed up on Greams Road. The popcorn didn't fill you up enough to last through dinner. Maybe you're lucky enough to have an extended curfew, and even luckier to have a couple of hours to kill, driving down to the beach. Make a pitstop at Fruit Shop. Get yourself a drink (Lime Mint Cooler/Fruit Cocktail Regular/Jughead's Special are the ones I order, depending on how generous I feel that day).

My vegetarian friends could arm themselves with a frankie/vada pav from Tibbs. Highly doubt they've stuck around after the warning, though.

A metre or so away, inside the Fruit Shop parking lot, is an incredible little kebab joint which had been unnamed until recently. Now it's called Bombay Sheek House (or was it Corner?). Not a very creative name, I know. But this place is not about creating miniscule portions of fancy food. More about serving amazingly cooked, amazingly spiced, tender old-fashioned kebabs in a jiffy.

This wasn't even on the menu. We asked for chicken tikka, in a roomali roti. I almost couldn't finish it, it was that filling. And I did finish it, because it was that good! Cost hardly 70 bucks.

2)If you decide to drive down to the beach straight, I know you'll go to Pupil. Duh, again. We're talking about Besant Nagar beach, right? (Marina after seven is just plain dangerous). Next to Pupil, there's another multi-cuisine-ish shack now, where we ordered a plate of Haryali Chicken Tikka.

It was expensive. And good, but the expense of it is what I remember more. Around eight little pieces cost about 130 bucks. Which sounds reasonable, I guess. Not at a little shack, but in a non-descript, yellow-lit room with cutlery. Still. You have the beach as part of the bargain.

3)And the last two chicken dishes are from Sparkys. They won't be good, taken away or eaten in the car. This is the kind of thing that takes approximately two hours to finish. See for yourself. Sunday lunch, maybe?

The promised photo of the Breaded Chicken Wrap! With a side of wedges (I've raved enough about those!) and a honey-mustard and buffalo sauce. Comes up to Rs.160 or so, plus tax, which is justifiable on a Sunday (no?). However, if it's a celebratory lunch of some sort, go ahead and order the...

The Grilled Chicken American meal. Two chicken breasts, spiced with a cajun rub consisting of cayenne pepper, garlic powder and the like. Grilled to perfection. Served with sauteed veggies (squash, zucchini, local produce), potato wedges, gravy AND a salad. All amounting to Rs. 210. Proper paisa vasool, if you ask me.

I also dined and lunched recently at two of the very best places at Madras (one south-Indian and the other Greek/Cypriot-any guesses?), so look out for those reviews!

And on a less happy note, I've given up on those pants. Don't even ask. Sigh.