This is an interesting concept with two distinct cooking styles in one restaurant, and a bit of a Page 3 profile with a celebrity chef (Chef Jacob who is a popular TV chef in Tamil Nadu and has featured on some popular English food shows as well), celebrity owner (Suresh Menon, an actor/director/cinematographer who was married to Revathi) and inaugurated by Tamil Cinema’s first couple – Surya and Jyothika. While Crimson Chakra has a more traditional menu (described as a South Indian grill, but actually a mix of all things edible), 13 First Crescent replicates the cuisine of Cornucopia, a popular Chennai restaurant, which is logical as both are Chef Anand’s babies.
There is a veg and non-veg sampler menu on offer with traditional dishes (the fusion menu does not have such an option) for Rs. 450 and Rs. 550 respectively. Meals start with a nice cononut based welcome drink, but the soups (spicy lamb broth for non-veg and tomato soup for veg) were a letdown. Overall both veg and non-veg spreads were good with some flashes of brilliance and some mediocrity in between. This high standard deviation reflected in the desserts as well, which had an extraordinary ‘neelikai halwa’ (neelikai = alma, gooseberry) and ordinary banana pudding (described by one of my dining companions as ‘tastes like mashed banana that you give children’)
The fusion menu had some interesting takes like lamb flavored with coffee and fish with mango. Standard dishes like Buffalo wings and fish in oyster sauce also find a place on the menu. I admired the concept of the innovative dishes though their execution needs a little work. The buffalo wings for example weren’t bad but didn’t send you to the north of New York state either.
Most chocolate desserts like brownie, mud pie etc. were very good, but the yelaneer soufflé’ (yelaneer = coconut water) was my favourite (not a soufflé’ in the traditional sense based on baked egg whites, but nice nevertheless).
Having paid about Rs.3500 for 7 diners, I would consider it a decent dinner in a nice ambiance at a very reasonable price.
- Siddhartha Singh
PS: The photo isn’t from Crimson Chakra.
Nice article.well your reviews about different foods made our choice easy.keep it up.
I was in Chennai about two days back and was staying the the Park POD hotel, somewhere in Nungambakkam. They run this Italian restaurant called Italia. Was quite nice. Definitely worth a visit for anyone who loves Italian food. 5*
@Vivek: We’ve covered the Delhi outlet of Italia and agree with you. You may like to check these out:
http://chefatlarge.in/reviews/italia-dlf-promenade-mall-new-delhi.html
http://chefatlarge.in/reviews/italia-truffle-mushroom-festival-dlf-promenade-vasant-kunj.html
@Vivek Based on your review of the Chennai outlet, CaL’s of Delhi, and if am right, Bangalore was probably the first one, it appears that they have maintained high standards all across.
.-= Siddhartha Singh´s last blog ..Stuffed bellies, tired legs and the Chaos of Chandni Chowk =-.
That’s an insightful review. Have you thought about writing reviews on burrp.com?
@ Rohini I don’t generally write reviews. More interested in foologues which I post on my blog.