Honey Chilli Potato

Honey Chilli Potato, at the Flower Drum, Egmore

A resounding YES, meant all of us agreed to the ordering of Honey Chilli Potato. A staple starter at any Chinese restaurant. Get it right and you are in our good books. Get it even marginally wrong, and we riot (i.e. pay the bill and walk out).

It arrived. The waiter almost began serving. ‘NOOOO!!!’ came the cry of 6 CSKians. The photo hadn’t been clicked yet (Sorry about the ruckus guys. We are usually decent). Once the pic was in, we wasted no time in devouring the starter. 

The sweetness of the honey hit us like the starting words ‘Hello, Is there anybody in there?’ from Pink Floyd’s awesome number. Then, it was the potato. It was soft enough to chew and warm on the inside. About a couple of seconds later, came the showstopper. It hit the ramp of our tongues and stayed. ‘Mmmmm’. ‘Naaaice’. ‘hmmm it’s good’. ‘Waaaw’. And, so on. It felt like…

I can't explain, you would not understand. 
This is not how I am. 
I have become comfortably numb

Well, perfect!

Next time you’re at the Flower Drum in Egmore, order this eyes closed. You ain’t gonna regret.

Honey Chili Potato

Restaurant: Flower Drum, Egmore

Cost: Rs. 188/- (+10% service charge; +4.94% service tax)

North East Kitchen, Egmore

North East Kitchen, Egmore

After months of speculation and planning, we finally made it to the North East Kitchen in Egmore. This time, we showed up for lunch instead of the usual CSK dinner outing. We wanted to see if it was possible to get a quick lunch during a work-day at the North East Kitchen; and the short answer is: No. It is definitely not the place that you wish to get in, eat quickly, and get out.

That, was probably the only downer we could find in our meal at the restaurant, which was otherwise fantastic. The decor of the place is a mix of homely and stylish - neither of which is overdone. It's quite balanced.

North East Kitchen, Egmore

The restaurant has ample parking space, as it shares its space with a complex with multiple restaurant outlets and other establishments.

The service by the waiter and the waitress was really pleasant. They readily moved tables around for us to sit together (we were eight of us); they served us with plenty of smiles, and were patient with all our questions and our drama (yes, we love drama!).

Bhut Jolokia, one of the world's hottest chili peppers, at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

They even promptly brought us a plate of dried Bhut Jolokia (pictured above), upon request, as the chili lover within our group wanted to see/try it. We frowned on the fact that the chilis were of the dried variety, and not fresh ones - and promptly sent them back.

The array of accompaniments provided with a meal at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

True to Korean cuisine, there were main course dishes which are accompanied by a range of sides (as pictured above), which is always a better sight for the eyes than for the average Indian palate. And there were complimentary afters as well, (pictured below), this time being freshly cut watermelon slices, as the fruit was in season.

Complimentary After-Meal Dessert: Cut Watermelon slices, at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

The restaurant is a low-key, yet great experience, and if you're looking for decent North East / Korean cuisine, there's no better place to head to, in this part of the city. It is definitely a must-visit for every Non-Vegetarian foodie in the city. While the variety of flavours in the dishes may not appeal to those amongst you who love spicy and chilly-based food, by no means is the food bland or under-spiced. It serves some of the best non-Continental, non-Indian beef and pork; and for that alone, this little restaurant in the heart of Egmore is worth a visit. Again, and again.

A word of advice on the quantity, though: if you're a group of eight, order for about four-five people; the quantity is more than sufficient for most of the dishes.

Here's the list of what we ordered - with our recommendations on whether to order them or not. You can click through to the individual articles to read about them. (Prices below include any and all taxes and service charges - the restaurant does not charge extra for them)

Chicken Soup

Rs. 100

Tasty

Our Review

Chicken Sticky Fried

Rs. 300

Palatable

Our Review

Okki (Pork)

Rs. 350

Palatable

Our Review

Beef Fried with Chilly

Rs. 300

Tasty

Our Review

Doenjang Jjigae (Vegetarian)

Rs. 350

Tasty

Our Review

Dakalbi (Chicken)

Rs. 350

Tasty

Our Review

Janchi Kuksu

Rs. 250

Palatable

Our Review

Pork Noodles

Rs. 130

Tasty

Our Review

Veg Fried Rice

Rs. 100

Tasty

Our Review

Coca Cola and Fanta (500 ml, PET bottles)

Rs. 50 (per bottle)

Veg Fried Rice

Veg Fried Rice at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

Considering that there were only two options from the standard Indian Chinese cuisine available to vegetarians, we went with the Veg Fried Rice option. It had a good amount of vegetables, and like much everything else at the North East Kitchen, it had good amount of flavour.

It was on par on both quantity and quality (and price!) with what we expected at the North East Kitchen. Again, if you're a vegetarian and you've been forced to come to this place, you will definitely need to order one of the four vegetarian options they have - and this Veg Fried Rice is 25% of those options.

Veg Fried Rice
Restaurant: North East Kitchen, Egmore
Cost: Rs. 100/- (inclusive of all taxes and service charges)

Pork Noodle

Pork Noodles at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

We ordered the Pork Noodles to try out at least one staple from Indian Chinese cuisine, and we discovered that it to be good, but not wow-some.

Admittedly, the Pork Noodle was competing with the Okki (pork) that we had earlier, and that was a tough act to follow, cos the Okki was off the charts. While we generally felt that this Noodles dish was value-for-money, considering the location, and pretty decent in taste, it wasn't very pork-flavoured.

It is a good Noodles dish; we just weren't sure what difference the pork made to it. While we can overlook such finer details in a standard Indian Chinese restaurant, we feel that a place such as the North East Kitchen, which prides itself to be serving authentic Korean food as well, should have gone a few steps further in bringing out the flavour and the texture of the pork, in a pork noodle dish.

Pork Noodles
Restaurant: North East Kitchen, Egmore
Cost: Rs. 130/- (inclusive of all taxes and service charges)

Janchi Kuksu (Vegetarian)

Janchi Kuksu (Vegetarian) at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

This is a soupy dish with noodles, that went down very well with our resident vegetarians. It was flavourful, and the texture of the noodles with the soup was really good. There was a hint of the flavour of fish detected by one person, in just one portion of the dish, but we can't be sure.

It is provided with the standard set of accompaniments, such as the Chinese cabbage, chilli sauce, etc. which is pretty normal for a main course dish in a Korean restaurant.

Again, if you are vegetarian, and you find yourself at the North East Kitchen under compulsion by your non-vegetarian-eating friends, you have only about four options: and the Janchi Kuksu is the best option.

Janchi Kuksu
Restaurant: North East Kitchen, Egmore
Cost: Rs. 250/- (inclusive of all taxes and service charges)

Dakalbi (Chicken)

Dakalbi (Chicken) at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

Ah yes. The Dakalbi. The dish that resulted in arguments amongst the Chennai Sappadu Kings. The Dakalbi is a slightly semi-dry gravy, provided with a bowl of rice - as shown in the picture above.

The singularity of the Dakalbi at the North East Kitchen lies in the fact that it is slightly sweet, as soon as you place a spoonful of the nice-looking, red, chicken gravy in your mouth. As you continue to eat it, though, the spiciness kicks in - and man, what spiciness. It burns the insides of the mouth quite a bit; a few of us couldn't eat it. Some of us kept thinking that it was sweet, until the spice hit us. Some of us continued to view it with contempt as a 'sweet' dish.

We cannot highly recommend the Dakalbi as a dish for everyone. But if you're the kind who likes a sleeper hit of extreme spice, please order this one. You won't be disappointed.

Dakalbi (Chicken)
Restaurant: North East Kitchen, Egmore
Cost: Rs. 350/- (inclusive of all taxes and service charges)

Doenjang Jjigae (Vegetarian)

Doenjang Jjigae (Vegetarian) at the North East Kitchen, Egmore

A jjigae is traditionally a staple Korean dish which is similar to a stew. The Doenjang Jjigae We were forced to order this, as there were only four vegetarian dishes on the menu - and the two vegetarians in our group concur: they would not visit this restaurant again, due to the lack of choice for vegetarian food.

The taste was decent, but nothing to get all excited about. Our bottom line would be - if you're vegetarian, and your non-vegetarian friends drag you to the North East Kitchen, you can definitely try this out, just for the sake of trying something new and different.

Doenjang Jjigae (Vegetarian)
Restaurant: North East Kitchen, Egmore
Cost: Rs. 350/- (inclusive of all taxes and service charges)