The Kebab Factory!

I’m a foodie. And you can take it from me – the Kebab factory in GRT Radisson, Chennai – is one of the best dining places ever! Right from the ambience – the décor, the polite welcome and the choice of seats – to the wonderful food, everything is par excellence but more significantly it is finger-licking authentic Indian cuisine!
The specialty as the name suggests is kebabs – Perhaps because I’m a vegetarian, I never get to eat as many kebabs as I would like to, but here I indulged in nearly 3 full courses of what were supposed to be starters!
It all began, as the saying goes, with a yam (senakizhangu) and gourd (podalanga) kebab – to be rolled on a saffron flavored flour (maida) paratha after sprinkling onions and adding a tinge of mint and tomato chutney. It was beautiful – the very predominant taste of the yam with a tinge of fresh green gourd lingering in the mouth after the initial taste of saffron – yeah, it was beautiful!
Next came on the sweet potato – roasted to perfection with a tinge of Chat masala and jeera. By roasted to perfection, I mean that the outside was crisp (with a beautiful salty-spicy start) whereas the inside was just plain soft boiled sweet potato! A perfect combination of salt and sweet. Perhaps you’ve already guessed my word to describe this dish – perfect!
The next was the very much awaited paneer dish – I love paneer – but what I ate here was too amazing! They say that paneer made perfectly from pure milk can be sliced – and that is exactly what I could do! Contrasting the previous two, this kebab was marinated and then boiled with the assertive flavour of elaichi generously gracing the dish. A slight tinge of jeera on the outside added to the experience. I particularly enjoyed it with slightly salted yoghurt with finely chopped fresh green chillies. It was amazing!
What is popularly known as the ‘vegetable cutlet’ followed next. The vegetables (predominantly potato, carrot) were finely minced and mashed and made as is meant to be. What more can I say?
Simla Mirch stuffed with cottage cheese – anything more I can say? (Well, perhaps a little bit - because this was one of my favourites.. :-P) I’m one of those many pizza crazy people who populate the earth, and so I literally pounced on this kebab when it arrived! I am compelled to say that it exceeded my expectations! Capsicum(simla mirch) stuffed with cooked cottage cheese and tomatoes, with the generously sprinkled cashews giving you a pleasant surprise – a very unique and rich taste indeed!
The last kebab – rumali roti rolled with pickle flavoured vegetables and deep fried – tasted something like spring rolls, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the exceedingly invasive tamarind taste.
Those were the starters.
!
A choice of rotis from naan, butter naan, garlic naan land tandoori roti with dal makhani (umm…that soft dal with the butter just melting in my mouth was amazing!) and a vegetable gravy (with broccoli, mushrooms and baby-corn) announced the arrival of the main course! It was followed by wonderful biriyani – with fried vegetables and spices taking over the taste buds and the unleashed smell of saffron invading the nostrils!
The glass of lassi – a diluted yoghurt drink with a salty/chat taste ended the main course.
Wait…what about the deserts? From a selection of cham cham(a Bengali delicacy), a fig desert(a delicacy from Hyderabad),carrot halwa, gulob jamun and kesar kulfi (an ice-cream flavoured with saffron and pista) all I could convince my stomach to eat were the gulob jamun and the kulfi. The kulfi was amazing but the gulob jamun was exceptional! Made very unconventionally – it was deep-fried, removed, stuffed with rabadi(a sweetened form of yoghurt) and then fried again and then soaked in sugar syrup! Served hot, it was a perfect end to what was perhaps one of the best ever meals of my life!

After reading this blog, you have perhaps appreciated how much I can eat when I want to! So the next time you take me out for a treat, think again about it!! :-D