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Showing posts with the label Coffee

New Releases and OTT

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I saw Kaala feat. Superstar Rajinikanth the third time yesterday (Thursday 21 June) on its 14 th day after release. Was happy to book online and reached KG Cinemas, Coimbatore ahead of schedule time. To my surprise, rather the lack of it, the screen was near empty. One of the oldest and largest Cinema Screens in India with over 800 seats, we were just 50 of us spread across the seating areas. Each of us had an agenda, perhaps. For me, it was noticing a few nuances and the undertones of dialogues, sequences and inner-meaning of the screenplay. Will reserve that for another column since I found a number of interesting perspectives. Kaala will be pulled off screens from today since Tik Tik Tik, a Space Odyssey feat. Jayam Ravi is finally releasing today and a dozen films are lined up for the next 3 months including big ticket releases featuring Ajith, Vijay, Surya and Karthi to name a few. Of course the much awaited Vishwaroopam 2 feat. actor turned politician (sic) Kamal Hassan

Amethyst - By the elite, Of the Elite, For the elite

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It was my second visit to Amethyst and first with my wife. Wanted to show her how wonderful the place is. The previous time I had been there a few weeks back, service was awfully poor. The waiter couldn’t care less that I was seated and ignored me quite a few times until I asked him to serve me my coffee. After I was done, I offered to pay my bill using a credit card and the guy declined saying that the credit card would be accepted for bills above Rs. 200 only. I was shocked and protested after which he agreed to accept the card. Despite this I visited the place again because I really liked the place. And the food too. So my wife and I settled in at the cafe around 1pm. For the first 8-9 mins, no one turned up. Thereafter, the waiter walked in and asked what would we like to order. I suggested that basic courtesy calls for water to be served as soon as the guest arrives. The guy fashionably brings two bottles of water, one warm and one cold. I replied that we would prefer norm

Know your Filter Kapi better!

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Came across this interesting note about the origin of Filter Kapi - by Mr. Elangkumaran Jayabharathi and wanted to share with our readers...  T here are multiple speculations as to why its called "degree" coffee: The most plausible explanation is that it's not "degree" coffee. It's Chicory  which came to be pronounced as  tikeri  and eventually became degree . Chicory helps extract more flavour from the coffee beans. Milk certified as pure with was called  degree milk  owing to a mistaken association with the thermometer. It is claimed that coffee prepared with degree milk  became known as  degree coffee. The first  decoction  is sometimes called the  first degree, thus leading to the  name  degree coffee South Indian coffee (a.k.a  filter coffee ) is a milk coffee (perfect example of South Indians' affinity for dairy products). Most of the beans are grown in India (Arabica and Robusta varieties are grown in Tamil Nadu primarily at

Masala Dosa at Hotel Palmgrove

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Being the first column here, I was wondering what should I be writing about. And I couldn't think of a more fitting tribute than to give the accolades to Hotel Palmgrove. This hotel is a part of the Ballal Group which hails from the southern state of Karnataka. Started in the year 1973, Hotel Palmgrove is located in the busy commercial hub of Nungambakkam in Central Chennai. It has over 80 rooms and 9 cottages spread over an area of two acres. Palmgrove serves pure 100% vegetarian cuisine and has been a landmark location of Chennai over the past four decades, be it for a grand wedding celebration or a simple meal. I visited this place a few days back and was surprised with the variety and fare that continues as part of its tradition. We ordered Sambar Vadai, Rasa Vadai, Poori, Masala Dosas and Ice-Cream. Of boy! That was a very heavy meal. While the pricing is a bit on the higher side, it is well compensated by the rich quality of ingredients, the friendly service and the per