Reviving the blog after 4 years is always a hard task. My syntax has changed. I'm older -- yes, I know 22 isn't an age where you can start complaining about being a grandma but...I feel it. Especially when I'm suddenly surrounded by married couples, couples with kids, and the one-off single friend who's drowning her sorrows and work-life tension in a $10 CVS bottle of wine.
And yet, there's so much that's good: 4 years has brought a sense of clarity to life, one I didn't really see coming and before I knew it, I've landed up in Chennai. Somehow, amidst the constant chaos and the hustle and bustle (which seems to have increases 100-fold in my first proper Margazhi season), I've found my peace. And I've found food -- oh food.
I could wax eloquent about food, and Chennai food is no different. Crunchy pani puri (I won't call it gol gappa because I think the few Delhiites I know will come after me, weapon in hand) at roadside stalls, flecked paan ice cream, sizzling brownies that I've now eaten everyday for the last two weeks: that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes though, I crave a slice of home, however misplaced it may seem. What I didn't expect to find was something I didn't know I was looking for all this time: deep-dish pizza.
As my Chicagoan friend has said, deep-dish is sacred. I first tasted it in the corners of a dimly lit Giordano's with my best friend and while my tastes have evolved quite a bit since then (at least I'd like to think so), the sentiment has never changed: deep-dish makes you feel, makes you crave, and makes you want a hug -- mostly in that order. So when Ashvita Nirvana in Besant Nagar announced part two of a deep-dish pop-up, run by a wonderful chef and an even nicer person, Devansh Jhaveri (who goes by his brand name, Mafia Chef), I knew I had to be around to see it pan out.
The Ambience:
Ashvita is quirky, fun, a little eclectic, but with its allocation of the posh, for lack of better term. Possessing a menu with a ridiculous number of vegan-friendly options, it brings something new to Chennai's otherwise non-mock-meat scene. Something to mention: it has outlets where you can charge your phone whilst you eat. I know for most people that's really not on their top-ten must-haves in a restaurant but when I'm trying to Snapchat my food, phone charge is of the utmost importance.
The Tasters:
There were four of us: A Chicagoan, a Hoosier (though with the current political situation, I try to keep this little tidbit on the down-low), a Chennaiite, and a budding musician who could give my appetite a run for its money. We were ready and boy, were we hungry. After screaming some Rahman at the top of our lungs while trying to drive through a crowded Besant Nagar, gazing longingly at every kovil serving thayir satham in those little wooden, ecofriendly bowls, we just needed food. Sustenance, if you will.
The Deep-Dish:
I had partially cheated and had already tried the mock-meat before our visit. As a former Morningstar Farms-aficionade, fake chik'n holds a special place in my heart -- don't judge. So after some coercion and a long discussion about the components of this strange ingredient, I convinced my friends: barbecue mock-meat, it was!
We also tried to be healthy (or as healthy as you can be when you're eating 3-inch-tall pizza that is 90% bread-and-cheese) and chose both a corn-and-sundried-tomato and green-olive-and-mushroom to accompany our wonderful fake-meat pizza. I did get a side of mayo as dipping sauce (I know it's unconventional but, don't knock it until you try it), so there goes the 2016 diet.
The Verdict:
American deep-dish is its own world, so-to-speak, and layers of stringy mozzarella that could probably give you a heart attack in the next instant aren't really part of the Indian palette. Intelligently, Ashvita has taken the format and suited it for the Indian palette, sans-fusion. A slightly-spicy tomato sauce adorned the pizzas and while the crust was a little bready for my liking, the food is, at its heart, soul pizza. I might've enjoyed it even more if it was 3 AM food while hard at work but the barbecue chik'n pizza, I'd definitely hit up again.
The Monster Shake:
We needed something to wash down this monstrosity (pun-not-intended) and though my friend was devastated at the lack of a strawberry-banana smoothie on the menu, the posh nosh monster shake that I had been eyeing for the last few months was there to save the day, along with an Oreo milkshake that, surprisingly, lived up to its name far more than expected.
The monster shake needs no introduction, especially to my fellow food-aficionados that are familiar with its many varieties internationally. We settled on the posh nosh and I, at least, was taken for a pleasant ride, to say the least. The salted caramel is the perfect accompaniment to the thick whipped cream and fudge syrup that drapes quite nicely over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, all doused in liquidy goodness. Though Coke and pizza is the combination to beat them all, the monster shake is a close second -- but beware, fainting from food fatigue and sugar exhaustion is a real danger.
Ashvita Nirvana's deep-dish pop up runs until December 31, 2016. Pizzas are priced at Rs. 395/ vegetable pizza and Rs. 445/mock-meat pizza and come in 6-inch sizes, serving 1 famished person or 2 moderately hungry individuals. Reservations can be made by calling 044 24424404 / 42699026 / 9791088189 .
And yet, there's so much that's good: 4 years has brought a sense of clarity to life, one I didn't really see coming and before I knew it, I've landed up in Chennai. Somehow, amidst the constant chaos and the hustle and bustle (which seems to have increases 100-fold in my first proper Margazhi season), I've found my peace. And I've found food -- oh food.
I could wax eloquent about food, and Chennai food is no different. Crunchy pani puri (I won't call it gol gappa because I think the few Delhiites I know will come after me, weapon in hand) at roadside stalls, flecked paan ice cream, sizzling brownies that I've now eaten everyday for the last two weeks: that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes though, I crave a slice of home, however misplaced it may seem. What I didn't expect to find was something I didn't know I was looking for all this time: deep-dish pizza.
As my Chicagoan friend has said, deep-dish is sacred. I first tasted it in the corners of a dimly lit Giordano's with my best friend and while my tastes have evolved quite a bit since then (at least I'd like to think so), the sentiment has never changed: deep-dish makes you feel, makes you crave, and makes you want a hug -- mostly in that order. So when Ashvita Nirvana in Besant Nagar announced part two of a deep-dish pop-up, run by a wonderful chef and an even nicer person, Devansh Jhaveri (who goes by his brand name, Mafia Chef), I knew I had to be around to see it pan out.
The Ambience:
Ashvita is quirky, fun, a little eclectic, but with its allocation of the posh, for lack of better term. Possessing a menu with a ridiculous number of vegan-friendly options, it brings something new to Chennai's otherwise non-mock-meat scene. Something to mention: it has outlets where you can charge your phone whilst you eat. I know for most people that's really not on their top-ten must-haves in a restaurant but when I'm trying to Snapchat my food, phone charge is of the utmost importance.
The Tasters:
There were four of us: A Chicagoan, a Hoosier (though with the current political situation, I try to keep this little tidbit on the down-low), a Chennaiite, and a budding musician who could give my appetite a run for its money. We were ready and boy, were we hungry. After screaming some Rahman at the top of our lungs while trying to drive through a crowded Besant Nagar, gazing longingly at every kovil serving thayir satham in those little wooden, ecofriendly bowls, we just needed food. Sustenance, if you will.
The Deep-Dish:
I had partially cheated and had already tried the mock-meat before our visit. As a former Morningstar Farms-aficionade, fake chik'n holds a special place in my heart -- don't judge. So after some coercion and a long discussion about the components of this strange ingredient, I convinced my friends: barbecue mock-meat, it was!
We also tried to be healthy (or as healthy as you can be when you're eating 3-inch-tall pizza that is 90% bread-and-cheese) and chose both a corn-and-sundried-tomato and green-olive-and-mushroom to accompany our wonderful fake-meat pizza. I did get a side of mayo as dipping sauce (I know it's unconventional but, don't knock it until you try it), so there goes the 2016 diet.
The Verdict:
American deep-dish is its own world, so-to-speak, and layers of stringy mozzarella that could probably give you a heart attack in the next instant aren't really part of the Indian palette. Intelligently, Ashvita has taken the format and suited it for the Indian palette, sans-fusion. A slightly-spicy tomato sauce adorned the pizzas and while the crust was a little bready for my liking, the food is, at its heart, soul pizza. I might've enjoyed it even more if it was 3 AM food while hard at work but the barbecue chik'n pizza, I'd definitely hit up again.
The Monster Shake:
We needed something to wash down this monstrosity (pun-not-intended) and though my friend was devastated at the lack of a strawberry-banana smoothie on the menu, the posh nosh monster shake that I had been eyeing for the last few months was there to save the day, along with an Oreo milkshake that, surprisingly, lived up to its name far more than expected.
The monster shake needs no introduction, especially to my fellow food-aficionados that are familiar with its many varieties internationally. We settled on the posh nosh and I, at least, was taken for a pleasant ride, to say the least. The salted caramel is the perfect accompaniment to the thick whipped cream and fudge syrup that drapes quite nicely over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, all doused in liquidy goodness. Though Coke and pizza is the combination to beat them all, the monster shake is a close second -- but beware, fainting from food fatigue and sugar exhaustion is a real danger.
Ashvita Nirvana's deep-dish pop up runs until December 31, 2016. Pizzas are priced at Rs. 395/ vegetable pizza and Rs. 445/mock-meat pizza and come in 6-inch sizes, serving 1 famished person or 2 moderately hungry individuals. Reservations can be made by calling 044 24424404 / 42699026 / 9791088189 .
