Amravathi is a very popular Andhra restaurant located towards the end of Cathedral Road Chennai.Eventhough we get lunch at our work place (free of cost ;-)) some of us make it a point to go out and eat every friday. Invariably, we end up in Amravathi.
How to Get there
Amravathi is farily well now, its acually one of the 3 restaurants in the same compound, one of them being Coconut Lagoon, about which I will write a review soon. The restaurant is almost bang opposite Copper Chimney, and just walking distance from Savera.
Don’t worry about parking, there is ample space inside the compound for both cars and two wheelers.
Ambience
Pretty spacious inside, with centralized Air Con, which is much needed in Chennai. The restaurants is basically a set of compartments with the same decor, basically consisting of cushioned benches.
The area is pretty clean, even though its a Non-Veg hotel, its doesn’t smell of fish or meat.
What to Eat
You can choose one of these two :
Biriyani
I have tired the Chicken and the Mutton Biriyani’s over here and they are just average. They give Raitha and some pickle as side dish Normally you get Avakai or Gonguru
Bhojanam
Yes, just meals or rice. There are two variaties, Vindhu Bhojaam entitles you for a sweet, one banana and one Beeda(Paan) after the meal. I go for the normal stuff. Let us see what you get, and how I eat:
You Start off by mixing the Dhal Powder with the rice, with some Ghee to make it soft. Now you can have either Sambhar, Rasam or Curd, which is provided to you. You can also order:
Chicken & Mutton Fry
I have found that these are on relatively less-spicy stuff you get at Amaravathi. The mutton is extremely soft and hence very enjoyable to eat. Chicken is also quite good.
Chilli Chicken
Man, after eating this you will know what acually chilli chicken means, you can smell the chilli on the chicken and feels like the chicken was pickled in chilli. I only wish that they served beer, it would go extremely well with that. If you have not tried it, just give it a shot, but I bet you that it will make you sweat.
Chicken Curry
Unlike in some restaurants, the chicken curry tastes of chicken, I don’t know whether they ’cooked’ the chicken in the curry or just used some chicken stalk. But it really tastes well.
Pricing and Service
The service is quite good, you don’t have to wait much for anything and waiters are brisk. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the Soft Drinks are exorbitantly priced.
The food prices are slightly above average(Chennai Standards), and the Bhojanam is around 45 bucks. All the side dishes cost around 50-60 Rs.
Do try out Amaravathi, but if you have a really sensitive palatte, stay away from it, cos most of the food they serve are on the ’spicy’ side.
Peace
Ranjith
Note:I personally believe that the Biriyani’s that I get at Calicut (Kozikode) are the best!