southern spice - taj coromandel

one of the best south indian restaurant in chennai.their service is excellent.food is superb they have a palm reader near the entry.a bit high with cost but that suits as it is in 5 star hotel.definetely a place to go if u want to have a leisure dining with a feel like dining as a king.

ate here last week. the food was really good. the place has been renovated since i last visited. enjoyed the biryani. food recommended by the wait staff was just right. enjoyed their special pulled coffee.

a beautiful experience to eat at the taj coromandel for a special occasion at dinner time. the service was up to the mark and helpful in advices. the decor is as it should be fitting perfectly to the theme of the restaurant and the south indian culture and architecture with statues, paintings, though the grey color of pillars were strange to me. lights are not too bright nor too dark, making it the ideal atmosphere in the evening time. there's even a brahmin sitting at the entrance ready to interpret the cards that his parrot chooses to read your future if you are interested.

for dinner we had a light thali, allepey fish curry and kerala red rice. it was all delicious and flavourful, kingfish was melting in the mouth, the thali different sauces were delicately tasty, never over spiced yet full of flavors, never too much chili. as one of us didn't order the thali, they still gave us both the sweet basundi at the end which was deliciously caramelized. overall, a beautiful experience, and great food, as per the expectations that are quite high considering the price and the reputation of the taj.

so after watching a dance performance at kingsley, a friend and i decided to get some south indian saapad and staggered into into southern spice, lovely ambience, loved the music they were playing, service was brilliant as usual.

coming to the food now, we ordered-

pachakari stew - which was truly authentic, loved the flavours, it was a little too watery though.

appam - the appams were briliant, soft in the insides and crunchy on the outside.

spicy chicken curry(not the name) - this dish was a downer of sorts, didn't much care for it.

pallipalayam chicken biriyani - biriyani to me is supposed to be spicy, full of flavour and highly aromatic, unfortunately this was none of it. mediocre at the best.

went there for lunch while staying at chennai while looking for a south indian cuisine restaurant to go to. was recommended this place by someone over dakshin which was where i had been quite a long time back. however this place didn't really help me relive my memory of dakshin and come close to it also. being vegetarian i was told that a la carte would take time and was suggested a veg thali comprising paratha, appam, rice, curd rice with sambhar and other vegetables and accompaniments. however on eating the veg thali i realized that it was not in line with my expectations of a very appetizing meal which is normal and not unrealistic as someone wanting to eat a 5 star meal at a 5 star of repute such as the taj. even the service was not as prompt and efficient as it should have been. also i didnt quite like the dark interiors as i prefer a ambience with more light and bright interiors for south indian cuisine. would definitely not go back here for a meal.

an amazing restaurant with one of the best ambience in town. the service was impeccable to keep up the taj name. the food was amazing. the thali felt special and fulling. we even had an in-house artiste (magician) perform at our table. overall, one of the most memorable lunch ever

this is my first review on zomato. though  have tried several restaurant based on zomato's ratings and reviews, i never cared to write down about my experience so far. but this time i wanted to write down about my experience cause i was highly disappointed and i hope this would be considered by the restaurant for any betterment in their food quality in future. i went to southern spice yesterday with a lot of expectation considering it would give me a world class experience on food has it is one among the top 100 restaurants in the world, but it was not so. i ordered their rayalaseema mamsam biryani and kozhi milagu curry for a take away. my bill came upto 1700 + tax. 

biryani tasted so below average, though the portion was decent enough. also the meat did not taste fresh. its so disappointing when you pay so much and this is what you get in return. i do not know whether i should say it was my bad day or this is how it actually tastes in southern spice. the chicken curry was also not too good to rave about. 

the service was good. thank you southern spice.

note: this post is based on madras week special menu alone.
the world knows it as chennai now, but it is and will always be "madras" for the people who love the city. and we are mad-rasigargal (fan) of everything we love so that word resonates into the heart of every being on this metro city. if not the culture, historical places, arts, language and heritage then it shall be the food at madras that will be a part of you. from marina's bajji to mylapore's pongal, biriyani to thayir sadhan (curd rice), potato fry to chicken 65, the food journey never ends. this city gives everything when it comes to the four letter word "food".

p.s. this review is for their madras week special ala carte menu.
madras turned 377 this 22nd august, 2016 and like every year, this year too the entire week is being celebrated as madras week. on account of the same, southern spice at taj coromandel – the very mesmerizing and authentic south indian specialty diner of the city is celebrating the week with a special ala carte menu dedicated to madras. the chef has handpicked some very traditional dishes for the week and i’m sure you’d love them as much as you love madras.

i had heard a lot about this place and decided to go there on a special occasion. the hostess at the entrance was very welcoming and did her job to the 't'. the ambience and setting were really nice and gave you a feel that it was indeed a niche restaurant.
we had a couple of starters out of which the the salad with raw mango and ginger was quite nice. we stuck to vegetarian fare as i hadn't had a decent restaurant eat of vegetarian food for a long time. vethakuzhambu was decent but it could have been so much more .potatoes likewise. asparagus paruppu usili sounded interesting and the dish was indeed good. the green chillies in the paruppu usili could have been avoided though as the dish itself comes with ground red chillies. the waiter was thoughtful in providing us a bowl of curd when my mom found the dish a bit hot. the home made ice creams ( with broken wheat and filter coffee ) were good and interesting. filter coffee as such was not something to write home about. it was very thoughtful for the restaurant to provide a cake for my mother as it was her birthday. the server ( didn't register the name) was well mannered and thoughtful. although i felt that he could have got a bit more support as i thought he had many tables to look after. hence clearances sometimes took a bit longer ( i personally didn't mind though as i was in for a leisurely evening) . very good place. food ( from whatever i had) can improve though. will definitely visit again to try some other different food.

by far the best authentic south indian cuisine serving restaurant in the city. amazing food, great service, lovely ambience. in all, dining here is an experience in itself. though its priced steeply, the set meal/ thali is outstanding & worth a try. good place for south indian food lovers !!

best south indian restaurant in chennai. period.
love everything abut this place - food, staff, ambience. 
the satisfaction you feel at the end of every meal is inimitable.

divyam!!! if there is one place where i would go again for south indian food and that is closest to home food and kindles childhood memories of certain delicacies, well this it. right from the soup till the deserts, i would recommend this place for a vegetarian. the ambience is excellent with fantastic service. one would feel pampered by the staff there. the best south indian vegetarian food i ever had outside home although a bit pricey.

one restaurant in chennai i could probably eat every meal in a day would be southern spice at taj coronamandal! be it the starters, condiments, vadams especially the lotus stem vadams are to die for). you can't go wrong with their a la carte or the set menu! both are of very high quality and extremely consistent in taste! the parottas and appam are delicious with mutton curry and stew! south indian coffee and deserts compliment the other dishes beautifully! must visit!

what a renovated restaurant. going there after the renovation just now. awesome confluence of southern ethnicity n modern ambience. appam, barotta and kuruma were arumai. appam was yummylicious.