Monday, May 4, 2009

New Creation Corner @ Auroville


The previous post had been about Auroville and its excellent food, but I just could not resist writing about the roadside restaurant called the New Creation Corner; which falls on the road to Matri Mandir inside Auroville.

It was a ridiculously hot day in the South of India with temperaturess souring to 40+ Celsius. But the drive to Auroville provided a little respite in terms on the abundant tender coconut water available throughout ECR.

The place was packed with visitors and residents alike, and even the trees did not offer respite from the scorching heat. But we waited for their food as did others irrespective of the fact that our skins were melting away.

The menu here had always been a very simple one pager with Lasagne, Pasta, and a few desserts. But a new Wooden oven had been introduced recently and thus they had created a separate new Pizza menu. It sported a wide variety, even for the veggie travellers.

We ordered the Arrabiata with Spaghetti and went on to try the new Pizza menu. One of the Chefs was making the pizza's right next to the tables with the oven firing away close by. You could just smell the smoked flavour coming fresh out of the kitchen.

We ordered a Vegetarian and a Meditteranean Pizza, which had the usual Tomtato,Cheese plus excellent locally grown oregano, olives, basil, capers.

The corners of the Pizza base were just slightly burnt, offering the smoked flavour in abundance. We were damn happy that Pizza like this wasn't available in the Metros too often, because the rarer this breed of pizzas the better. These should be enjoyed not too often for one to appreciate the suttleness of the taste it leaves in you even after the meal.

Lunch was accompnaied with Fresh fruit juices that totally reiterated the word fresh. Then there was some Choclate Cake and ice-cream to wrap things up.

A trip to Auroville or not, a Pizza (if not two) at New Creation Corner is a must.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Auroville Forever

Almost everyone living in Chennai would have heard of Auroville, a small township just before Pondicherry... Now everyone in Chennai would have heard of pondi... the source of great booze for all chennaiites... anyways, before i deviate, this post is about Auroville and not the booze at pondi!!

We (Peggy and me) have a lot of fond memories at auroville... and almost all our fond memories involve good food!!! Auroville has a large number of Europeans and their influence on the food at auroville is truly brilliant!! there are bakeries and cafes all over serving up huge portions of great cakes, pasta and desserts... the best part about the food here is that it is absolutely affordable... not exorbitantly priced like the Italian restaurants in Chennai...

here's what we've enjoyed in auroville...
crepes (pancakes) - authentic European stuffed pancakes with eggs/chocolate/fruits
chocolate cake - yummiest chocolate cake ever, rolls, pies and pizza slices (a slice would do for 2!!) and
pasta with tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, bechamel and the works...

oh man... thinking about all the food is getting me hungry...

one can even stay at auroville, they have great guest houses that are absolutely serene... and perfect for a weekend getaway...check this link for more information.http://www.aurovilleguesthouses.org/gs-home.php

auroville beckons once again... next time he's in town, we'll definitely make a trip there and gorge... yay...

you can know more about the restaurants at:
http://www.aurovillenetwork.in/wiki/Auroville%20Restaurants
http://www.auroville.org/society/eatingout.htm

Note: you get only vegetarian food...