Chennai

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

Yay for more authentic malaysian restaurants! There's just not enough of them around. The decor looks a bit stark from the outside, but it's all about the food for me, and the food was seriously good. We had roti, goat curry, nasi goreng, and water spinach. The meat was sooo tender, the roti with curry dip was awesome, and the nasi goreng came with the best fried chicken I've ever had, and also the usual condiments of anchovies, chilli paste, peanuts and egg.

It was also great to see that they didn't hold back on the chilli when it came to the water spinach. Choose from Tiger beer, Asahi, or Tsingtao to wash it down and you can't go wrong! The servings were large enough for there to be leftovers so it was pretty good value.

The service was excellent considering I only really saw one guy working the whole floor. The only downside was the dessert, a sago dish that was a bit mushy, I think maybe the sago pearls were overcooked. Yeah, the dessert options weren't great, I'd save some room for gelato down the road. Problem solved.

I'd definitely come here again, I'm hanging out to try the nasi lemak and char kway teow. It's a great alternative to the endless Thai restaurants that line King street. Or the endless Vietnamese restaurants in Marrickville. I'd even go so far as to say that it's now in my top 10 casual asian eateries in the inner west. BAM! There. I've said it. Give it a go.

May 12, 2012 

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

I just dined at Chennai last friday and it is likely a good restaurant. My friends and I had rotis as entree and frankly it is amazing food, fresh crunchy and tasty. Also the beef rendang is very nice. Personally I think Chennai deserves a try.

Mar 07, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Recently just went there with some of my friends. Foods was good and impressive. Presentation is absolutely beautiful. I had a seafood laksa that time served with big portion and lots of meat. I had to say it tasted really nice. Also I didn't forget to try the Roti. The roti also taste fantastic with the curry gravy, delicious. Well done, will definitely come back to hunt other foods.

Mar 06, 2012 

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  6     

All round pretty good! Asking for wine glasses 3 times very very annoying! Food very nice, we were too full to finish. Seemed authentic! Gado Gado salad prepared as it should, unlike the horror Chinese version. Roti not great per my friend. Nasi Goring comes with 2 chicken drum sticks very nice. Entree spring rolls better than Chinese lol!

I was avoiding eating here due to bad reviews and low scores on Urbanspoon, however, its true what people say you have to try it yourself.

Feb 06, 2012 

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

This is a fairly newly opened restaurant toward the city end of the King St, Newtown restaurant strip, in the building that housed Rosalina's (after relocation) and the Indonesian Seafood Restaurant before it.

Unfortunately I have to agree with the reviewers who said that, unless they lift their game considerably, the owners will not be in business long. Some of the curried dishes are tasty, but fairly pricy and in fairly small quantities.

One low point was the prawns 65. What is the point of deep-frying them in their shells with the spices on the shell when the shells have to be removed to eat them? And when we shelled them our fingers were scalded by the hot oil that oozed out. We tried to explain this to the proprietor but he seemed to imply that food preparation was the prerogative of the cook and he had no control over it.

Some expense seems to have gone into refurbishing the restaurant before opening, but why not provide chairs with backs - I hate sitting on a stool to eat - and tables large enough to accommodate the plates and serving dishes.

We found the name of the restaurant mystifying. It implies that Chennai food is the specialty but the menu is Malaysian. The proprietor explained that the restaurant's name reflects the etymology of the malaysian bread roti canai. Be that as it may (there are alternative explanations about how the bread got its name), if roti canai is so central to the restaurant's image, it should be prepared in the traditional way, in view of the customer, since watching the cook throw the bread is part of the ritual of eating it. (Check out the Mamak at Ultimo to see how it should be done).

And with so many beautiful Indian and Malaysian sweets forming part of the cuisines of those countries, why make Ben and Jerry's ice-cream the centre-piece of the sweets menu?

Jan 07, 2012 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

Was at Chennai for the second time last week. I wasn't too keen on going but a friend wanted to try it so we ate there. It was a Wednesday evening and there were only two other table eating that night. The first time was there I ordered mostly roti style dishes which were too small in their servings. This time round I order non-roti dishes (it was a little better, but not much), my concern still is the servings (especially curries) are "too small", for $15 to $20 per dish the servings needs to be much bigger.

Even though the restaurant was not full it was very noisy, the sounds gets trapped in all that concrete walls and floor boards. Chennai is an average eatery for Newtown, there are much better places that offer value for money. If Chennai is to stay it needs to make some changes.

Dec 18, 2011 

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

The Roti is to die for. I have been at this place several times and enjoyed each visit. I could just sit there and eat the rotis. It is a pity there are only several types of it.

The food is great. It has a good balance of spice and flavour. The staff are friendly and know when to come aorund. This restaurant is so much better than the old joint that used to be there.

Dec 12, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Went to Chennai for the third time the other night and had a fantastic time. The food was delicious especially the Beef Rendang and the Roti. Wine well priced and decent. The staff were very friendly and the atmosphere very relaxing. Really enjoyed the whole experience. Highly recommend you try it out.

Nov 29, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  9     

Went there on a Monday night. The staff were quite attentive and the meals came out fast. The food was quite nice and refreshing. The Roti was delicious and so was the sambal udang and prawn 65.

Nov 13, 2011 

5.5 Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  6     

I walked past this place a few times a week. What once was the evergreen Rosalina Italian restaurant I was kinda pleased to see a Malaysian restaurant take it's place. I took a picture with my iPhone and promised myself a visit soon.

Saturday night, called to book and they took my name but not my number. We rocked up bang on eight but no need to book as the restaurant only had about 15 covers. After the waitress earnestly tried to sit us in the window we sat on the kiddies style stools midway through.

The menus came out and clean glasses served for our wine. I was a bit disappointed that there was pages of mains but only five simple entrees. We started with some crispy light spring rolls, lovely with the sweet chilli sauce. Also the standout for the night was the roti and the stainless steel plate of dipping sauces (all three really different, could've eaten them for hours) and finally the chicken wings. The wings were juicy, but no flavour. I would've personally scorched them longer but neither me or my partner could label any marinade or flavour on them at all.

In quick succession the mains came, I was suddenly nervous that our table would be turned in under an hour but as the restaurant was fairly dead for a Saturday night, sadly I understood. The Chicken Biryani, from what reviews I've seen to be their signature dish was disappointing. It looked awesome, but to me it was just a chicken thigh, on the bone, with a tumeric coloured rice on a plate. No flavour at all. My partner had the Beef Rendang, which also had no flavour, and chewy, we felt as if it was pre cooked and stuck under a grill to dry out the top and served. The beef was oily and no point serving it with rice as there was nothing but oil to soak it up.

I found myself defending Chennai during our dinner, it was like I wanted a new venue to work. They did a great job of remodelling the interior if not for feeling a bit clinical and basic. The service was attentive when the staff were on their game, but on the whole they were a tad absent. Our mains came out as if to share but no plates provided to eat from.

This could've been good, I wanted it to, however, my partner and I confer and agree if it wasn't for the roti, this place could well sink into obscurity. It hasn't packed a punch arriving on King St and needs to change it's direction quickly or it'll become another nameless venue that people forget.

Nov 05, 2011