Variety fare

Continental, Indian, Chinese... the cuisines are many. MARIEN MATHEW 'stops at Sams' and writes.

ITS SMART, trendy and neat. The metal furniture, brown checks and striped furnishings looked pretty. Even the toilet was well kept which was so unexpected considering our natural inclination to leave public places messy. But then its just barely a month old. Hope the same ambience will be maintained at Stop at Sams on TTK Road, Alwarpet.

The menu had Continental, Indian and Chinese. With the Clinton hangover lingering still, we stuck to the Americana part. There is a good variety to choose from. Though quite a few mocktails are listed, I was totally sceptical about them. Yet we decided to give them a try and asked for Lemon Margarita (Rs. 35) and Virgin Colada (Rs. 45). To my pleasant surprise both turned out to be quite good, particularly the Margarita. It had enough zing to make you almost not miss the tequila.

Please as punch we were, yummy Broccoli cocktail (Rs. 55) made things look rosier. The salty, lightly bitter olives and almond slivers improved on the broccoli mayonnaise combination. The take off on shrimp cocktail is certainly worth trying. The Chicken Lollipop (Rs. 75) with tomato-garlic sauce was also nice.

The vegetarian main course dish, Baked vegetables in potato jackets (Rs. 115) were creamy, cheesy and so, tasty. By the way, portions served are rather big and the service friendly.

The evening was going so smoothly that we were quite unprepared for what followed. The Traditional fish and chips (Rs. 125/-) was the first killjoy. Now I am beginning to think that there is a jinx with the fish. This time it announced itself even before the dish got to the table. And the taste confirmed what the smell had hinted. There was something fishy about the fish.

The stuffed chicken with mushroom sauce (Rs. 160) managed to save the situation to some extent. Of the two chicken breasts served, one was a bit sour. This was puzzling because, even if the vinegar bottle had tipped over it should have fallen on both the pieces. The other piece was perfectly fine. It would have been interesting to know how the taste difference came about. The sauce was rather interesting.

The desserts, Cinnamon apple pie (Rs. 55) and Black current cheesecake (Rs. 70) didn't leave any mark. Besides apple, raisins and nuts, the apple pie had a kind of chocolate dough. Why don't we leave the well known classics untouched? Or if we have to improvise, why not call it just that? The pie was all right but one missed the real thing.

The cheesecake had layers of sponge in it, something totally new to me. Try hard as I did, it kind of left me cold. Well chef Samir Singla, can definitely do better than the current dessert selection.

The former chef from Park Sheraton was into catering, very successfully too, before opening the restaurant.

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