Tan tana tan tan. Review on Gangotree, Gopalapuram, Chennai

Remember those olden golden days when a hawker cart used to roam on the streets with a bell sounding 'tan tan tan tan tana tana tana tan tan........' and we used to run from the house to stop it and have the mouth watering pani puri, bhel puri and aloo chat...............mmmmmmm........yummy..............

I am born and brought up in Maharashtra, dunno whether people from Chennai have experienced this, but I bet everyone in Pune would have experienced this........

Gangotri Restaurant

It is a modern version of what has been mentioned above. With state of the art quality of 'chat' items served clubed with other sweets and drinks and slushes and softies, this restaurant is truly a hub for North Indians in Chennai, perhaps the only place in Chennai where you can enjoy a good quality 'chat'.............

Location

Two outlets (atleast I know only two) ::

1. Right opposite to Stella Maris College on R K Salai, you would not take time to search it, its heavily crowded in the evenings.........

   
   




2. T. Nagar, near the A.C. vegetable market, behind Kasi Arcade, near Pondy Bazar.........

   
   

Both the locations are prime ones right in the heart of the city.........

Features

# Enter the restaurant on RK Salai, through a door fitted with air curtain to find a payment counter immediately............

# You have to pay and collect tokens before you could eat.............reasonable system considering the huge crowd...........they must have learnt by experience.........

# Small chairs and small table to sit on..........its almost impossible to get a sit in this restaurant..........most of the times you have to stand and eat.............but then who bothers to sit while having 'chat'............

# Small place, but still divided in section - retail sweet selling section, 'chat' section, slushes n drinks section, sitting section and ice cream section.......

# Do not expect too much from the staff...........the crowd is beyond their control...........

The Food

The best 'chat' food you can get in the city (after sowcarpet...). You get everything related to 'chat' like

Pani Puri

Bhel Puri

Jalmoodi

Samosa with chutney

Kachori with chutney

Dhokla

Pav Bhaji

Sev Puri

Katori Chat

etc. etc.

And drinks like slushes, ice creams like softies and Kwality Walls..............

The 'chat' makers (chefs) are from the North and that makes a lot of difference in the taste. I cannot write my preferences as everything is appealing over here.......

Even the sweets they sell is of amazing quality at par with what you get at 'Sri Mithai' in Egmore, but too costly over here...........

Cost

Reasonable price for all items except sweets.........Where at other places you could get cashew sweets for about Rs.400 per kg, here it would be Rs.600 per kg.......but other 'chat items' are priced reasonably well, normally Rs.15-25 per item of pani puri, bhel puri...........Rs. 10-20 for slushes and softies...........

The Crowd / The Ambience

Mostly college students...........you can see some glamour on saturday evenings.........mostly couples............not much of the families...........you would like to get out of the place fast if you are sandwitched in the crowd............

The hub for those who love spicy snack food, a fun, may be they should do something about the sitting arrangements.............