Arabian speciality restaurant in Chennai

After getting bored of eating the regular tandoori chicken and chicken 65 we wanted to try something new. I and my friend sat on a motorbike on a Sunday night and were roaming the city for some new eatery joint. We entered Greams road, as soon as we neared a restaurant called “Sea Shells” the burning smell of barbeque entered our nostrils and made us halt there.
Sea Shell is an Arabian speciality restaurant run by persons from Calicut, kerala. Their specialities are Al Faham Dijai, Barbaque chicken, Keebab Mushakkal, Laham Kebab, grill chicken and the famous SHAWARMA. For a new comer this name might sound little strange. Yes it’s all Arabic!

They are one among the very few restaurants in Chennai specialized in serving Arabian delicacies. Their barbeque has a unique taste. They use only charcoal and firewood to burn instead of modern electric and gas grill. The quick selling starter is “Shawarma”.
It’s a chicken roll. Shawarma is a turkish word meaning turning. It is made by placing strips of marinated chicken on a stick; an onion or tomato is placed at the top of the stack for flavoring. The meat is roasted slowly on all sides as the spit rotates in front of a flame for hours. After cooking, the meat is shaved off with a large knife dropping to a circular tray below to be retrieved. Shawarma is eaten as a fast food, made up into a sandwich wrap with fluffy flat bread called “kubboos”. The burnt chicken is then mixed with vegetables like cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, pickled turnips, and cabbage. It’s served with garlic mayonnaise and vinegar dipped chilly, carrot and beetroot.

One has to be before 7.30pm on weekends. It’s a small and crowded restaurant with a seating capacity of 30 to 40 people. They also serve regular Indian, Tandoori and Chinese dishes. They serve some Arabian fruit punch and cocktail. It’s a decent place to dine with your family. It’s economically priced. A meal for two will cost you around Rs 500/-. Home delivery is done at an extra charge. It’s worth a try from the regular eateries in Chennai.

Sea Shell
No5: Greams Road, Chennai.
044-28295788,28295789

Musical Rain!

I woke up this morning seeing a news paper article showing a charity concert organised in the name of “samarpan 2010” in aid of BYMM Trust. After going through a name, my eyes grew big; I twisted and turned my eyes to read this name again and again “Ustad Zakir Hussain”. A childhood dream to see him perform live. As I started reading again it became ever more interesting. The list of performers were the man with the magic fingers Ustad Zakir Hussain, the legendary Ghatam exponent TH Vikku Vinayakram, maestros of violin Ganesh & Kumaresh, son of the famous ghatam vidvan an kanjeera player Selva Ganesh to top it all the master of percussion Taufiq Qureshi(Zakir’s brother).
I immediately called the phone number displayed below to get the tickets; a polite voiced gentleman replied that all the tickets were sold out before three days. Bad start for a wonderful morning. I felt restless the whole day. I was in no mood to give-up a lifetime opportunity just like that.

After completing my work I rushed to “The Music Academy” at 6pm to try my luck! I saw the ‘Housefull board’ displayed in the entrance. I reached the ticket counter; a tall smiling man replied ‘no tickets’ with a big smile in his face. I did not lose hope. I waited and waited in belief that someone might come to return a ticket. I waited enough and it was time I decided to get back home. The time was 7 and the show was about to begin. I walked couple of steps towards the gate disappointed, a beautiful lady in mid 30’s can running from inside to return a ticket which she kept for her husband. She was grateful enough to offer the ticket to me. Finally my Luck worked! I bought it and ran towards the auditorium.
The heavy wooden doors were opened and the cool air welcomed me in. It was coincidence I stepped inside the time of the maestros taking the stage. My seat was near the speaker in the balcony. Finally I was happy and excited to be in for the concert. I really couldn’t believe myself; those famous three Grammy award winners were there before my eyes. My dream came true.

The concert was kick started by a fantastic drumming and vocal performence by V.Umashankar and team (son of Vikku Vinayakram) and his team.The violin duo started playing “nalinakanthi swaram”. All song was well chosen to blend all the instruments on stage. It was followed by “raga pravakam” and “Nasikabhushani” a no lyrics song. Selvaganesh kept the musicians live with lot of ‘sabash’ and ‘balle’. Taufiq Qureshi performed some mouth music and proved his talent on percussion. Vikku entered the stage surprising us in the middle of a song with his ‘siva slogas’ and got a roaring applause. Zakir Hussain true to his title gave a fantastic solo which made everyone to say wah! Ustad! wah! Every musician had enough time to perform their talents. The unity of maestros proved their mite blending their instruments together to some soothing music for the rapt and hungry audience. It was a moment to be cherished in my life.

For those who missed the concert there are some recordings from my mobile.