Pondy 2.0

Pondy Pondy Pondy the charm just never dies. One of the more compelling reasons was the recent visit of my friend Sheru there who discovered a new restaurant there Tio Tentacao. (puducherryfoodways-yes-again) Anyways we are always ready for Pondy. This time though there were only four of us and no vegies. So no compulsions we could eat whatever we wanted.

We reached on the morning of 16th a day after Pongal only to find half the shops closed as they were taking a day off as rest day after keeping their shops open throughout Pongal. Luckily we got two bikes on rent (though the luck vanished on the 2nd day) and set out for Auro. As usual we got a room in RoofTop and we set straight to work...food.

We went to Swadistha first, as it was only 11 in the morning and too soon for lunch. Its a nice Gujarati snacks bar but this time the coffee was just Ok though the samosas were nice. I think the owner was tired or just not interested in some Indian kids. It is a place quite frequented by foreigners.

For the lunch we went to New Pizza Roof just behind the Beach Cafe on the ECR. This place serves nice food but the preparation time is huge. He usually prepares meals from scratch. Anyways it was the only thing that was open that time so we had no choice. We had two pizza Hawaina and Chicken Monaco and chicken and cheese omlettes.

Pizza Hawaiana is described as "pizza baked with tomato sauce , grated cheese , diced pineapple and chicken". Chicken monaco as the name suggests had a lot of chicken both were quite good. There was also one Pizza 4 stagioni which had ham so we didn't order it. We also had flamed prawns by the way and they were quite nice.

On the evening we were back at the Gandhi Beach and boy was it crowded. It was as if all Puducherry was there to celebrate something. Maybe it was a friday evening and after the Pongal holidays people were still in the festive mood. There was rush on every shop on the beach front. Ice cream and coffee shops were jam packed as if it was all free.

For the dinner we tried to find some tibetan restaurant but both the Tibetan Corner and the Lhasa were closed. So, we went into the Tio Tentacao, the sports bar. It is more appropriately the sports restaurant as it doesn't serve any liquor. There is ofcourse a huge screen in the middle running your favorite tv channel, a pool table and a Darts corner. The main attraction is the Shisha which is a water-pipe for smoking just like a hookah. Except that there is only 0.02% nicotine. We tried one called Two Apples, it didn't quite suit us. The next time when we went we tried the Grape one and this one was really good. My friends who smoke told me that this one had a really nice kick. They also serve exceptional food by the way. The chicken and cheese burgers, chicken cordon bleu, watermelon juice and banana lassi were all good. We didn't like the Kiwi juice much though. But the caesar salad was awesome. We also tried mustard chicken and fried okra pepper. First dish is chicken breast with mustard fillings while the second is an appetizer made with lady fingers, cornmeal and buttermilk.

Paradise Pizzeria This place serves really delicious pizzas. They make their own cheese, pizza base, etc. They also have a five feet wide firewood oven, a thing not uncommon in Auro i also saw another just next to Frittes. We had Pizza The Mafia, Pizza India Special and Pizza Napoli. Mafia had pork, India special had chicken 65 and Napoli had some fish. They were all just fantastic. I have only one reservation about this place, it is only open during rush season.

Frittes This is a really cool open air restaurant run by a French family. Most workers are Indian but during rush you might find the owners family working. They make really good crepes, omlettes and coffee. You also get newspapers to read in the morning. The grilled sandwiches were also quite delicious.

Tibetan Corner is a restaurant run by a tibetan family on the same road as New Pizza Roof and Tio Tentacao. You can find Free Tibet posters inside. Anyways it serves classic tibetan food. The momos (tibetan dumplings), shabaglep(not sure of the spelling) both for veg and non veg palletes, are all very tasty and nice. The Tenthuk soup should come with a warning label in the menu. It is sufficient enough to cover one's lunch. It was also served beautifully with a half fried egg (bulls eye) floating on top of the soup bowl.

Shanthi Inn is a restaurant and bar near the two wheeler rent shops in the heart of Pondicherry on the Nehru Street. It serves quite fine food and all the types of liquor you could need.

The food in Auro and Pondy are the major attraction for me and I am ready to make the trip anytime. There is only one problem, the journey from Thanjavur to Pondy is quite long and the roads in pretty bad shape. Guess its the price that we should pay for all that good food :)