The Brick Oven — Restaurant in Zone 9 Teynampet

Had the opportunity to visit The Brick Oven Restaurant inside The Accord Metropolitan. The Brick Oven is in the Lobby but due to some reason, they had shifted it to Rooftop. First of all the ambience of the place is very nice and welcoming. All the staff are very polite and receptive to your needs.

For non veg soups, they have a chicken which I liked. It was a good mix of tangy and spicy. In non veg starters, the options are Fish fingers, Chicken and lamb. The Fish finger is the best dish in the whole tasting menu. Period. The Chicken and the lamb starter is also good. Dont go for vegetarian starters as all the three starters are forgettable. Then they provided us Dahi papdi and Pani puri which was okay.

Now lets move on to the salad and main course. I tried beef, lamb and seafood salad and all the three were not good. So its better to stay away from them. In main course there is very little variety for non veg. You have the standard chicken dum biriyani along with chicken gravy. Both these items are good, nothing extra ordinary here. Then you get the Pan Seared Fish. This is the second best dish on the menu. The fish just melts in your mouth. It is so good and so soft that you just wanna keep eating it till your stomach explodes. Then you also have egg curry. Then there are some rice varieties for vegetarians which I didnt try. Veg options also include some gravies for roti and naan. There are more veg options than non veg in main course. Then you have the papads and thai noodles which are good.

Now coming to the desserts, we had high expectations as we heard very good things about them. I tried many items from the desserts menu but I was disappointed to say the least. I tried more than 5 to 6 items, but I only liked the pudding and the Red velvet cake. The pudding was very good and very soft. Do try it once. Please take my review of the desserts with a pinch of salt as I am not a desserts person as I usually don't prefer sweets. I forgot to mention the drinks. There are two options one is Virgin Mary and Mango Milkshake. For the love of god, just dont try Virgin Mary drink. Its like a tomato puree/sauce disguised as a drink. Now coming on to the Mango Milkshake, it is just excellent and has a very good refreshing taste. Please definitely do try the drink.

Overall it was a very good dining experience with very good ambience, courteous and helpful staff. The place can be visited with family for a good fine dining experience. The food quality is very good in some places with some misses in others. Its worth the money spent as the whole dining experience makes it worth your while. If you are just going for the food, you may regret your decision as there are much better restaurants in Chennai for food. So...

Buffets involve choices at every stage. When it comes to a la carte orders, you spend the first five minutes on what you should eat and then settle down to a conversation or listen to other interesting ones happening close by (just joking)

The Brick Oven has a central rectangle around which the food is laid out. One side for vegetarians and the other for the meat eaters. Desserts are on one narrow side and the live counters on the other.

In India, you don't have a Continental buffet or a Chinese buffet. Everything goes into the mix. We've subverted it into a thali! From the chaat counters to pizza slices, Singaporean noodles, Vietnamese vegetables and the Indian fare, nothing is left to chance.

Who knows what finicky diners will want? Give them everything. Including curd rice, pickles and fritters. Not to forget the fried chillies.

The trick is to decide early what needs to be focused on and what can be missed. But then, the five or six courses that one decides on is usually a different cuisine in each round.

A lady executive chose a secluded corner thinking it will be peaceful only to find a large group descending into the long table next to hers. That effectively ruined any hopes she may have had of a quiet meal. But she took it in her stride and looked unruffled. No matter what thoughts were going through her head.

The arrangements allow 4 seaters to be set along the longer sides of the rectangle and the large groups have tables on the other two sides.

Desserts of course are plentiful. But the hotels have got smart with keeping small pieces of cake or set in small cups, so that people don't make a mess while serving themselves.

And while the food is good, it isn't remarkable. But then with so many cuisines to serve, it's hard to focus. But that is an...

I walked into this restaurant for a corporate lunch, and I’m convinced I accidentally entered a time warp. I went in yesterday and almost came out tomorrow, thanks to the zen-like pace at which the food arrived. We were promised fresh juice at the time of booking, Turns out, they must’ve planted the fruits that very moment because it arrived just when we were about to leave (after multiple reminders, of course). Our soup was Still missing in action until we reminded them three times, at which point it magically appeared, possibly summoned from another dimension. Starters were Delivered in thrilling installments, but only after we reminded them more times than a concerned mom asking if you’ve eaten. We were served dahi puri twice, and when I pointed out that we were actually waiting for pani puri, the server, with the confidence of a motivational speaker, tried to convince me that the dahi puri was pani puri. I almost started questioning my entire existence at that moment. Meanwhile, the actual pani puri was still on its grand pilgrimage to our table, finally making an appearance after 3-4 complaints. The waiters tried to resell Mutton Kebab as " Curry Vada" making account for 2 starters in one. CAUGHT'EM - RED HANDED! 😉 The food itself was as average as a Monday morning. Nothing terrible, but nothing worth writing home about either, though I did consider writing a letter to the management asking if they were using snail mail to communicate our orders to the kitchen. If you’re looking for a place to practice patience, this is it. If you’re looking for a quick, seamless dining experience, bring a tent, you might be here for a while. Or better yet, pack snacks, you’ll need them to...