He Brews

I attended a 2-day workshop on ' Effective methods in teaching grammar'. The resource persons had around 5 meaningless sessions with us. One of it was a session on ' How South Indian coffee is brewed/prepared/made/fixed'. Are you lifting your eyebrows in interrogation?Well, here I go.
The word 'coffee' comes from the Arabic word ' '. It was first discovered in Abisinia in Ethiopia.
A lot of South Indians are Coffee connoisseurs and are very particular about their FilterED coffee also known as Drip coffee.
The coffee beans are bought and then roasted (not fried). It is then ground into small grains (finely powdered). This powder is put into the top container of a coffee filter. 
A typical coffee filter is a cylindrical shaped vessel consisting of 2 compartments. The bottom of the top half is slightly concave and has perforations. It also contains a stopper.
Boiling water is added to the coffee powder, now present in the top compartment of the filter. The decoction is collected in the bottom half. Milk is added to the decoction. Sugar is added. The coffee is then aerated. Finally, the coffee is dressed. This is done by adding a few drops of decoction to the foam.
ENJOY!!

Fine dining restaurant

The Vellore Kitchen is almost a 2yr old restaurant in the heart of the town. It is in fact located between Vellore and Katpadi and is right on the highway and can be hardly missed.

My folks here are quite choosy about the restaurants they visit but somehow they decided to try this place. I wasn't sure if they would like it but it turned out to be quite the opposite. They liked it but I did not. What I mainly did not like there was the ambience. The noise makes it feel like sitting in one of the non-ac halls of an old veg restaurant. There was nothing too great about the food either. The service was okay and the owner was always comes around to make sure customers are comfortable.

Since this place was closer home and easily accessible and since they anyway liked it, we frequented this restaurant. But my heart was always at Hundreds.

Then one day,a cousin told us about a second floor of VK. She said the experience was more like Hundreds and also offered to treat us there. And it was quite a fascinating experience.

Just as you enter VK, there is an elevator with a board above it saying "Fine Dining 2nd floor". We entered a dimly lit room in contrast to the bright 'hall' on the ground floor. The tables were separated providing more privacy for customers. Of course we were warmly welcomed as always. The menu is of course different with a choice of Chinese, Continental and Indian. And desserts under each category. I decided to go for Continental-mostly pastas-as I had company, while the others went in for the usual North Indian. The breads were very interestingly served in a "moram".(Unfortunately I did not take a picture of it though I'm sure there'll be a next time. It is type of sieve made using bamboo). I was somehow so fascinated by it and thought it was quite an idea.


They definitely have a creative vegetable carver who puts in a lot of effort for presentation. Service was slightly slow though not in an irritating way. And its way more pricey than the "Normal Dining restaurant". 
The most fascinating thing was a remote on each table to call for the waiter. There are options for service, water and the bill. And of course a Cancel button. The waiter wears a watch that indicates the button pressed.
On the whole the experience was worth it, thanks to Mridul. And no doubt, Vellore Kitchen is doing well and expanding.