Bolizza, located just adjacent to SKS-T Nagar, perfectly blends South Indian cuisine into its cafe-y quirks. Niharika Gunturu in this Beyond the Gates article provides yet another brief and brilliant review of some of the must-try items at Bolizza. Brace your sweet buds for some mouth-watering Continental, South Indian and North Indian cuisine. Read on for more!
The mention of South Indian cuisine conjures up a thought bubble with Idli and Sambar as the headlining duo. As the safeguard-er of the sanctity of Sambar, Tamil Nadu is clearly the ambassador of South Indian cuisine. And if Tamil Nadu is the ambassador of South Indian cuisine, Sri Krishna Sweets is definitely a contender for the ambassador of Tamil Nadu.
Yes, the same Sri Krishna Sweets whose sweets have the stamp of approval of all staunch paatis alike. While Sri Krishna Sweets, with it’s melt-in-your-mouth Mysore Paks is quite gravitating, I stepped into Bolizza, its sister restaurant.
Bolizza, located just adjacent to SKS-T Nagar, perfectly blends South Indian cuisine into its cafe-y quirks. Refrain from casting your impressions of SKS on Bolizza for it’s a restaurant of its own. The menu offers South Indian, North Indian and Continental delicacies, which already makes it a promising treat-spot for your multicultural gang of friends.
In this visit I sampled 3 of the 4 Continental Sandwiches:
- Boston Cheese: This sandwich is debatable. If you like the ‘cheese burst’ or quattro formaggi pizzas, you’ll love it. I personally found it far too cheesy.(:D)
- Cheese and Olives: You can’t go wrong with this classic combination. The Bolizza variant tastes good but isn’t exceptional.
- Mediterranean Grilled Veggies: Easily the best of the lot. Crispy and fresh veggies, perfectly seasoned, and with just the right amount of melted gooey cheese, you’ll want the bigger piece for yourself.
Mediterranean veggies
It’s worth noting that all continental sandwiches do come with complimentary Iced Tea, French Fries and a selection of 3 dips.
Moving on to what they do best- the South Indian dishes.
- Kuzhi Paniyaram: Simple. Savoury. Scrumptious. Hot Paniyarams, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside with some fresh chutney, they’ll remind you of evening tiffin at your grandparents’.
Paniyaram
- Ammani Kozhukattai: Can be best described as cute rice flour dumplings served with the staple chutney. Again, tastes good but not good enough to pull you over for a visit.
Ammani Kozhukattai
The good food experience was now elevated to another realm with the arrival of the ‘Bolis’.
‘Boli’s also known as Bobattlu/Puran Poli, are essentially ‘pancakes’ with a sweetened lentil and jaggery filling. While normal sweet bolis are a staple in SKS, they are too mainstream for ‘Boli’zza, which serves 4 savoury versions: Masala, Coconut, Pudhina and Dhall*.
And if you try nothing else in Bolizza, try this. Heck, if there was only one (vegetarian) dish I was allowed to eat in Madras, it would be a savoury Boli. It is a golden brown crispy outer layer, filled with hot and nearly melt-in-your mouth savoury goodness. If not already obvious, DO give it a try if you happen to swing by the place.
I didn’t sample their North Indian dishes for the same reason that one shouldn’t insist on Pav Bhaji in Paris, though by the looks of it, I’m sure it’s great as well.
Speaking of the ambience of the restaurant, it is worth noting that it is a very small restaurant with only three tables. Each of the three tables can seat four people each. The fixation with four continues as most of their dishes are served in portions for four. The restaurant in itself is beautifully designed, with pretty glass painted walls on one side. The entertaining wall art serves as a perfect distraction from a (possible) lack of good conversation. Pricing is not too harsh on the wallet, costing about Rs. 900 for a group of 6.
All in all, Bolizza’s speciality lies in the fact that it gets the basics right: good ambience, decent variety, and doing exceptionally well in their strengths- ‘paati approved’ South Indian food.
*The (mis)spelling of ‘Dal’ can also be a great conversation starter.
