Usually I stick to the hotels for the convenience and the fact that drivers who only speak Hindi or Tamil recognize the names, but I have to call out an awesome Thai restaurant in MAA - Benjarong. We had rented an apartment last year down the street for our stampede of folks heading over there to support new business, they discovered it and it is a win

The basil chili prawns are awesome, try the lava prawns as well. I met the owner, turns out he owns one of my favorite non hotel bars in town as well - Zara on Cathedral road - good drinks, good music. Give it a try.