Restaurant review: Fresh concept, not-so-fresh menu at this larger-than-life resto-bar

Located in the heart of Nungambakkam, one of the bar’s USP is the décor and they have successfully recreated a medieval feel. Dimly lit stairs lead towards a massive faux-metal door, which swings open to reveal a mini-movie theatre sized resto-bar, with ample indoor and outdoor seating spaces. Plush leather couches, tall accent chairs, a golden throne inspired by the pop culture epitome, Game of Thrones, and a metallic suits of armour — all serve to amplify the mood of popular sword and sorcery shows that are trendingright now.

Courteous staff hand over menus, and unfortunately, this is where the façade began to crumble a bit. The menu itself, is a bit of apuzzle — starters from South Indian, North Indian, Mexican, Thai and a variety of other Asian cuisines that the menu draws from, are all thrown in together over six pages. Along with two colleagues, we settle down at one of the tables with huge armchairs — “It reminds of the confession chair from the Bigg Boss house,” quipped a colleague. After a quick menu flip, we order three ‘signature’ cocktails — Calypso Coffee, Spicy Love and a Mango Mania, along with a Guntur chicken pate, an assorted platter of dim sums, California roll and a spicy Chettinad chicken pizza, as per the chef’s suggestion. There’s also a variety of salads, skewers, kebabs, and Tamil favourites like Madurai mutton chukka, gun powder crab lollipop, etc. to choose from. In addition of a range of starters, they also have a few one-plate meals that have been customised to suit the Chennai palate like curd rice with potato fry and mushroom ghee roast with Malabar parotta.

While the coffee based cocktail was everyone’s favourite, with its sweet notes from the vanilla and coffee mix in rum, the only spice in Spicy Love came from some chaat masala stirred into water — the cranberry juice it was supposed to contain (as per the menu), could barely be tasted. Same was the case with Mango Mania, apart from the mango slice used as a garnish, the drink didn’t taste of the fruit at all. Even the professional photographs sent to us by the resto-bar later made it clear that what we were served looked nothing like what they promoted on their menu. The Guntur chicken pate, too, was heavily misleading. It was not the ground meat paste that a pate is traditionally characterised by — instead we got a bowl of chicken chunks cooked in a green chilli paste. While the ordered dim sums never landed on the table, the Chettinad chicken pizza tasted stale! Chicken Chettinad gravy on top of a leathery pizza base was off-putting to say the least. The California roll however was the saviouramong starters.

A quick peek into the resto-bar’s kitchen, along with our lensman to photograph the chef in action, shed some light on the menu issues, as we witnessed pre-made dim sums being taken out of the freezers to be steamed in bamboo baskets. Even the main course items did little to take the edge of our hunger, asthe Jack Daniels infused dal makhni gave the dal a slightly bitteraftertaste.

 However, there was a happy ending after all. From the limited dessert menu, we picked a nutty brownie, which took a painful half hour to be served. The tiny square came with vanilla ice cream — the brownie was warm and nutty as promised and we dove into it with glee.  In all, the Lord of the Drinks is a good place for large groups to gather, and could work well for people who are content with having a few bar snacks along with their drinks, but if they plan to cash in on the weekday lunch and dinner crowd, it’s a good idea to fix the food issues, else it will end-up being only a funone-time visit.