Restaurant Review: A cheery café full of life and innovative, art-like food

One such promising new entrant is Canvas by Sketch, that stands in the heart of the city on TTK Road in Alwarpet. With its bright white walls taking life from tropical palm tree leaves, flamingos and yellow-billed hornbills — meticulously hand painted by a city artist — the café transports one to a happy faraway land that lives on peppy jazz music. Life-size metal leaf installations and sketches of tropical leaves all throughout the restaurant make it seem nothing short of a themed art gallery.

When we decided to dine at the restaurant on a sunny Friday afternoon, less than a week after it threw its doors open, it was chock-a-block and teeming with life — loud laughter and happy chatter all across the vibrant room. As we settled down at a table next to a window in the plush chairs in pastels, the smell of freshly brewing coffee began to tease.

Unlike most other cafés which stick to a standard menu of coffee, Canvas introduces one to the whole world of coffee — from various styles of manually brewing them (French press, syphon, V60, etc.) to different blends. We began with an aeropress coffee, which uses a special cylindrical device, making for an extra strong and robust cup of black coffee. Their coconut cold brew is the best way to elevate your humble cup of joe into a special drink that blends coffee and coconut water — a beverage that offers your caffeine fix and a coolant to beat the heat at the same time. The expansive coffee menu is also the one that awakens the amateur connoisseur in you. After a good strong cuppa Turkish cappuccino, a more flavourful cousin of good old cappuccino with an added dash of cinnamon, we were now guilty of overdosing on coffee. A portion of eggs royale (eggs benedict with salmon) seemed like a perfect pairing to make a switch to rich crimson-coloured, citrusy hibiscus lush tea.

Apart from all-day breakfast options, the menu also offers salads, burgers and sandwiches, crisp and paper-thin pizzette (small pizzas), curries, noodles and meal bowls with inspirations from across Asia. There are also a few Indian classics like dals, curries and biryanis and a dedicated section for vegans. Among the short eats, tofu and edamame dim sum is oh-so-delicate yet packs a flavourful punch. The double espresso pork ribs, which use a coffee-based concoction to slow-braise the pork, deliver earthy and rustic flavours even though the meat was slightly tougher than expected. What pleases the tummy here is also made sure to please your eyes first — dishes are presented carefully like they are fresh works of art that are being set aside after the final touch of paint. Mediterranean pizzette, which uses baby mozzarella, fava beans, artichokes and asparagus on the wafer-like bread, is a delightful way of eating a pizza with unusual yet healthier toppings.

If you want to create your own food art on the plate, the khao suey noodles with a coconut broth and condiments served individually, make for the perfect dish to bring out the chef in you by adorning the hand-crafted bowls with peanuts, fried onions, scallions, etc. The bowl of soft noodles coated with the creamy coconut gravy is purely food that feeds your soul. Despite the rush hour in the dining room, the service staff, also wearing aprons in tropical prints, made their way through to the tables gracefully like ballerinas, as they quickly served the food. When the wild berry madeleines made it to our table, we were blown away at the lightness of the dessert despite using almond flour. Even for those lacking a sweet-tooth, these madeleines are sure to make you crave for a second serving.

This café’s on point food is the kind that all your senses will not forget for a very long time.