The grand display of opulence is a little dizzying and can make you wonder if you are making your way into a cafe or wandering past a movie set. Honestly, the place has a Moulin Rouge meets the Ministry of Magic (from Harry Potter) kind of vibe about it.
As you enter Luxe, the latest and most dramatic of the movie theatres in the city, an elevator in the far right corner takes you up to the just launched Cafe de Luxe. One step into the dark marble-floored corridor and the chaos and noise disappears. It’s so quiet that the sound of my hungry, roaring tummy is amplified.
The cafe has a laid back feel, almost like a lounge area for royalty. The bar has people dressed in purple, busy mixing colourful concoctions: they take their mocktails very seriously here. The menu has quite a list of beverages: sorry, no alcohol though, but the mocktails are feisty enough.
The concoctioners seem keen to show off their work, like a child who's done exceptionally well with his homework. But they patiently wait till my tardy companion arrives. He looks bedazzled. "Wow, what is this place!" he exclaims as we flip through the menu. An Italian cream soda and calamari are ordered to begin with.
My soda is bubblegum pink, with a refreshing watermelon flavour, although it does taste a bit like hard-boiled candy. The frozen berry mojito is, well, very berry-like and has a generous dose of mint leaves. The fried calamari looks red and appetising; it’s partly chewy and partly soggy and we don’t exactly like it. But we keep popping it in as it’s strangely addictive.
Leaning back on the wide purple velvet couch with fluffy cushions, we look down at the subjects... err… crowd below. The grandeur we’re surrounded by makes us almost believe that we’re in the Palace of Versailles.
Meanwhile, the vegetable vol-au-vent and farmhouse pizza arrive. Topped with black olives, the pizza is interesting with a desi flavour to it. The paneer chunks that are part of the topping taste like paneer tikka. The star of the meal clearly is the vol-au-vent. The bite-sized delight is packed with a filling of mushroom, herbs, zucchini, thyme and bechamel sauce. It’s delicious. The fluffy pastry is as delicate as a dandelion in a storm and little flakes fall over me as I lightly bite in.
It’s time to contemplate…tiramisu or blueberry cheesecake? What’s it going to be for dessert? The best option therefore is to order a dessert platter, like we did. There’s flak, tiramisu, cheesecake and chocolate crumble. The bar of flak is like a big-built, well-tanned hunk and so I dig my spoon in it first. It’s sinfully chocolaty. The cheesecake is a classic, while the chocolate crumble lacks character and the cookie crumbs sprinkled on top taste of cumin. That brings us to the tiramisu: well what can we say; it’s best to close your eyes and relish spoonfuls of this gooey, simply divine dessert.
(Café de Luxe is located at Phoenix Market City, Velachery)
