Cool, dim lighting, and the faraway sound of traffic on Nungambakkam High Road, that is drowned out by eclectic lounge music. If you’re not facing the pool, you can still get the calming effect of flowing water from digital artist Rajorshi Ghosh’s video art installation. A2, The Park hotel’s newest lounge, is a good place to get away for a weekday lunch.
The new restaurant is the interior space of Aqua, the rooftop restaurant, that was redesigned and launched a little over a month back. The industrial chic interiors featuring distressed walls and ceiling and industrial water pipes and distressed wood on the bar counter were designed by Gunjan Gupta of WRAP Studios. It’s a little out there for a city like Chennai — you’ll either love it, hate it or not understand it.
While the menu features Mediterranean and continental food, the sushi bar takes pride of place. We munch on parmesan-coated French fries with a truffle dip and sip on Tiki Tiki, a signature rum-based cocktail served in a Polynesian jar, as the first round of sushi — vegetarian — is served. Two variants, one topped with bell pepper, and the other with fried eggplant, both with cream cheese and avocado in the centre, are polished off in minutes, despite struggling with chopsticks. After a few tries, the fork was an easier option.
Of course, sashimi isn’t for the squeamish: it’s time for such people to look away when the platter with salmon, tuna, yellowtail tuna, scallops, shrimp and squid arrives. This is followed by spider maki, which is a soft-shell crab roll. Fans of cult TV show F.R.I.E.N.D.S must have the dragon maki roll (it has tempura fried prawn) simply for the eel sauce that comes with it: it’s called unagi. It also happens to be quite delicious. Chef Rahul, the man behind several dishes on the menu, takes time to explain the process of making each of these. He also offers a sticky hoisin sauce-covered pork rib dish that is so tender, it slides off the bone.
Between Bombay ‘bheja fry’ bruschetta and eggplant bao with spicy chilli sauce, we skip the salads and ramen and move on to dessert. This section isn’t very conventional, so if you’re not into experimenting with flavours, just order another signature cocktail, the A2. It comes with a slice of red velvet cake on the rim of the glass. Or go for the passionfruit semifreddo. If you are open to trying something new, then go ahead and ask for the goats’ cheese mousse with a drizzle of aged modena balsamic drizzle set on a chocolate cake base. The flavours are unfamiliar, yet exciting, and I go back for one more spoonful.
Food for thought
