For a quiet conversation

One of the new hangouts in the city, DCafe, offers world cuisines and lots of calmness

October 07, 2013 04:50 pm | Updated May 26, 2016 02:45 pm IST - chennai

CHENNAI: 25-09-2013-----D Cafe restaurant in T Nagar, Chennai. Photo: K_V_Srinivasan

CHENNAI: 25-09-2013-----D Cafe restaurant in T Nagar, Chennai. Photo: K_V_Srinivasan

Through a garden, up a wooden bridge, down a cobbled path and we are at a place which seems right out of Alice in Wonderland …a place so full of unusual quirks that its fit for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. There’s a giant tea cup-shaped couch in one corner, shiny, gentle-sounding wind chimes, colourful buttons used as decor almost everywhere, seats in different shapes and various levels of seating. We are at D Café, one of the new hangouts in the city which offers a blend of world cuisine, popular music and privacy — which means if you end up on a date and bump into an aunt or an ex-boyfriend you can safely find yourself a place away from their line of vision.

That would be exciting, but we have no such concerns, as of now. As we sit down an iPad containing the menu is handed out to each of us and swiping through it takes as much time as a game of Grand Theft Auto. There’s Continental, Spanish, Italian, Mexican…

The Venezuelan chocolate chicken sounds intriguing. We pair the unfamiliar with the familiar and order a con queso croquette as a back-up. A wise decision. The chicken comes almost unrecognisable, slathered in 70 per cent dark chocolate. There are two distinct tastes to it, those of well…chicken and chocolate. The only thing adding some flavour to it is the jalapeno. The con queso on the other hand is a hit and sticks to its usual flavours of mashed potatoes, cheese and corn kernels that’s deliciously crumb fried.

Since the cold coffees aren’t available, we grudgingly settle for strawberry margarita and a lime mint cooler. The pretty pink margarita is appropriately sweet, refreshing and truly the toast of the menu.

For our main course we are handed the iPads again. There’s a mind-boggling variety…paella, sizzlers, pastas, pizzas, grilled fish…oh some of them aren’t available today. We ultimately zero in on cannelloni chicken and a vegetarian steak. The plump cannelloni comes stuffed with herbed and minced chicken and is a bit tangy. The serving is small like it’s meant for the baby bear in Goldilocks . Not satisfied, we next tuck into the piping hot steak that’s got soft cubes of cottage cheese, juicy veggies and a portion of rice. They sure have got this one right.

Now for the desserts...and a similar story follows. With some of the desserts “unavailable today” we take what’s available — chocoholic cake. When the generous chunk is set on our table we know why it’s called so. We take our time to finish because here you’ll barely find waiters hovering around indicating you to leave once you are done. This is just the kind of place you can sit back and maybe start writing your novel…perhaps this was the kind of place Lewis Carroll had stumbled upon before his literary journey began.

D Café is located at 35-A, Bazullah Road, T. Nagar. Ph: 99626 32233

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