At first sight, there are artistically-thatched walls, a cluster of carbide mining lamps hanging from the ceiling, loosely-strung gunny sacks. When you look up, add mining maps, reference pictures and hard hats nailed to bricks on that list. Geographical contour lines lead you from room to room, and an abundance of the colour brown makes the inside of The Miner Diner in Nungambakkam. Not even a month old, it is casual dining meets café, a sandwich shop and at some point, a fast-food joint.
Like most eateries in Chennai, it suffers from an identity crisis. Some of the best dishes are the waffles — savoury waffles, waffle pizzas, waffle sliders and waffle desserts — but you wonder, ‘when did miners turn waffles into their staple diet and why?’ They didn’t. But we, urban diners, do love our waffles, miner-inspired or not.
Arasu Dennis, a partner at the restaurant, explains, “We were inspired by the California Gold Rush and our initial menu was mainly about the breads. But people come in with expectations and they didn’t like the limited menu, so we expanded to other starters and mains. Waffles became the most popular, so we experimented on them.”
If you like brinjal, try the ‘aubergine caponata waffle pizza’. If you aren’t a fan of eggplant, I’d say try it anyway; it’s combined with capers, olives, mozzarella and cheddar, and it might get you to reconsider your mum’s ennai kathirikkai ! The ‘turkey treat waffle pizza’ is another definite yes. What’s not to like about gooey, cheesy turkey, balanced by salty olives? For different meats on one platter, try the ‘sausage Americana waffle pizza’, a combination of chicken and beef sausage and lamb chorizo.
The waffle batter at The Miner Diner is its highlight, and makes soft, golden waffles. The waffle sliders are on the heavy side, so make sure you go with an appetite. Depending on your choice of patty, you can have the ‘tri-bean Los Angeles waffle slider’ or ‘miner’s chicken treat’. The accompanying fries are a bit lean and frail though. In an attempt to retain some of the theme’s flavours, potato and beans feature prominently in the menu.
Do not leave without dessert (seriously, who does that). Double chocolate, apple and cinnamon pie, Belgian berry blast, rainbow’s end… each is tastier than the other. No complaints here. Pick your favourite topping — white chocolate, dark chocolate, apple, strawberry, Gems or whipped cream — and enjoy.
Let’s not forget the food of the miner: bread. Not too hard, not too soft (as Goldilocks said), the baguette is your base bread. It comes in different flavours: neutral, chilli cheese, roasted garlic, herbs and honey oats. Even with different sauces like mint mayo and sweet onion, it doesn’t quite match the taste of the popular franchise we associate with submarine sandwiches. To the credit of the restaurant, they plan to expand their bread section and give customers a more ‘miner taste’.
When compared to the varied non-vegetarian options, the vegetarian counterparts look a bit dull. It is a bit troublesome when paneer becomes the highlight of the vegetarian cuisine.
And if you want a beverage, stick to coffee. While the shakes are nice, the smoothies are a shame.
