Koox, like Beyonce, Adele and Oprah, follows no one. And while the Instagram account of Chennai’s newest rooftop restaurant may not have Yoncé-style fans (with about 1,155 followers at last count, as opposed to Beyonce’s 134 million), it is not shy about positioning itself.
The tagline, ‘Prepare to be elevated’, is meant to be read both literally and figuratively, as the rooftop restaurant, at Novotel Chamiers, claims to offer “the Best of Sichuan and Japanese food”.
Admittedly, ‘the best’ is an ambitious claim. However, since hyperbole is a given with social media-fuelled advertising these days, what is more intriguing is the Sichuan-Japanese medley. Thanks to the city’s many expatriates, Chennai is lucky enough to have fairly-authentic Asian fare, resulting in a culture of diners that can actually tell
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Ten years ago, anyone opening a Japanese restaurant had to find ways to clearly differentiate it from the local saucy,
- Novotel Chennai, Chamiers Road
- Hits: Truffle garlic sticky rice, tuna tataki, spider crab maki roll
- Misses: Japanese cotton cheesecake, Assamese black rice maki roll
- Meal for two: ₹5,000
- 66205742
The Sichuan rice, however, tastes fairly ordinary, with only edamame and a brawny price tag to remind you that this is a luxe version of your neighbourhood Chinese takeaway.
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Although Koox just launched, and is open only for dinner, it has already created enough of a buzz to be packed in the evenings.
While the interiors are trendy, it is the al fresco dining area that defines the restaurant. Set under a muggy Chennai sky, with a view of streaming traffic lights below, this is a relaxing setting for an icy cocktail. No syrups or artificial flavourings here. The team is far too new age for that: instead expect freshly squeezed juices, chilled teas and lashings of bubbly prosecco.
The food, similarly, attempts to be fairly healthy, with a focus on local, indigenous ingredients. Sometimes it seems to have been styled primarily for Instagram: the Assamese black rice maki roll stuffed with cucumber, is pretty but a weak juxtaposition of pale flavours. However, the spider crab maki roll is a delicious, if unapologetically inauthentic, take on sushi, with its crunchy tempura topping and creamy avocado heart, topped with a dollop of spicy mayo.
By 9 pm, the music has moved from lounge to deep house, and the vibe is more night club than restaurant. All very glamorous, if a touch too loud. Batting away the occasional persistent mosquito, we dive into robatayaki grills, heralded by a plump, buttery lobster deftly grilled with sake and mirin.
Our waiter, who is cheerfully efficient with an endearing sense of humour, serves up bowls of sticky rice tossed with edamame and enticingly fragrant truffle oil as the main course. We eat it with steamy, garlicky tofu.
Despite the fact that the menu exults in pop fusion, some of the most successful dishes are simple classics: seared tuna tataki , for instance, dusted with togarashi and plated with finely grated daikon.
For dessert, a wobbly, lacklustre Japanese cotton cheesecake makes a grand début, but tastes like faintly flavoured air, at best. There is also a showy passion fruit and banana parfait, served in a theatrical cotton candy-filled dark chocolate sphere, which melts when the waiter pours molten caramel sauce over it. Every spoon is a confident burst of flavour, though it is tooth-achingly sweet.
In an age of stringent minimalism and snobby micro cuisines, it is refreshing to find a kitchen brave enough to simply put together a menu of greatest hits.
Koox offers boundary-blurring Americanised, Indianised Japanese food with an inexplicable section of Chinese Sichuan thrown in.
It works because they do it with confidence, and because these are popular genres of cuisine. But with no single path, evolving may become a challenge, especially given how demanding audiences are right now. And the fact that Koox is certainly not cheap.