The chairs are red, blue and yellow. The table legs end in claws designed out of heavy, old wrought iron. Copper-coloured trays hang proud from a green background on a far wall, while the wall adjacent is filled with the menu listed out on multiple blackboards (they needed that many boards: it’s a large menu). But the pretty little café with its hanging planters and painted chairs is not the first thing you notice when you walk in the doors.
No, you notice shelf after towering shelf piled high with biscuit boxes and namkeen packets: after all, Karachi Bakery and Café has a reputation to uphold at its maiden Chennai branch. However, I am not here to gauge the iconic bakery.
I am here for its appendage, the much-loved neighbourhood café found on street corners of Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and now Chennai. What I see of its mounted (and printed) offerings looks promising: soups, sandwiches, burgers, salads, an array of starters, waffles, churros, Tex-Mex, curries, stroganoff, cheesecake... The best part though is not the spread, or the antique-meets-eclectic interior, or ‘Chasing cars’ by Snow Patrol playing softly enough to let conversation flow free: it is the cheery smile that I am greeted with, that assures me wordlessly that I am welcome to spend hours idling by here, plucking at one dish at a time at my own sweet pace. Which is exactly what I proceed to do.
First to my table is a light, crunchy pizza: the most challenging one I can order comes laden with large slits of green chilli. This is clearly meant to be a challenge: grease battles for dominance over cheese and I am glad for both, such is the heat from the chilli. It doesn’t exactly make my eyes water, but comes as close as pizza ever has.
Too greasy for good
The grease-cheese tussle continues with jalapeno poppers in a blanket, which isn’t as fun as its name suggests. Think crumb-fried cheese fingers with a strong hint of jalapeno, soft enough to come apart when picked up by fork. It would be a delight to nibble on if it were not for the grease, which by this point has become annoying enough to make me backtrack and crave some simple soup instead.
Enter: almond and mushroom cream, pale, thick and creamy. Crunchy almond slivers in every other spoonful provide sudden, surprising departures from the salt-and-umami flavour. After the second or so spoonful, however, this contrast turns counter-productive: almonds taste more bland and the soup more salty. The vegetable stroganoff, on the other hand, is a hearty vegetable gravy that comes with fragrant long-grained rice, and a side of the same vegetables grilled dry. Oodles of warm comfort on a plate.
- Round Table House, D 80, Old 69, Nungambakkam High Road
- Hits: New York cheesecake, vegetable stroganoff
- Misses: Jalapeno poppers, almond and mushroom soup
- Cost for two: ₹800
- 9384030246
The best, however, makes its entrance at the end. The New York cheesecake has a slim crust that is almost crunchy, and a dense, non-wobbly main layer that manages to feel full and oh-so-soft at the same time. A sour relish on top sets it off perfectly: a happy end to a long, cheery meal.
