Located on the busy Barnaby Road in Kilpauk, The Little White Kitchen is anything but little. However the 90-seater house does earn the name with its bright, airy interiors – with dainty aesthetics and liberal splashes of pastel teal, giving it a quaint English café feel. We perch on the high chairs by the community tables, and start off with a bottle of delicious, freshly pressed sugarcane juice. “We have three live counters outside — for dosas, momos and sugarcane juice,” informs Vanita Mardia, one of the three partners of this restaurant which is vegetarian and more interestingly — is 98 per cent plastic free!
However, the sturdy paper straws and the fine bagasse tableware made of sugarcane-refuse hold our attention only till Pinky Bokaria, a partner and also Vanita’s sister, comes bustling from the kitchen with a plate of mushroom momos smothered in creamy Thai curry. Garnished with roasted peanuts and fried onions in a khow-suey fashion and flavour, we slurp it all up — just in time for the next platter. “The bread is made in-house and this one is inspired by a dish at Maoz, that we tried in Spain, where you get to make your own Lebanese salad bowl,” says Pinky as she places a platter of fluffy pita bread with falafel, salad, a variety of hummus and sauces — from a live counter. We are ready to eat all our food with the basil hummus — that was flavoursome and addictive, even as we catch up with Niki Nanavati, the third partner who proceeds to tell us how she and Pinky had been in the restaurant business earlier too — with Tasteation (which shut down recently).
The combo platter we try next is homely with channa masala, buttery paneer-stuffed kulchas, black daal and boondi raita. The mini gulab jamun is a quick bite and we are ready to call it a night. Niki tries to persuade us with their Mexican Bowl Burrito, inspired by a dish from the American chain, the Chipotle Mexican Grill. While we manage to resist that one — when asked to pick between the Kewra Kulfi and the Gooey Brownie Sundae, we go for the dark and decadent. The warm gooey bits of chocolate, the gently melting ice cream and the fudgy brownie — make it a great choice to sign off with!
Meal for two Rs 750.