What happens when two promising chefs get married and start a restaurant? You get a diverse menu with a whole lotta soul food. Although vastly different in preferences, patisserie Chef Ankita Sood from Delhi and meat lover, Rohan Nandakumar from Chennai found one thing similar — their love for good, wholesome food. After working for top luxury hotels like Oberoi and Trident, they got married last year, quit their lucrative corporate chef jobs and started Kapao Dos, a 36-seater joint, in Wellington Plaza, Egmore.
“We wanted to create an eclectic menu with global flavours, and not focus on just one type of cuisine,” says the 30-year-old patisserie chef. “And this menu has a mix of everything — from small bites like vada pavs to Asian delights like Khao Suey to the American quintessential Mac n’ Cheese. Except we have Mac and chicken,” she says with a smile. We comb through the menu while we are served Vietnamese iced coffee, which is a refreshing start to our meal.
Curious about the name of the restaurant, we ask Rohan what it means and he says that he has always been a fan of comic books and pop culture. “I really liked how dramatic the word ‘Kapow’ looked in the books. So I named it that,” he says with a laugh. We are first served the Kurkure Momos and Mac and Chicken. For the former, the name takes after its panko-fried crunchy exterior and soft fillings which are delicious, while the Mac and chicken is cheesy, and made with home-made chicken nuggets. They also have an impressive variety of the classic Bombay vada pav like the Lebanese and Meatball vada pav.
The Korean Fire Chicken came next — a fiery preparation of chicken and gochujang (a red chilli paste made with glutinous rice, chilli powder and meju, which is fermented soybean) with mushrooms and green onion, topped with a cheesy golden crust and served with rice and pickled cucumbers. Watch out for this one if you can’t handle spice! Martaban Murgh arrived next in the classic ceramic pots that are used for pickling. The dish is a velvety tomato gravy with paneer, pickled onions and served with steamed rice and green chutney.
The last of the mains was the warm and comforting Burmese Khao Suey, one of our favourite dishes from Kapao Dos. Consisting of a herbed and creamy coconut milk broth, the Khao Suey is visually delightful and served with flat rice noodles, chicken, topped with crispy onions, toasted peanuts and fresh chilli. There’s also a vegetarian version of the same.
The star dessert is 24, a cake made of a whopping 24 layers of mud sponge, chocolate mousse, salted caramel and butterscotch. Standing tall and threatening to tilt, we immediately dig in to it. We also recommend Monkey Business, which has a splash of Old Monk in it and the Mango Trifle, to keep up with the mango season.
From Rs 700 upwards.