With cashew cheese and coconut cream on their wholesome menu, Fabindia launches two new Fab Cafes in Chennai

What’s more exciting is that a visit here is an experience. You can shop on the first and second floor, leave your kids at TugBug their in-house play area and now even grab a bite at the café. 
Fab Cafe in Alwarpet
Fab Cafe in Alwarpet

FROM being the go-to place for cotton ethnic wear and organic skin care products, Fabindia, staying true to its rustic style aesthetics, has expanded into the food sector.  However, they’re not completely new to the shift, and if you remember, Fabindia had gooey brownies at their counters, at some of their mall outlets in the city. 

Interiors at Fab Cafe
Interiors at Fab Cafe

After opening their first Fab Cafe in Delhi’s posh Vasant Kunj area eight years ago, Chennai too will now get their fix of Fab Cafe’s wholesome and healthy menu, as the brand launched the fifth and sixth outlet in Alwarpet and Besant Nagar. What’s more exciting is that a visit here is an experience. You can shop on the first and second floor, leave your kids at TugBug their in-house play area and now even grab a bite at the café. 

As we walk in, we notice that it overlooks the mighty TTK intersection with ample foliage and bright blue skies, that quite nicely light up the entire café.  At the helm is New Delhi-based Sunil Chauhan, partner and chef at Fab Cafe. Sunil is not new to the food circuit, and has been in the restaurant industry since 1994. He has been a chef, a partner and even a consultant over the years, and Fab Cafe is the sum total of all his experiences. “My desire is to unveil true Indian food to the world, says Chef Sunil Chauhan. “When we started working on the menu, we incorporated recipes from all over India. We then worked on switching ingredients and making the dishes as healthy as possible without compromising the taste,” says Sunil. And true to his word, Sunil has incorporated jackfruit flour chapati which is diabetic friendly, a quinoa biryani, a beetroot and lotus stem tikki and vegan ice creams made from almond and coconut cream. As a principle, Sunil stays away from refined sugar and flour at the café. 

Parsi chicken dhansak
Parsi chicken dhansak

Instead, they use sweeteners like coconut palm jaggery, jaggery and coconut sugar. “There are a lot of organic alternative grains like quinoa flour, jackfruit flour, amaranth, kuttu and millet. We also try to keep as many veggies on the menu as possible, things like cauliflower rice and beetroot pickles.” Lucknow-based MNC Organic India helps the café with ingredients from their organic farms, that are situated across of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  The all-day dining restaurant has everything from smoothie bowls packed with muesli and fresh fruit, to breakfast must-haves like an ajwain croissant sandwich to jackfruit flour egg paratha with pumpkin subzi.  Every page has something unique! Even their drinks menu has quite a variety like almond thandaai, vanilla lemongrass soda and vegan cold coffee. They also make their own almond milk daily.  

To start off the meal, we have a coriander pesto grilled chicken with mixed greens, pumpkin seeds and a refreshing spicy probiotic yoghurt dressing. Next comes the beetroot lotus stem tikki chaat. Hailed as a superfood, and an anxiety-quelling ingredient, the dish is comes topped with curd, chutney and lotus chips. For mains, we decided on a Kerala fish molee and a Coorg pork curry. While the pomfret is  soft and flaky, the  is tender with a smoked kokum and malt vinegar base — both ideal if you’re to looking to pair a curry with your red rice. We also recommend the gluten-free momos, made with jackfruit flour and root starch along with spinach and red onions, with a garlic chive dip!  

Meal for two:  `1,200.

Open from 8.30 am to 10.30 pm.

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