You won’t find Madras Cocktail Company (AKA MadCo.) on Google Maps. There’s no phone number, no DJ, no sign outside that tells you you’ve arrived. Inside, there’s no crowd jostling for selfies, no thumping bassline competing with conversation. And that’s all entirely by design.
And the only way in? If they choose you. To get through the door, you’ll have to DM them on Instagram at @madco_chennai and they'll decide if you make the cut.
“We serve food that’s different from any other bar in this city. Cocktails, too,” says Santhosh Zachariah Abraham, managing partner of MadCo. the speakeasy. “We believe in quality, not quantity. And certainly not fanfare.”
Positioned as a sanctuary for those who’d rather sip a cocktail in peace than down tequila shots to a club mix, MadCo. targets a niche audience: older, well-heeled, chill. It’s a place where public figures drop in unnoticed, where regulars return more than twice a week, and where the music is whatever Santhosh feels like playing that day. No DJs, no requests.
The food is a major draw, and unusually thoughtful for a bar menu. Culinary consultant Mathangi Kumar leads the kitchen, guided by one brief: make something no one else in the city is serving, but still grounded in familiarity.
After tasting their cult classics, the new additions to the menu, and those made with nostalgia, our testimony is that this community bar doesn’t just flirt with familiarity through its food, it wrestles it into submission, pours a shot of vodka over it, and calls it a brunch.
Take the Gongura tempura, the very first dish to come to our table. It heels right behind almost everyone’s drinks here and already has a cult following. The gongura leaf is dunked in a vodka-infused tempura batter, giving it that crackling exterior, and dusted with a punchy vellulli karam, a dry spice mix of chillies, cumin, garlic and salt. The result is a sharp, balanced bite that plays with spice and sourness. It’s paired with an aioli laced with a pickle from Bheemavaram.
For salads, we tried the Goat cheese brûlée salad. Goat cheese is brûléed with a sugar crust to tame its funk, then placed on arugula with roasted beetroot, orange segments and mixed seeds. A standout date-balsamic vinaigrette adds structure and sweetness without turning runny.
What came next won our hearts. The Truffle on brioche was difficult to even keep down after a bite, that gorge-worthy. Made with “poor man's brioche” instead of the heavy, egg-rich original, the base is light and airy. It’s topped with mushroom pâté and a classic French duxelles, then finished with a drizzle of truffle oil and parmesan, a nostalgic nod to Mathangi’s cooking school favourites.
In another corner of the menu lies the Black bean stir-fried beef, another one of our favourites. Thin slices of premium Kerala beef are wok-seared for just 45 seconds, retaining tenderness while absorbing the dark, savoury notes of house-made black bean sauce. The glaze clings like it was born for it, spicy, savoury, and the meat-to-veg-to-onion ratio hits a near-mathematical precision.
The drinks play just as wild. Lame Duck comes in a bright yellow duck mug, hence the name, and is made with scotch whisky, oranges and honey. Even if the flavour profile isn’t your usual pick, get this one for the whimsy. Then we tried Fiery Amethyst and Kaapi Colada. The second one? If we had to choose only one drink for life, this would be it. It’s a clarified and carbonated concoction with a dried pineapple slice as garnish. Someone sitting next to us said to bite into the garnish, and you know what? It changed the whole drink.
There’s more we tried. The Anda pav lands like a decadent fever dream. Inspired by the streets of Mumbai, this version layers soft pav with a vinegary green chilli chutney, a tornado-style creamy egg, pickled onions and a boiled egg, finished with a touch of kewpie mayo. It’s comfort food elevated by texture and tang.
Next was the Sri Lankan-style Kothu parotta. Born from Mathangi's childhood memory in Bentota, this peppery version is a comforting, umami-heavy twist on the original, recreated with heart and homage.
The Naidu chicken queso-parotta reinvents the flaky staple as a puff pastry stuffed with chicken vepudu and creamy stracciatella (the inside of burrata). It’s paired with a curry leaf aioli, merging South Indian depth with cheesy indulgence.
What surprised us next was the Uppu kari, a slow-cooked mutton curry with rock salt, shallots and chinna gundu molaga for depth. Served over egg noodles (ribbons), it’s accompanied by pachipulusu, a raw tamarind rasam that balances heat, sourness and jaggery-led sweetness.
“It’s all unexpected,” Mathangi shrugs, “but together, it just works.”
Meal for two: 6,000++. From 6 pm to 12 am on Mondays and from 12 pm to 12 am on other daysAt Madras Cocktail Company, Gopalapuram.
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