Black burgers have almost become mainstream now, but a café in Nungambakkam has taken it a step further. Their new Wakanda menu, named after the fictional kingdom in the Marvel superhit Black Panther, offers crepes, pancakes, pizzas and waffles — all in the colour black.
Vibranium pizzas?
Jaykiran PA, the medical student who has run Jack’s Resto Cafe since September last year, says that they wanted to catch on to the trend and also wanted to dispel the myth around the colour. “Even when people come across food that is black, they think that the colour is from common coal… but no, the activated charcoal that we add comes from burnt coconut shell. And most importantly, it is food-grade charcoal.” We take a look at their two-week-old menu; the names of all the dishes start with ‘vibranium’, in reference to a rare metal found in the Kingdom of Wakanda. Now we doubt if the menu itself was inspired by the movie. Jaykiran says with a laugh, “No not really, we were experimenting with the idea for about three months and at the same time, the movie was creating a lot of buzz,” says the 21-year-old.
The Vibranium Jack’s Special Pizza comes first and we must confess, it looks dapper in black and will definitely light up your Instagram timeline. The black base contrasts well with the white melted mozzarella and the toppings — chicken salami, gherkins and chunks of roast chicken — are juicy. Activated charcoal has no specific taste, but Jaykiran says that they have infused rosemary and other herbs into some dishes, like the burger bun. But we couldn’t catch any notes of additional flavour in their Vibranium special burger.
Coming soon, black panna cotta
Jaykiran doesn’t want to stop here, and is planning a full-course menu — from cocktails to desserts. He even wants to create a black panna cotta, and the menu is rightly going to be named Wakanda Forever.
Meal for two Rs 600.