Launched earlier this week, Butterheads is sharing premises with the Crimson Chakra restaurant in Gandhi Nagar.Though it is a takeaway counter, with the lockdown eased off, a drive into Adyar was most welcome while admittedly unnecessary. On reaching the brightly lit, squeaky clean outlet we find smart sustainable boxes topped with colourful salads like green crunchy butterheads (get it?), translucent radish slices, dollops of curd, chicken strips as add-ons and lots more. We catch up with the proprietor Abbas Shahzad who tells us that the idea behind the menu was to keep it refreshing albeit have an influence of local flavours. “The dishes are driven by quality of ingredients and deliciousness. We try to source our produce fresh and locally; and use indigenous grains along with house-made dressings. Some of the items were also influenced by my time growing up in Chennai and we knew we needed to have flavours like Asian, Mediterranean and South Indian,” shares Abbas.
Food frenzy
From the menu of three dishes (salads, bowls and smoothies) we get started with the Thayir Sadam Salad. Soon we realise that the folks at Butterheads have tapped into a compulsive food habit of South Indians — the need for crunch! The salad is a delightful amalgamation of a bhel puri-like mix and red rice with bursts of juicy pomegranate pearls interspersed with grated veggies and spikes of lemon and garlic pickle, all smothered in sweet, creamy yoghurt — and if that is a mouthful of a sentence then it is deliberate. The myriad flavours exploding on our palates is addictive!
Crispy moments
However, the tipping point is the box marked ‘sprinkle me’. As magical as that seems, the crushed pappadams and appalams add that delightful crunch that makes all the difference. On the Asian Crunch Salad, the garnish along with the chilli sauce has crushed wontons and roasted peanuts. The Burrata Salad has us thrilled with the crisp butterhead and the creamy cheese topped with mildly caramelised seeds and nuts. Of course, the yummy Butterheads Caesar Salad has croutons to keep the crunch going.
Smooth as silk
While there is a strong leaning towards healthy ingredients — the bowls woo us with delicious Ghee Roast Chicken with coconut rice, Shawarma bowl and a Thai meal — all generous portions and authentic flavours. And at this point we want to bring in the yoghurt smoothies — because we think they are great dessert alternatives. The Dark Chocolate is thrillingly dark and the Mum’s Apple Tart hits the spot with the fruit and cinnamon taste notes. Meanwhile, the Banoffee is creamy enough for us to wonder if they actually made the pie first and then blended it into a smoothie! With yogurt as a base and sweeteners like date syrup in the mix — we guzzle away in mindful bliss.
Salads from INR 300 onward, Bowls from INR 350 onward, Smoothies from INR 200 onward.