A culinary journey under the stars at Chennai's new rooftop lounge

It’s not often that one gets to feel the nip in the air in namma Chennai. As the night fell last weekend, we turned up at Chaptr, the newly launched rooftop bar at Quality Sabari Inn Grand amid the hustle and bustle of T Nagar, to dine under the stars. There were three options to embark on our culinary odyssey — an open rooftop, an enclosed rooftop, and a typical bar set-up that can host up to 120 people at a time. We opted for the open rooftop — high above all the noise — where we toasted to the city lights with beverages that were as cool as the weather that night.

Our gastronomic journey kickstarted with crispy Podi idli croquettes that arrived with Poondu chutney. These soft idlis, crumbled and seasoned with some fiery gunpowder, were a delight to savour and we tucked in more than one. While the flavour of the podi gave us a taste of familiarity, the packaging of the podi idli was all new. The garlic chutney completely upped the flavour. We downed some Summer crush, a refreshing concoction of cranberry juice, elderflower syrup, and soda, to go along with the scrumptious starter.

Next arrived the Red velvet cutlets, a delectable dish made of beetroot patties, spiced to perfection. This was served along with a fresh cucumber cream dip. Unlike Dwight Schrute from The Office, who is obsessed with beets, we are not huge fans of the vegetable. But the patties were so tender and light on the stomach that we ended up having more than one. We recommend this as an amazing party snack.

It was now time for the main course, and we elevated our meal with some layers of deliciousness. Yes, we are talking about Parotta nalli, a flaky layered bread accompanied by mutton nalli gravy. While the parotta was layered love on a plate, the mutton nalli was cooked to perfection. The meat was so tender that it just fell off the bones.

We then dived into meat haven with Kari dosa, made Madurai style. The dosa was packed with minced meat and was topped with egg. This was served along with a spicy salna, and the combination reminded us of one of our favourite street-food delicacies. The robust masala in the dosa tingled our taste buds.

The last meal for the day was the Gongura grilled chicken breast. This juicy grilled Gongura chicken served with tempered ghee rice and chilli garlic mash made its grand finale in style. Though we quite liked the taste, the meat was a tad dry to our liking. We washed it all down with Thunderstuck, a delectable mocktail made of apple and litchi juice and mint, before we bid adieu to the city’s glimmering lights and the rooftop vibes.

Meal for one: `450 onwards Rooftop lounge open from 6 pm to 10.30 pm.

Email: sangeetha.p@newindianexpress.com

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