This newly opened café on ECR is quiet, cosy and worth bookmarking

We had been meaning to go to the newly opened Chapter One for a while. ECR has a way of collecting cafés that promise more than they deliver, so we had been cautious. We went on a weekday, which turned out to be the right call. The space was quiet enough to actually hear each other and busy enough to feel like something was happening.

New café on ECR offers comfort, flavour and charm

Cousins Poornima and Devi started the café after stepping away from corporate careers, and the decision shows up in the details—be it the lush garden outside, the cosy and comfortable indoor seating, or the location in itself, which is away from the busy ECR roads. Architect Celine from Coonoor worked with them to bring the vision to life, and whatever she did, it worked.

We settled in and spent a while with the menu. The Biscoff bean coffee cloud was the first order and it arrived looking the way the name suggests it should. The drink was unsweetened, which is what made it work for us. The Mandarin orange cold brew was the other drink, smooth and citrusy and an easy company along with the food.

Coming to the dishes, the Smashed avocado and onion toast reminded us that the gap between a good avocado toast and an average one is almost entirely about the bread. The sourdough here was soft and well-made with a garlic note throughout and the caramelised onion against the avocado and cheese.

Among the non-veg starters, we opted for the Sri Lankan mutton cutlets. Slow-cooked minced mutton, hand-rolled into a crust was delicate enough, with a sambal alongside that added a heat that the cutlets needed.

The most surprising dish of the evening for us was the Broccoli and cheese korma. The velvety and deeply flavoured korma sauce, made with cashew and shallots, was presented to us with grilled broccoli placed on it beautifully. Thanks to korma, we almost scraped the bowl.

However, the Pickled North Atlantic shrimp ravioli would be the reason we would go back to the café. Hand-rolled pasta with basil, shallot, and ginger inside, a butter cream sauce that was both bright and rich without either quality cancelling out the other, and chilli garlic shrimp on top. It was, genuinely, one of the better raviolis we have had in Chennai. If you eat prawns, you build the rest of the meal around this.

The Railway mutton curry with steamed rice came last and felt like the right close to the dinner. A Konkan-style preparation, warm, slow-cooked and honest.

Meal for two: INR 1,200. 11 am to 11 pm. At Chapter One, ECR, Chennai.

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