Phileas Fogg and Passepartout may have gone around the world in 80 days, but have you been to a cafe that gave you instant wanderlust? At first, you almost miss 80 Degrees East on Nandanam and drive right past it. But then you notice the cafe interiors with its chevron-inspired ceilings and their elaborate chalk on blackboard sketches across the walls. With Instagram-worthy walls and travel-inspired decor, the 40-seater cafe is tucked away like a matchbox, and serves vegetarian food that's absolutely out-of-the-box!
Pranesh Padmanabhan and Ashwini Srinivasan started 80 Degrees East Lounge one month back with an aim to serve bistro styled vegetarian food. "We started out in Nanganallur first where the demographic was mostly vegetarian," says Pranesh. "My partner Ashwini is the brain behind the menu. She travels, picks a few dishes, curates it, gives it a local twist and then it goes for research and testing." As we speak, the fish dish arrives - the Chinese Lovestory, which is a raw mango and papaya salad that reminds you of a rainy day at Marina Beach. It's tangy with a bit of heat, and just about the right thing to eat to cleanse your palate. Next, comes the Crunchy Sliders - spicy soya chunks served on a fried homestyle crisps which resemble a papdi. With a seamless mix of chewy and crunch, the sliders were quite a hit (It almost tastes like meat, to be honest!)
They served us our drinks and with it came a wave of nostalgia - Parle-g and Bourbon biscuit shakes! A really odd addition to the shakes menu was the Pop corn shake. All three shakes were light, refreshing and not too sweet with the right amount of ice cream in it.
Speaking of pop corn, next came the Pop-On-Pizza - a pizza with popcorn topping. There was also a Nacho variant of the same. Food innovations don't necessarily go the right way all the time, so it was refreshing to see the popcorn pizza actually worked!
For the maggi lovers in the city, there's a whole range of dishes from Paneer Haven to Schezwan Maggi to Corn'ered Cheese. They soon plan to start kiosks called 'Minis', that serve just brownies and pasta.
Meal for two: Rs 600 onwards
Contact: 04448557610
