When I first visited Watson’s at their Ulsoor outlet in Bengaluru, all I wanted to do was capture the spirit of the beautiful lounge-meets-loft vibe in a bottle, and bring it with me to Chennai. So, considerably excited that the ‘grub pub’ (as their tagline reads) had finally made inroads in the city, I walk in with a great deal of expectation, almost absolutely sure of them not being met. Thankfully, I get to eat my words in addition to their crispy Nethili Fry.
Rustic is the theme at this lavish rooftop space, spread across two levels on Dee Cee Manor, with huge windows offering sweeping views of the ever busy GN Chetty Road below. Bang in the middle stands an open bar, with four mixologists swirling and shaking cocktails to order. The seating on the grounfloor includes different versions of high bar stools and love seats, while plush sofas for one feature on the level above. Open air seating, considering the weather in the city, is almost impossible to fathom, and keeping that in mind, this 170-seater pub, is fully covered and almost fully air-conditioned (unlike its sister outlets in The Garden City), save for a banquet counter and the smoking zone.
We begin with one of Watson’s signature cocktails, a mango martini splashed generously with a kokum syrup, giving the cocktail a tangy albeit sweet flavour all at once. No cocktail drink is complete without fries, and we recommend the Nethili Fry (silverfish mixed in aromatics and fried to a crisp) to begin with. “We have focussed on street style dishes for the Chennai market, so we have options like podimas, kothu parotta, dosa and even a rasam rice if that’s what you want. From Italian to Indian, there’s a bit of everything on the menu,” says Rahul Korgaokar, the CEO. A portion of classic bruschetta arrives next — bite-sized toast topped with cold tomato and feta, doused in a balsamic dressing – the perfect appetiser.
Their pizzas come highly recommended, and we opt for the Veggie Supreme pizza with mushrooms, onion, green capsicum and tomato, a classic combination of thin crust pizza and minimal toppings, which nonetheless pack a punch in terms of flavour. Our curiosity piques when we see Shaking Beef on the menu. The description reads succulent beef tossed with chilli, lemongrass and ginger cooked in a red wine sauce, and while we could write songs about the sauce that we were served, the beef, sadly, was a tad overcooked, almost too chewy for comfort. Redemption, however, arrives in the form of a perfect-for-one bowl of Shepherd’s Pie (we opted for vegetarian), which reaffirms our belief that a dish that comes topped with an overload of cheese cannot be anything but tasty.
Opens later this month. Details: 7824001205. Timings: 11 am to midnight. Meal for two: Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 (including alcohol)