Cafe De Paris, Teynampet

Cafe De Paris, a lovely charming place right in the heart of the city, located in the same compound as Absolute Thai and Sushi in a Box, on Cenatoph Road right opposite to the Toyota Showroom. I was invited over by someone with whom I’ve been in touch for a while on social media. It was not one of those ‘regular’ PR invites, so I agreed to catch up with him and I am glad I did.

The interiors of the cafe looked beautiful; simple, yet classy. The glass walls around made it look like a greenhouse. We settled down and after a quick look at the menu, we were ready to order. The challenge of being a solo diner is that you can never sample enough for an elaborate write-up. Thankfully, we got sampling portions for the starters, I could taste a few of them without being stuffed. Main course was however a regular serving portion.
Cajun Paneer was diced paneer with cajun spices, deep-fried and served with sour cream. I should mention that this was one of the very fresh and soft paneers I’ve had in recent times.
Tapioca Nachos was basically tapioca crispies with salsa, sour cream, onion and red chilly chutney, tamarind chutney and kachumber salad. This was a light snack with a burst of flavors, typically like the Jhalmuri or chaat because of the similar ingredients that went into it.
French Fries topped with a cheesy sauce with burnt garlic and chilli flakes was yummy, loved the skin on the fries as it added character to the otherwise usual fries.
Chicken Wings with Barbecue sauce was okay, not a big fan of wings and I’ve had better ones elsewhere. With that we ended our starters. With the kind of impression the starters made, I couldn’t wait for the main course.
Since I preferred chicken for the main course, I was recommended to try Blackened Chicken. It was a nicely-cut tawa-grilled chicken with cajun spice, served on tomato, basil and chilly flakes sauce. The accompaniments were grilled veggies and a small portion of rice pilaf with corn and peas, perhaps it was butter rice. We also got a small portion of Potato mash along with it. The chicken breast was soft and very tasty along with the sauce. Providing a sharp knife (not the usual cutlery knife) was very thoughtful, it helped to cut the chicken breast with little or no effort. All the accompaniments tasted good, and potato mash in particular, was very good.
I tasted a small portion/piece of the savoury Mix Vegetable Strudel topped with cheese and herbs, served on a fresh coriander cream sauce. It was very yummy. What I liked in particular was that the veggies were not overcooked and soggy, they had enough crunch to bite into. The accompaniments to this dish were similar to my dish.
During the course of the dinner, we spoke on a variety of topics, interests, passion for food blogging, and in fact we came to know that we passed out of the same school in Trichy, years apart of course! 🙂 He came across as a very passionate individual, focused on customer experience for these brands. It was good to get an insight on the various parameters they work on, to ensure a fine-dining experience to their guests.
Quite stuffed by now, we deferred the coffee and dessert to another time and called it a day. I would certainly go back to try a few more dishes, very soon.