Highway Haven

It’s a wild and windy night. We race down the dark stretch of the highway known as the East Coast Road, which goes south from Chennai along the Coromandel Coast, searching for Kipling Cafe, Chennai’s latest dining sensation. We whoop with delight when we find it. White muslin curtains away from the corners of palm-fringed cabanas. A stately south Indian gothic mansion looms at the far end. For starters, we try crunchy Bruschetta (Rs 250) that comes with herbed butter spooned into small turbans, Japanese-style vegetable tempura (Rs 150) with a delicately creamy wasabi dip that doesn’t knock your tonsils off, and a disappointing Prawn bisque (Rs 250).

But the main courses are superb—creamy risotto with chicken (Rs 650), a sumptuous king fish platter (Rs 425), and a wonderful Greek salad (Rs 330) that we have with a Pepper Pizza (Rs 450) that is lean, mean and awfully good. We are groaning by then, the portions are huge. But the desserts are the best things yet. I shall not linger over them except to say that the Pannacotta (Rs 190) with strips of mango arranged like the rays of the sun is meltingly delicious.