Lounge Life

Cafe Evo, 74
Russian Cultural Centre, Kasturi Ranga Road, Alwarpet
Chennai, 600 086; Tel 044-42177000
Meal for two: Rs 400

Like coffee that’s not doled out by a charmless chain store, and birdsong, not boybands, chirping in your ears? At the new Cafe Evo, these luxuries are yours, and they come very, very cheap. In a previous life, the cafe was a shady word-of-mouth bar; which the drunk slunk into after other drinking holes were shut. In its present avatar, it has achieved as much popularity, but with amenities its slim-walleted clientele find just as intoxicating: reasonably priced comfort food and burbling hookahs. This combination gets the place a constant crowd, even on weekday mornings: vigorously perfumed single men, students who’ve gleefully liberated themselves from college early, chess nerds and aerobics enthusiasts wandering out of their classes that are held on the premises. There’s something ever so Istanbul about this joint.

So what if the minestrone soup (Rs 50) leaves a lingering taste of curry, or the double decker sandwich’s (Rs 60) bland cheese and raw sprouts make it doubly inesculent? There’s refreshing fresh fruit juice (Rs 60) and good old filter coffee to wash it all down with, the service is prompt and friendly, and, with Steve Tyler and the birds drowning out the ominous rumblings of nearby traffic, the shrill sound of the city is kept at bay.