Looking for a nice, quiet place with a cool ambience to read, work or hang out? Chamiers Café, located in a cosy little corner near the Crowne Plaza hotel in R A Puram, instantly makes us fall in love with its amazing British ambience and lip-smacking food. Sriraghav, in yet another Beyond the Gates piece, explores this café and the various other things you could do during a visit to Chamiers.
Upon entering Chamiers, the first thing we see is the Anokhi boutique (which is home to quite a lot of pretty things; yes, some of them are affordable too) at the base of this beautiful, ivory-coloured, archaic building. No visit to Chamiers is complete without (window) shopping at Anokhi. Thereafter, take the stairs up to the first floor, and turn beside the gift shop to enter the cosy Chamiers Cafè.
The chandeliers, beautiful white curtains, the litany of wall hangings and the ever-so-comfy chairs all scream elegance. Once we were settled down, we looked through their elaborate menu – which offers a wide range of continental all-day breakfast options, Italian and a melangè of French/Danish pastries – in quest of something we liked.
We ended up ordering the Spanish Breakfast Set (which comprises a Patata bravas on a sizzler plate with sauteed veggies, two pieces of toast and choice of beverage), cinnamon-topped waffles and the Anti-oxidant powered breakfast (which was a Muesli-Yogurt dish with fresh fruits, honey and cinnamon). All the dishes were pretty great in terms of taste and texture. However, I would have to admit that the Spanish breakfast set was definitely the best thing we tried there for the portions were pretty generous, the sizzler was quite good and they had an assortment of breads and marmalades for the toast alongside great coffee.
It’s wise to ensure that you’re not in a rush when you visit Chamiers for the waiters take quite some time to get the order onto the table. But the good news is that it’s mostly worth the wait! And personally, I don’t mind the wait at all because I usually spend a good 3-4 hours there. The crowd seen in Chamiers is also quite different from many other cafes ranging from people having formal business conversations to friends catching up and foreigners enjoying the lovely food.
PS: I find it hard to resist those gorgeous Danish pastries in the counter every time I visit.
How to get there:
The easiest way to get to Chamiers Cafe from insti is to get a cab from the main gate (Adyar Gate). It costs just 60 rupees on Uber (without surge), and split between four friends, that’s just 15 rupees per person! For the walking-enthused, being it going around catching Pokémon, hatching Poké-eggs or trying to reach your Fitbit goal of the day, it’s a 3.3 km walk from Main Gate.
