Chap Chay: The Raintree, Alwarpet, Chennai

Restaurant Name: Chap Chay: The Raintree, Alwarpet, Chennai
Phone: +914442252525, +919884394525
Address: 120, St, Mary’s Road, Alwarpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Time: 12 Noon – 03:00 PM, 07:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 2,500
Cuisines: Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Seafood
Facilities: Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Full Bar Available, Luxury Dining, Table reservation required, Valet Parking Available, Wifi, Romantic Dining, Buffet, Indoor Seating

Chap Chay: The Raintree, Alwarpet, Chennai – Decor

The first thing that strikes me when I enter Chap Chay — pronounced Chap Chai — is the lighting. Comfortably bright yet muted, all ceiling lights have shades in eclectic sizes. Similar, but different. Rounded, beautiful, mellow. The decor here is contemporary and thematically Asian.

Chap Chay: The Raintree, Alwarpet, Chennai – Food

There are fresh pineapple slices in a small glass. Sitting at its base, hidden from the eye is a sweet, slightly pungent dip.

Amuse bouche — Avocado and feta cheese wrapped in spinach and served in a soup spoon of soy sauce. An overdose of umami hits straight away.

Beneath the frothy peaks of egg white on my Lung Fung Soup is a broth laden with seafood, mostly prawn. Well-made and quite memorable, it offers balanced flavours, gently dominated by ginger and dots of cilantro leaves adding colour.

There has to be Amul cheese in anything to bring in the nostalgia element. Like it does with the Cheese and Edamame Dimsum. Of course there’s a little bit of mascarpone cheese, too, but this cheese completely dominates. Pork Lettuce Wraps arrive at the table in cylinders of freshness. Crisp lettuce wraps pork mince. Muting the pork’s aroma monopoly, the chef cleverly uses ginger, lemon grass, sesame and bell peppers. Adding to the flavour spectrum, there’s red hot homemade chilli sauce on top, taking the whole wrap to a different level of fine dining.

If you love lamb and are not into fried stuff, there is the perfect starter waiting for you on the menu — the Mongolian Lamb Dumplings. Minced shoulder meat goes through a long procedure in the kitchen before it gets presented in perfect orbs to your table. Very special, the sauce has a totally Mongolian procedure that the chef has mastered. The end result is a different style of dumpling, bound together with egg white and loaded with a certain oomph that’s difficult to replicate.

With so much in the starters department, I decided to stick to the usual comfort food — Garlic Fried Rice and Lotus Root and Chestnut Prikdang. A coconut milk based gravy, with Thai red curry paste mixed in, prikdang also has water chestnut. And that is really good with the simple garlic rice. For dessert, there’s Jellied Water Chestnut in Coconut Milk and Fried Ice Cream.

Plus & Minus:

This place charms. The restaurant’s dedication is evident in the food they serve. A little more attention to small details will elevate it to a different level.