It was turning out to be one of those boring nightouts in chennai- living in mumbai, the contrast was only too apparent - but a friend(bless his soul) suggested we go to this new ’’spansih place’’- or ’’chennai’s answer to the Mumbai pub/disc scene’’- as he put it. The place was Zara Tapas bar-Zara means ’’dawn’’ or ’’bright as dawn’’ in Arabic/Hebrew(another meaning is a spanish derivation of Arabic word Zahrah meaning ’’blooming flower’’);Tapas means ’’half portion’’- a simple net search tells you that half the spanish restuarants have tapas in their name-like our ubiquitous Udipi hotels. So off we went,the three of us, with no expectations whatsover- the place is on Cathedral road(above copper chimney-1st floor), on the narrow asphalt beneath the flyover(thankfully we managed to park beneath it- provoking my friend to comment that thats the only good thing to come out of this flyover business!). The start was no good- the doorman ushered us in, but out of blue came the friendly maître d’(who’s name i later learnt was mathews- affable friendly chap)-telling us there was no table available- so we were bundled off to a waiting room on the 2nd floor(with a snooker table and 5 window A/Cs to boot). But finally(after 40 min) we did get some seats at the Bar- the bartenders are good-efficient and fix a drink for you in a jiffy- the drinks are the regular ones (beer puts u back by 120/a large rum/vodka/gin is 120)-would have liked some more variety though(for those in mumbai-check out Fluid-some of the best cocktails a man can fix). But the real surprise was the food- right from the starters the spanish/mexican touch is evident- try the bomba & Patatas de salsa if your are not a carnivore- I was told by my comrades that chicken salsa and sausages are very good too..

The service is prompt-once you order; but catching someone’s attention to order in some task. The waiters are attired in black(god knows why)- they can add some colour there. The ambience is good-the right kind of lighting, spacious, good music- DJ can may look at some Latino music(spanish pub, remember)-he did play my fav U2 though. The excellent evening was marred only by the 11 pm shut down- with the firendly Mr.Mathews doing is best to send people on their way. Overall, a very promising place(if only they had a dance floor too); as my friend said- can become chennai’s answer to Mumbai’s famed pubs- well, not really!! but hey, a good beginning right?

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