Our Adventures in Amethyst !!!

Amethyst – Wild Garden Café - is situated in the heart of Chennai – in Royapettah. A walk through the entrance of the café and you feel you have entered a highly dense forest. Walk for about a minute and you would notice the café nestled right in the middle of the green nest.

The café has about 2 seating areas – 1 outside and the other one inside. The one outside is again split into 2 parts – one within the café premises and the other one amongst the bushes. One look at the café and you would never regret visiting this green nest. It is surrounded by different types of plants. Walk around the café and you will realize it is filled with waterbodies too. You will also come across kennels and catteries for dogs, puppies and cats that are grown there. On the 1^st floor of the café is nestled a highly premium boutique – Amrapali. On the ground floor, there is a flower shop apart from the café, a dessert corner and another small corner stored with books – you can buy these if interested. The lighting in the café is picture perfect if one visits in the evening. I visited the place a month before Christmas and it was decorated with Christmas tree and different colored lightings.

Now, coming to the food ! This place offers both veg and non-veg food.

We ordered the following items from the menu: -

I. Starters

1. Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce – Rs. 445/-

Though this dish was suggested by the restaurant waiters and was provided with a dip, both the satay and the dip failed to impress the taste buds of my friends. This dish apparently was a bit bland and was not really worth the price.

2. Potato Wedges

This one also came with one of the dips. I do not remember the price of this dish but we loved this one and it was really lip-smacking. Within a few seconds, the entire bowl of about 50 wedges (I am guessing) got over and we were left craving for more !!

II. Main Course

1. Thai Green Curry with Steamed Rice – Rs. 485/-

I have always loved and adored Thai Green Curry. It is primarily made of cocunt and is filled with vegetables. Here, they had loaded it with carrot, beans, baby corn, artichoke, etc. The smell and the taste of this curry is just out of the world – no matter where I have it. This dish has been my favorite ever since I got to know of it. I used to have this one as my dinner meal whenever I used to travel and stay in hotels for my assignments. It was really yummilicious !!

2. Pizza with Pesto Chicken, Mixed Peppers and Olives – Rs. 475/-

According to my friends, this dish was loaded with Cheese, Olives, Capsicum, tomato, mushroom, chicken, etc. It was a yummy one and they finished it off in a few seconds. Better to have it with the Sauce, oregano and chilli flakes else it can be a bit bland.

III. Dessert

1. Banoffee Pie

This dessert is made out of caramel, banana, cocoa powder and fresh cream. It is one of my favorite desserts and if it is available, I would order this anywhere I go. I loved this dish here as well. Though I do not remember the price of it, it was worth every penny I paid.

Tip – Before you order dessert from the menu, suggest you visit the dessert corner in café and decide for yourself as to which one you would like to order.

2. Hot Chocolate – Rs. 215/-

Just like any other Hot chocolate

3. Masala Tea – Rs. 175/-

They served the tea in a teapot and it would serve 2 people. Milk and sugar were served separately. To be honest, the tea did not taste well. The masala in the masala tea was not that evident and it felt as if we were drinking green tea. This one could have been better.

Overall, some of the dishes were great but some weren’t. But the highlight of this café is not the food but the setting !!! If you reside in Chennai, I suggest you visit this café atleast once ! And if you are visiting Chennai, then I suggest you add this café to your to-do list of things !!!

I would give this restaurant an overall rating of about 4.5/5.