Gusto cafe has class written all over it. It is designed to excellence and the architecture and aesthetics gone into developing the different themes speak volumes of the work undertaken. The interiors are tastefully done up and the color palette has been carefully selected in adherence to the themes on display. It could very well be categorized as Chennai's first Cinema based cafe.
You have the 'Whiplash theme' with lots of music driven related things such as radios, discs, vinyl's, drumrolls and a host of other stuff with a massive roof portrait of Bob Marley at the background. Then there is 'The Godfather theme' that gives a dark sober tinge with a poster of the eternal classic situated in a round table with the picture of the fire chimney also. The 'Gallery theme' is all sports related with elevated stands made to resemble a playground with artifacts of popular football clubs submerged around. There is cricket also thrown into the equation with an official scorecard of a particular match and a wall painting depicting the logo of the 2015 cricket world cup. There are also miniature and antique versions of helmets, footballs, cycles, the Olympic 5 ring replica etc perfectly in sync to showcase the sport bastion.
The main and biggest portion of the cafe highlights the Egyptian theme highlighting the Mommy theme with Pharaoh's, pyramids and cave paintings signifying an olden day touch. It's more of brown and gold here to be in tune with the desserts and Egyptian diaspora. On the parallel side you have a Texas fiesta in the form of a Cowboy theme depicting caricatures like Bull horns, cowboy hats, tall stools et al typical of the lifestyle of a Texan and bringing to light the movie Indiana Jones.
Further downside the cafe you get to encounter the romance theme with '500 days of Summer'. Appropriately in line with the theme, you find a lot more color and vibrance here with lanterns, tree wall with flowers in abundance and an aerial view of a spot overlooking a number of buildings but torn down by plenty of parking lots much akin to what is witnessed in the movie. And talking about romance how can one leave Romeo & Juliet out. This theme is for the eternal lovers having a vintage touch with a beautiful balcony setup, a rickety bicycle, hanging umbrellas etc. The brick walls with lamps and the mushrooming of greenery through plants adds warmth and gives a lovely old world charm in line with the lives and times of Romeo Juliet. You also see the place laden with big sized graffiti's adding to the cool and chic factor.
Talking about food, it offers what a usual cafe gives. You have starters, burgers, pizza's, pasta's, main course and your share of coffee's, shakes and desserts. We began our sojourn through the Potato cheese balls. They were nicely made, deep fried and came about 10 pieces with a reddish paprika dip. We also had another starter viz Veg Croquets. These were 3 in number more like a triangular shaped cutlet containing mostly potatoes and carrot and went well with the mint chilli dip. For mains had a veg burger which was well stuffed up and tasted more than decent. Also came with quite a handful number of fries to boot. We also attempted the Veg Grill Pizza which I really enjoyed. It was thin crust, cheesy and loaded with an assortment of exotic veggies and was wonderful. The size though could have been a wee bit bigger. They also had a unique omelette platter of cheese, mushroom, masala and chicken. Liked the former 3 which I had a bite and more importantly none of them tasted alike which was good. We were however not in the mood for desserts and hence refrained from having them. Though we tasted only a smidgeon of their spread, nothing really disappointed and everything bordered on the good and above. Definitely interested to try more of their stuff on subsequent visits.
The service was amiable with friendly smiling waiters ever ready to help us out. The food also was brought to the table in fairly quick time. The pricing seems apt and par for the course. For an upscale area like Nungambakkam, one wouldn't really term the rates as too expensive. One gripe however was not giving us regular water and forcing us onto having water bottles which I hope will be rectified soon. There is sufficient space available for parking and even without valet facility shouldn't be much of a hassle. The small lane of Jagannathan road has been witness to quite a number of restaurant's off late and with the emergence of Gusto Cafe, it's value has risen to an all time high.
Overall, Gusto cafe is a fantastic addition to the list of cafe's in Chennai. It sparkles with amazement and leaves you wondering on the amount of efforts gone in to orchestrate this brilliantly good looking cafe. It elevates the hegemony of Nungambakkam as the 'Numero uno supremo of the restaurant market' a further notch.
Gusto Cafe radiates with energy and exuberance. There is no doubt that it will be one of the go to places in days to come. An absolutely wonderful cafe to indulge in some food and confabulation. Go check this one out. It has 'WIN' written right royally around it.
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