Where: The Residency Towers, T Nagar
What: Pub
It'd been almost a month in Chennai and I still haven't had an opportunity to go to a pub, get sloshed and come home post midnight. You need a friend, an accomplice to do crazy things after all that alcohol does to your body. So luckily I found out that a guy who I'd met through a common friend at a pub in Mumbai is here in this city. Got connected and after a week, we decided to exchange business and not-so business ideas over drinks and this night became one of those fabulous nights when I returned home only at 6 AM.
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| Don't worry the bike doesn't fall unless there's an earthquake |
This place is one of the in-house property of hotel - The Residency Towers. We arrived here around 9 PM. The pub has two levels. The ground level is for residents and couples while the upper level is for stags. The upper level area has a balcony which gives a glimpse of the atrium below. The decor is of any English pub, full of badges, signs, stickers, graffiti art and wooden floor-furniture. Though my friends tells me that this is the only pub in Chennai which plays Bollywood songs; that night the house was thumping with pulsating hits of the current year and kept the crowd rocking for the night.
Food
The menu is in the shape of gramophone record and has lots to offer for your taste-buds. We started with Aztec platter (squid, prawns, chicken). Did not care much about the food as the primary craving that day was for beer. But what I could remember is that the squid rings were fried in tempura batter and were so thin that you could not make out if it's onion rings or something fishy! 3 pieces of prawns for 2 guys didn't go very well... I had my friend take the third one. There were little tacos shaped like nachos which had some chinese chicken stuffings and some chicken kebabs.
The platter was ordered with the first lot of drinks and arrived on our table about 30 minutes later. But the staff was polite and kind enough to offer us complimentary french fries which we accepted with bright smiles - as I said anything that compliments our drinks would do. Then there were regular wafers that came on our table from somewhere (two 660 ml down!).
Then after some good ol' fish balls we were too high that I somehow managed to book a cab to my home. It was around 11:45 that we asked the cab to come. With three beers(me) and three large whiskey(Rahul) down, the last treat was the usual Cherry, Cheese and Pineapple. They didn't have cherry so we had to just be content with pale yellows. Some ice cubes thrown in on the plate made it look fantastic and we were off-to board the cab only to cancel our home-trip midway and drink some more at a bar at the airport. That would be in the next post.
Bike and barrel is recommended for its ambience, music and service. Sorry could not quote the price as I did not pay the bill but Zomato says 330 for a pint of beer. If you are a couple, you may want to dance and some guys do try some moves after 11 PM, which is why I guess is the divide. Saw a group of guys doing push-ups with their feet on the balcony railings and the staff were all smiles. So in a group of friends, this place is sure to be in your memories. :)
P.S. They also have a large smoking area with one pool table.
