Be rowdy at Double Dashi, a speakeasy-style noodle bar in Chennai, serving yakitori and yakult mocktails

A cat in a kimono, its face lit up with glee and brandishing a pair of chopsticks over an enormous bowl of ramen stares down at us in Double Dashi, Chennai’s latest noodle joint. Seated in a room bathed in a luminous neon pink haze, we spot a fish cake, chopsticks and an exaggerated bamboo sushi rolling mat on the ceiling. The wall beside us is plastered with posters of each Japanese anime you’ve heard of, in addition to posters of Rajinikanth movies, which has a cult following in Japan.

Japanese eating places that provide a fine-dining expertise are many within the metropolis. However, Double Dashi’s postered partitions and neon lights scream a completely totally different vibe. “Our concept was to create a ‘rowdy’ Japanese restaurant right here; not someplace the place everybody is available in for early dinner and behaves nicely. We wished loud chatter and laughter, glasses clinking, a chill vibe and all the pieces else that appears like an Izakaya,” says Manoj Padmanabhan, co-founder BORN (Beyond Ordinary Restaurants and Nosh). 

Crediting his many visits to Japan over time and his household there, Manoj and Japtej Ahluwalia, his companion at BORN started to think about placing collectively an reasonably priced Japanese eating expertise, with good elements and beneficiant portion sizes. ‘Dashi’ means a broth that enhances the umami flavour in Japanese meals and naming it Double Dashi feels truthful, given its location, of which there’s not a lot secrecy however some intrigue. 

“We aren’t hidden per se, however determined to not actively put ourselves on the market on Google Maps. We would love for individuals to easily wind up right here, or encounter the place,” Japtej laughs. 

The beverage menu has two Japanese favourites; Yakult and matcha and we decide probiotics over grass. The bubble hassle, a lychee flavoured icy drink comes topped with a bottle of Yakult and is gentle and refreshing. There are different ingenious mocktails together with fruity drinks topped with cheese foam, and iced teas. 

There is not any sushi on the menu. Instead, there’s sashimi(salmon flown in from Mumbai), ramen and contemporary salads. We start with a leafy, crisp Tokyo inexperienced salad, good if you would like a lightweight, wholesome begin minus a creamy dressing. We transfer onto the yakitori or grilled skewers, which Manoj says are made on a standard charcoal range. We pattern some bite-sized juicy items of rooster coated in a barely candy soy glaze which is cooked to perfection, and a crunchy miso broccoli which might have completed with a bolder kick of flavour. 

If you aren’t a spice fiend, the Temaki tacos are an ideal decide. Try the mildly seasoned salmon aburi taco the place crisp seaweed is filled with salmon, avocado and a yuzu kosho cream. The pièce de résistance for our meal is the katsu curry rice. This beneficiant portion that may comfortably serve two comes with crispy fried rooster cutlets on a mattress of sticky rice and Double Dashi’s home Japanese curry. You can eat this as is, or improve it with a beneficiant splash of soy sauce or a sprinkling of togarashi powder from the numerous condiments in your desk.

The menu has each comforting ramen favourites, and a few offbeat choices like a Madras paaya ramen, which is a enjoyable tackle native idiappam. Try the creamy pork broth, and the hearty beef drip ramen, which arrive steaming scorching to our desk with a beneficiant squiggle of bouncy noodles and delicate slices of meat. 

In-between bites of a miso caramel cheesecake, we realise that the posters on the wall usually are not simply of anime; there are Japanese posters of Muthu, Kaithi and even Thug Life. Manoj and Japtej credit score their ‘Gen Z’ advertising staff for Double Dashi’s quirky branding and artwork that’s splashed throughout their menus, coasters, stickers on the tables and even the specifically designed merchandise. “We additionally plan to introduce a supper membership, the place regulars who go to Double Dashi can get a stamp card and acquire stamps. Once they acquire a sure quantity, they’ll have entry to those curated dinners and pop-ups the place we hope to have cooks from different eating places coming in,” Japtej says. 

For now, because the world continues to journey in hordes to East-Asia, and easily can’t appear to get sufficient of anime or steaming scorching bowls of ramen, Double Dashi appears to know its area of interest very nicely. Their early visitors embrace not simply individuals from the Japanese consulate down the street, however members of an anime membership from town as nicely. Manoj says “We had enjoyable creating the house, and it’s now upto our younger diners to make the house their very own.”

For reservations, DM @doubledashi on Instagram