Chennai’s craft cocktail and tapas bar, Origin, will host mixologists from The Elephant Room, one of Singapore’s trendiest high-energy bars. No better reason to cheer!
“I can’t wait to get to Chennai and explore the city’s food and dining scene,” said Yugnes Uthayakumar, the brains behind Singapore’s The Elephant Room, a high-energy bar that’s very popular with the city-state’s locals and expats
I first caught up with Yugnes Uthayakumar in June this year at the trendy Elephant Room at Singapore’s most fashionable Tanjong Pagar, a multicultural area with innumerable nightlife and international dining options. But step inside The Elephant Room and you’re transported into a slice of Singapore’s Little India, with strong influences from Tamil Nadu including the ubiquitous Rajinikanth images. Yugnes likes to call The Elephant Room a ‘Culture Forward Cocktail’ bar inspired by Singapore’s Little India and it’s a great showcase of Singapore’s multi-cultural landscape.
When a cocktail recounts a tale…
Uthayakumar didn’t have to wait for too long to make that Chennai visit. In October, with Kok Wei Hung of The Elephant Room, he will arrive for a unique bar collaboration. Both these creative mixologists will weave their magic at Origin — the craft cocktail and tapas bar along East Coast Road, one of Chennai’s genuine F&B hotspots.
It’s been little over a year since Origin debuted in Chennai with a strong vision to impact Chennai’s cocktail culture. I still remember my first Origin experience and that vision continues to play out in this restobar’s food and drinks menu. Each of their cocktails has a story to tell. One of their bestsellers is an XL Pina Colada that’s served in a custom-designed brass pineapple glass with interesting twists like homemade Pandan tinctures. It’s the same story with The Elephant Room where each cocktail has a fascinating back story.
My local Singaporean friends were blown away by a pineapple rasam gin inspired by South Indian wedding feasts and a refreshing jasmine gin, lime, and honey concoction that sought inspiration from the oldest flower garland shop in Little India. Uthayakumar is passionate about showcasing Singapore’s strong Tamil connection and what he calls an often-under-documented culture. Now Chennai’s diners will get a glimpse of a culture that originated in Tamil Nadu and Southern India. It’s part of the wider plan of the Origin team to curate original experiences with talents from across the globe.
Origin’s magic with its artisanal cocktails
Chennai’s bar culture remained the stranglehold of upscale bars in luxury hotels. The past few years have seen a new wave of standalone restobars mushroom across the city as rules were amended slightly. Most bars have followed a similar template. Origin is one of the few exceptions. Part of its pitch is artisanal cocktails that still haven’t gone mainstream in the city. Upscale bars are usually dominated by whisky snobs who can teach global whisky brand ambassadors a thing or two about single malts while the more popular neighbourhood bars don’t step out of their comfort zones in terms of cocktails.
Anandha Krishnan, Origin’s beverage manager has driven their cocktail programme. I’ve seen this evolve across three visits over the last 12 months. There’s an emphasis on garden-fresh ingredients, inhouse mixers, as well as syrups. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a better Negroni anywhere in Chennai and their Grapefruit & Coconut Tonic remains one of my favourites on their menu. It combines Hendricks, with fresh grapefruit juice, tender coconut caviar, toasted coconut slivers, and finished with a slice of fresh grapefruit. It conjures up images of a beach holiday and complements the setting of Origin that’s set amidst a tropical garden not far away from the Bay of Bengal along the East Coast Road that connects Chennai with Puducherry.
Of butter chicken pav and global tapas…
Origin is a clever wordplay for a bar with a strong slant on gin-based cocktails but Anandha Krishnan is quick to point out that the offering goes beyond craft gins and gin cocktails. It’s the same for the bar collaboration by The Elephant Room. I’m pleased to see that Coastal Finds — a Kerala-inspired cocktail with Paul John Nirvana Whisky, Kerala Tamarind Gel, Indian Algae, and Sea Coconut Air — will be one of the cocktails from The Elephant Room that will travel to Chennai.
Food is a big part of Origin’s appeal. Chef Peter Tseng likes to call it global tapas and it highlights the eclectic menu with dishes from across the world. Their mezze platter is spot on and so is their butter chicken pav — butter chicken cutlets, methi pav, garlic dust, and mint chutney. These global platters will complement the special set of cocktails that Uthayakumar and Kok Wei Hung will craft for Chennai. The city’s well-heeled are all set to travel to Tekka in the heart of Singapore but for Uthayakumar this will be a homecoming of sorts.
The Elephant Room and Origin collaboration is on between October 14 – 16, 2022.
Origin is at Green Meadows Resort, 364 A Anna Salai Road, Palavakkam, (off) ECR, Chennai