The Cosmopolitan Club is one of the older clubs in Chennai city (formerly known as Madras). It was started in 1873 to cater to a European only, elite clientele.
Things have come a long way since then and it currently has a huge local membership. The Cosmopolitan Club is now rather run down, but in its hallways hang beautiful photographs that remind us of gorgeous Madras of the past.
They do have a few choices in where to eat at the Club. The restaurant we went to was located upstairs and is referred to simply as “The Non-Veg. Restaurant”.
Don’t expect too much style, service or hygiene in this restaurant. The mats, table, plates and glasses were quite dirty and the service is almost non-existent but once the food starts rolling out – all these concerns fade into oblivion.
In my opinion, the food in general is very average but they do have two signature items that just make the trip to the Club well worth it. You must try their Ceylonese Stuffed Chicken Paratha with Mutton Curry and either their Chicken or Mutton Biryani. Just these dishes will be enough to keep you coming back for more – time and time again!
Here is some of what we ate:
CHICKEN BIRYANI
I really enjoyed their Biryani. It was very nicely flavored and I just love eating the boiled egg that comes nestled within the dish. We ate it with a crisp onion raita, which went well with the dish.
CHICKEN 65
The chicken 65, which is a very popular spicy fried chicken snack, was really bad. It was dry and pretty inedible.
MUSHROOM PEPPER SALT
I didn’t care too much for this dish. The mushroom should have been fried to a crisp and then seasoned which was not the case at all.
CHILLY CHICKEN
The chilly chicken was pretty decent. It had a nice hit of spice and went well with white rice.
GHEE ROAST & KAL DOSAI
The dosai’s were decent. I thought their kal dosais were a little too thick. The sambar that came with it was watery and not tasty.
KIDNEY FRY
I’m not a big fan of eating organs but many people are. I did try a little bit of this dish and it was just okay.
CEYLON CHICKEN PAROTHA & CHETTINAD MUTTON CURRY
This is what I enjoyed the most. I loved the flaky parotha, which was stuffed with egg and chicken. It went really well with the spicy mutton curry. Next time I go the Cosmopolitan Club – this is all I would eat there.
CURD RICE
There curd rice was too warm – I like my curd rice really nice and chilled.
MY RATINGS FOR THIS MEAL
Food: ☆☆ 1/2
Service: ☆
Ambiance: ☆
Cost: $
I recommend: Chicken/ Mutton Biryani, Ceylon Chicken Parotha, Chettinad Mutton Curry
