Robusta Kitchen, Wallace Garden, Chennai

Khader Nawaz Khan (KNK) road is host to most of the top brands across Chennai. You'll find posh outlets like Haagen Dazs, Amadora and the like along the row of restaurants in this area. Wallace Garden is the area parallel to KNK and is equally good. Robusta Kitchen is located surprisingly right above the famous Sandy's Chocolate Laboratory. Having been invited here to try their menu, it was interesting to try a vegetarian menu as a change. (Usually stick to my preference of non-veg)


Robusta Kitchen is on the second floor with some tables overlooking Wallace garden. The place being very new was still occupied by lots of guests. It seems its already quite popular with the vegetarian crowd as we saw some big groups eating too. There's the usual 4 seater tables which can be joined together in case you're a bigger group. That's what they did for us.

Entrance area of the restaurant.

So without further ado, lets talk about the food! The restaurant gave us the choice of ordering what we wished from the menu instead of a set-menu. This is good because shows that they can cook any dish in the menu confidently.

The menu needs a note: It's full of differently spelt items! A bit hard to read honestly because of the spelling and capitalisation but they have a simple explanation for every dish so it's fine.




The Lemon cilantro Souper

This one was thin and chock full of flavor. On first sip it seemed like the salt level was high but then the strong citrusy flavors kicked in and made it a flavor-bomb. A soup for those who like fresh, strong flavors.

Next came the Cheese Fondue Platter comprising Potato Wedgies, crisp vegetable cutlet sort of item and some healthy veggies. The cheese gravy was served hot and it was nice to dip these crisp lil eats into it and have a bite. 

AfgHAAN' Sexotikka: This funnily named dish packed quite an impact on all of us. From the lightly smoky paneer enhanced with the flavor of green and red peppers, the silken soft paneer was a delight to bite into. The paneer dishes at this place were all made with very fresh n soft paneer, so they were all a delight to have.

My- Zzarella Fritters


These freshly fried fingers of cheese, literally mozarella cheese breaded and fried. Although the dish was bland that's how a cheese flavor lover would appreciate this item. Salt level could be higher as well personally.

Desi Empanadas This was basically samosas, named with a twist and they were medium sized. Nice thick n crunchy shell and with a slightly spicy inside. Good stuff.

The French way with Cheese and Gravy

Another full-of-cheese dish for those who love the crunch of taters n cheese. Not as heavy as expected because most of the cheesiness was from the warm cheese gravy that also melted the grated che

Paneer Picka: A solid paneer starter dish, solid because of the lovely paneer I was talking about. The marinade was good too. 

Broccoli and Almond Dumplinger 

Decided to try one of the dumplings and this was a healthful one. With the slight flavor of broccoli and almonds, it was an interesting one, although mildly flavored. The fiery accompanying dip was quite hot. 

The Arrey Beta Dudeles which was our Maggi noodles cooked in Arabiatta sauce, carrot, corn n peas. The sauce gave it thickness but the underlying flavor was mostly maggi. Will be a good bet for those who like Maggi but I felt it was a bit confused in flavor and strong. 

The OverLOVEd Exotica Pizza

A thin to medium crust pizza with lots of cheese and every veggie out there including mushrooms, sweet corn, onions and peas, which some don't prefer in their pizza. I liked the bite of mushroom slices in there. 

Vegetable Biriyani

The manager recommended us to try the biriyani at this point since he said it would as yummy as a non-veg biriyani! Well, that was quite a claim so we had to test it. :D The biriyani arrived, and yes it was quite good for a vegetarian biriyani but still the flavor that meat imparts which makes meat biriyani unique was obviously missing. Still a pretty good attempt! Again, forgot to try the raita etc.

Oreo Shake

This cream laden oreo shake was lovely, not a thick shake but not light either with the flavor of oreo clearly in there.

Alfredo Pasta

This was Penne in Alredo sauce and it was made nicely. Not too clunky with thick cheese, I just had a bit to taste since I was getting quite full now.

CHILL-I Paneer: This was a proper Chilli Paneer, super crisp, fresh paneer and a tinge of sweetness from the sauces used. Would go very well on its own or with vegetable fried rice.

Red Velvet shake

   Finally it was the turn of the desserts to arrive, and they            came soon enough. The Tiramisu needed some definite            improvements in the flavoring and texture of the cake              however which we conveyed to the Chef, both the shakes        were quite good however. That concluded this nice eat-out      at Robusta! Will probably be back here with vegetarian            friends who want to eat at Nungambakkam.