There should always be something crunchy on your plate.

It is that textural contrast that makes every dish at Chennai’s latest vegetarian restaurant Poppadum, ‘pop’. “I married into a Sindhi family and now I cannot eat anything without some crunch,” says Abbas Shahzad, owner of Poppadum. And true to his word, every dish has a crisp element: be it pappad, pakhwan, or pickled vegetables.

This sets the tone for how the menu works. Poppadum is not positioned as ‘modern Indian’ — Abbas is careful about that label. Instead, he calls it ‘Indian-inspired’, keeping things approachable even as the food pushes the envelope. “I’ve grown up in Kilpauk and spent a large part of my life here,” he says, explaining why he chose the neighbourhood. “The menu is inspired from different regions of India without drawing from one community. So these are familiar flavours being done differently from what is already available in this part of the city,” he adds.

Poppadum is not trying to reinvent Indian food as nudging it just enough to feel new. There are references from across the country: street food like tokri chaat and bombay toast, club classics like chilli cheese toast and thattai tostada, and regional staples like tomato choka and kathal kebab.

As the music shifts from Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’ to ‘Dil Se’, the burrata masala pappad is placed in front of us. Smoked pumpkin purée, cherry tomato salad and Congress peanuts, topped with creamy burrata and chilli crisp, and served with a garlic papad: this is what your regular masala papad aspires to be.

The chilled tomato choka, a white bean hummus with Bihari-style spiced tomato jam and khatta-meetha papdi, is a tangier counterpoint. One of the dishes, inspired by Abbas’ mother in law’s dal pakwan, leans simpler, comforting, and familiar, while the thattai tostada, with melted brie, pineapple jam, pickled chillies and hot honey, swings the other way, packing a sharp sweet-heat punch.

Every pappad feels homely and personal and that is because it is. “I reached out to my friends and family and asked where they are sourcing their papads and khichiyas from, and then we started experimenting with a range of different kinds of crunch and textures that people generally like,” he says adding that everything is now sourced from a local kirana store that sells a wide range of pappads from garlic to tomato and dal to millets.

The Gymkhana chilli cheese toast, an ode to the post-swim staple at the club, arrives with a chilli coconut sauce. The elaneer pakoda, a tempura fried tender coconut served with tamarind and curry leaf sauce is a playground of flavour. 

The railway beetroot cutlets, crisp on the outside, echo family holidays spent on trains, and come with a sharp red chilli peanut sauce. For those willing to push the heat, Naga chilli mushrooms are a must-try. Stir-fried Naga chilli and mushrooms in a butter garlic base, layered with smoked Naga chilli oil and finished with a spiced crunch. One bite is just not enough, even as it burns your tongue. 

“There needs to be some level of yourself that bleeds into the space and only then does it become personal,” says Abbas, as the playlist moves through underrated tracks from the ’90s, 2000s and early 2010s. From Lucky Ali to The Local Train, it feels like a millennial’s comfort zone. “These are just songs we listen to,” he laughs, as the main course begins to fill the table: smoked masoor dal pulao, malai koftas, parmesan and scallion parotta, chilli paratha, and white dal makhani.

“We see so much of the regular kaali dal makhni so we replaced it with white urad. It’s still creamy and rich but its more garlicy and topped with a chilli oil,” he says. Though heavy and creamy, it pairs well with the masoor dal pulao. The parmesan scallion parotta is a great snack on its own, but comes together even better with gently spiced aloo malai koftas in a pumpkin curry.

Poppadum steps into a space Chennai’s restaurant scene is only just beginning to open up to. In the part of the city where dining out still often defaults to comfort classics, this feels like a small push forward. The menu’s strength lies in its detail of layering textures and flavours. Chilli jams are fermented, dal is slow cooked overnight, pulao is cooked in dum style, and even the chaas is smoked. It reflects the way the restaurant has been thought through. “Everyone keeps asking, ‘Is the city ready?’ The city will be ready only when someone attempts and tries pushing new ideas,” says Abbas. 

It is a good thing desserts go straight to the heart, because by this point, there is no room left. The falooda barf gola, a cross between mohabbat ka sharbat, falooda and a barf ka gola, manages to stay refreshing without tipping into cloying sweetness. In Chennai’s heat, it might as well sit on the small plates section. The filter coffee pudding on the other hand is decadent with coffee soaked biscuits, mascarpone cream and chocolate almond chikki bits to add crunch. 

The crunch is a constant at Poppadum.

Poppadum is at 12/3A, Ormes Road, next to Attic Fabric Studio, Kilpauk. A meal for two costs ₹2,200. For reservations, call 9025656811.

Poppadum in Kilpauk serves vegetarian food with serious crunch

At Kilpauk’s new restaurant Poppadum, owner Abbas Shahzad serves vegetarian food shaped by regional influences. | Video Credit: The Hindu