Zara Tapas Bar

My friends have been drilling me to come out to Zara for the last 2 years and I never really bothered to. Bars hold very little attraction for me as I am neither the type to studiously nurse a drink nor am I the resident fish. However, this particular day was different, Bambam needed to chill, I am always happy to be with my bro, it was already 10:30pm and earlier that day B-boy had enticed me by mentioning that Zara was a Tapas bar!

If anyone knows how to mix the right drink with the right food, it’s the Mediterraneans. Spain, Portugal and Italy have rampantly influenced global tastes; with a colourful colonial and adventurous history, they have amalgamated the best of cuisines from across the world. One of my favourite elements of Mediterranean cuisine is the Tapas, a Spanish tradition of social drinking which includes a fabulous variety of appetizers. Here, the word appetizer would be obsolete, as the Tapas spread is a complete meal in itself.

Strategically, there are two locations for Zara, one at Cathedral Road which closes at 11:00pm and the other at the Airport which, pretty much, greets the dawn. So, off we went, setting off from my office in T. Nagar at 11:00PM to the Airport Zara … The drive was brilliant, the roads empty, until we hit the airport!

When we walked into Zara at 11:30ish, the place was nearly empty, the décor dark, the lights dim, typical mid-scale bar ‘without’ an obvious bar. I must say the leatherite seats were very difficult to get into and get out of!!

Bambi seemed to know the manager so we did some ‘ha ha hi hi’ and settled in to choose our drinks. Since I was more interested in the food, I looked around for the food menu until Bambi pointed it out right in front of me on the place mats.

Now thaaaaat is a huuuuge ‘No No’ !! There is one thing I absolutely detest, moving around my cutlery so I can order my damn food!

Once I got past my annoyance, I glanced through the menu and found it quite interesting. The menu had Spanish names for the dishes with good ‘easy to understand’ elucidations. B-boy had mentioned the Calamari (though, how a hardcore vegetarian knows good calamari, is an absolute mystery!). So we settled on Spinach Coquettes, Cheese pops and Calamari. I would have loved to try the other items, however, that will have to wait till I plan a big Zara party with lots of people so I can eat off all their plates! :D

Being a new born in the vege world, I wanted to avoid the meat, but had to taste the calamari. So I popped one of the small channa sized rings into my mouth and chewed with guilt overflowing. It was cooked just right, but was slightly over seasoned with salt. My only real complaint would be the size of the rings. Real calamari is almost as large as an onion ring and there is something sinfully delicious about a mouth full of fried squid!

The best part of the meal was the Spinach croquettes. Absolutely scrumptious!

Overall, it was a great evening spent with my bro, talking about life, love, business, and friendship … Life is good!

Zara Tapas Bar
First Floor # 74, Cathedral Road
Chennai - 600086.
Tel: +91 (44) 2811-1462

Zara Tapas Bar
Anna International Airport (Departure)
Above The Food Court, Meenambakkam
Chennai - 600 027
Tel: +91 (44) 2256-0779

Some interesting tidbits on Tapas:
The word tapas is derived from the verb tapar, which means "to cover". Apparently, the original tapas were slices of bread or meat used to cover sherry glasses to keep away flies from the sweet alcohol in Andalusian taverns. This evolved when bartenders started creating thirst inducing snacks to serve with sherry to increase alcohol sales. Pretty cool, Medieval Business Management 101 !!