Amethyst
I’m back in the city after a long time and there is so much to do and such little time. I had to meet friends, catch up with all the happening gossip, fill them in with whats happening in my life. All this had to be done and I just had time to do this over a cup of coffee. So there began my quest for a place that has a great ambience (preferably outdoors), good food, and no restrictions to express ourselves (my girl friends can get loud sometimes 
). The first place that came to my mind was a coffee house situated in a calm locality in Gopalapuram, Chennai. No, No, I’m not gonna tell you about Cafe Coffee Day or Barista or any other run of the mill coffee pub, I’m gonna tell you about a coffee place that set the trend for many other coffee places – Amethyst. It also has a gallery where they have painting exhibitions, poetry reading, jewelery display etc. Its not just another coffee pub. It is that and much much more.
Amethyst is the ideal place for a group of friends to catch up. The neatly and accurately placed tables in the garden gives you the feeling of being at home and having your own tea-party or should I say coffee party I have been to Amethyst before, but today it felt like I was going there for the first time. The menu has changed from the last time that I had been there. Prices have increased by five or ten bucks, but who cares, all good things come with a price. I wouldn’t mind paying that extra ten for the ambiance and the experience that Amethyst offers.
After our animated hi, hello, how do you do, we got down to ordering. I ordered a Cafe Latte (Rs. 45) and a Chocolate Brownie (Rs. 55). There are other things on the menu that I would have ordered if only I hadn’t had lunch already. I’m told that the pasta here is very good, I will try it the next time I come to Amethyst. They also have milkshakes, cold coffee, pastries, desert, french fries etc etc. On the whole they offer a wide variety of food and drinks ranging from 35 (the normal coffee) to something around 200, (I don’t know for what).
Some feel that Amethyst is a bit too expensive. Yes it is, just a bit but I guess its worth it. The outdoor set up doesn’t make you feel restrained in any way. For a noisy bunch like ours, this is the ideal place. Amethyst is one of the few coffee pubs in the city that allow its customers to smoke. They have a non-smoking zone for people who are against passive smoking. Different people, different likes and thats exactly what Amethyst caters to. I had a wonderful evening sipping on my Cafe Latte and enjoying my hot Chocolate Brownie for hours. On the whole I would give Amethyst 8/10 just for its ambiance and for letting me catch up with a bunch of over enthusiastic friends.
Amethyst is at 14/30, Padmavathi Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai – 600086.
Phone: +91-44-24991330
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Hey Kavitha, that was bang on!! I mean u said it just right, baby. If one wishes to spend some loud time with ur friends and want to do it without any inhibitions this is the place to go to. But hey if u r hungry this may just not be ur place. The prices are comparable with other places of comparable ambience. Get there and jus chill out!!
The best place for a lazy sunday brunch. Some times they have these fresh-out-of-college designers put up their collections, which makes good(value) shopping for the coming season as well!
They have some good frozen yoghurt(all three flavours are a must try), also love the “hershey’s kisses” served along with their cappucino
hey kabi, this places brings bak lot of memories… esp the short film
, he hee… the french fries and the pasta, and coffee obviously, super place man…… yes how can i forget the yoghurt, the purple one…
I found this post while searching the Internet for hangouts in Chennai. Though i’m joining this thread late, just wanted to share something with the nice and mature folks out here.
Now, I’m not a native of Chennai nor India, but my mother’s Indian, so i maintain that i’m half-indian, if not fully so.
I totally understand and respect Indian culture, and have no qualms about the law of the land. But the last time i was at Amethyst with my girl-friend (now my wife), i had a very bad experience. I popped the question to her (meaning, i proposed marriage to her) at Amethyst, and i selected it out of all places because we both loved our previous times there. Now, imagine how special that moment is in somebody’s life. She agreed, and we were both so happy. Before leaving from there, we were both obviously so caught up in emotion and we were so much in love that i gave her a lingering kiss on the mouth, and obviously she responded too – now at this point, please understand that this happened completely naturally, and both of us come from a culture where expression of love in such a manner is considered completely natural. It would have actually have been totally strange and unnatural if someone had proposed marriage to someone and hadn’t even kissed them after/during it.
This is where the problem entered. Almost immediately, someone (i later found that it was a waiter) came running towards our table, and thrust a placard in our hands, which basically told us that ‘physical intimacy was not admissible’ in that place and that the ‘management strictly warns people of action’ if they did indulge in such intimacy.
What?? So you cant kiss your girlfriend even when you propose to her, even at that point of time when you’re actually asking her to marry you?? I tried explaining to that person that it just happened, and also that i had just asked her to marry me, but he just didnt seem to understand. Then a couple of other waiters also chipped in and were trying to actually make us leave.
We were both feeling so shocked that something like this happened just after the best moment of our lives, that we immediately paid up without a word and left the place. We felt too embarrassed, and actually hurt that this happened. What made us sad was that Amethyst didn’t know how to differentiate between people who come to such places with such intentions and people who are also decent citizens, trying to live normal lives.
Anyway, i feel no need to explain myself to people, but i’m relating this here so that folks here understand that employing ten people who bring you food is just not what service is all about, and also since India prides itself in being a plural society, it’s high time people woke up from their hypocrisies and their false notions of what decency is and what is not. That yardstick is not for one to impose on others, but for people themselves to determine – i’m sure if anyone had seen us there that evening, you would have been happy for us, and not felt that we were violating any laws or behaving in an indecent manner.
Hey there Stephen.. Thank you for vising our website and sharing your experience.. I totally understand what you went through n I feel really bad by the way you were treated.. It is sad that you have bitter experiences associated with such a nice place.. Anyway, do keep sharing your experiences with us about different places..
This sounds delicious…Its making me hungry.
Thanks for this review. I saw this place today at Chak le India with Aditya Bal. I am waiting to try it out as i will be visiting chennai next week. What other places do you reccomend for eating out?
There are loads of places in Chennai – if you could tell me where you’ll be staying, I could recommend places close to you
thanks for all,this is very nice blog