Rediscovering nostalgia: 1950s glamour meets South Indian tapas at The Quarter

Salon doors set the tone for the evening. At The Quarter, set in The Savera’s premises, we step into Madras of the 1950s, a city exiting the coloniser’s presidency, in the midst of creating an identity of its own.

This cocktail-forward bar, blends South Indian tapas, Madras Checks, and old world charm — and brims with opulence. The lighting is dim, and the music, quiet. The display wall, filled with miniature Premier Padminis and Ambassadors, shares an intimate personal collection.

Nivruti Reddy, who comes from a long line of entrepreneurs, including her mother Nina Reddy, and is behind 60-year-old Savera Hotel’s younger brands, Brew Room and Andhra Tiffin Room, says that The Quarter centres the city as an emotion.

“It is not a themed bar. It is a quiet, comfortable place without jarring music aiming to ensure there is both food and shared conversation. We’ve tried to keep the menu fun. There are bar nibbles, small plates and mid-plates that play to our strength, especially with our South Indian flavours” she says.

Toddywala
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Special Arrangement

While the glamour of the intimate 40-seater bar by Studio Reve is a draw, what allows The Quarter to break-free from Colonial primness, is the playfulness of the menu and the space. Wrapped in jade, with a private-dining area called Suite 101 (the first ever suite at Savera) the bar lends itself to high-pitched laughs, and secret conversations.

Our meal begins with an unlikely vadumanga focaccia served with delectable gongura, garlic and podi butter. The buttery-soft bread is made in-house, through Savera’s well-established bakehouse. Lotus stem chips, and sweet potato fries, both quoted in an in-house seasoning similar to piri piri, are finished with a hot honey glaze. Nivruti says that the portions have been kept small and priced accordingly because here, one should ideally order many tapas portions to share. “You don’t want to be stuck with one starter alone. This way, you try a variety and decide what you like,” says Nivruti.

Accompanying the nibbles are a slate of cocktails, all Madras-based, hoping to rekindle the memory of lost flavours and scents.

Kozhi rasam momos and Madras paloma
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Special Arrangement

We try two savoury cocktails, the Biryani and the Thenga Manga. The Biryani, served with a raita that sits like a pearl thanks to molecular gastronomy, is surprisingly delicious. While one can smell the long-grain basmati rice before sipping the glass, the drink, with bourbon as the base, is spiced with biryani masala and vetiver, and sweet with bourbon. The pea-foam atop the Thenga Manga sundal is a bit dense but the drink, made with rum, raw mango and coconut, is delicious. All pours are a generous, (and now standard) 60ml.

Try the Guntur Accent, The Quarter’s take on popular picante. With tequila as the base, this cocktail is spicy with Guntur chillies, and gongura pickle. If you like gins, you are in for a treat. At The Quarter, the gin-based drinks including the Amrutham, Mukkani, and Burma Bazar, with infusions of bael nuts, jackfruit, mango, and Chettinad spices, are delicious and the perfect amount of sweet.

To ensure that you eat enough carbs to offset the alcohol, order paruppu podi arancini, and chicken 65 sliders. Also try the Andhra rotti where the meat is shredded and smothered with spices, served atop buttery bread. And bite-sized prawn uthapams, served with a papaya chutney.

Our mid plate recommendations cannot be complete without the cloud mutta thokku, the bar’s take on the classic eggs Benny, served with a fried bread, chilli Hollandaise, and a jam-like tomato thokku.

Guntur Accent
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Special Arrangement

The gilma biryani bowl, akin to a nasi goreng bowl, is full of chicken 65 pieces, and pineapple jam. Also try the Nallampatti paneer, topped with a thick Kongu special gravy, served with tiny coin parottas. “We were insistent that there were just as many vegetarian options. They are certainly not focussed on paneer alone,” Nivruti says.

Before you leave, do not forget to try the classic Madras Coffee Cake served in a brown paper cover, laden with soft, fluffy coffee cream. This is our pick over the filter coffee cocktail which looks beautiful but is unfortunately corrupted by the taste of acerbic cloves. If you like an amalgamation of Reese’s pieces and Bounty, the foreign chocolates, our Dubai and US aunts and uncles used to bring, end the meal with peanut, chocolate, coconut, and crunch instead. The Quarter’s expansive menu, and stellar ambience, seems like a promising place for grown ups to have a drink and conversation, without grinding techno thudding in the background. That should be reason alone to make a reservation.

The Quarter is at The Savera, Dr Radhakrishnan Road. A meal for two costs ₹2,500 including drinks. Reservations are mandatory. Call 9841310006. Open from 6pm to 12am.

Published – January 07, 2026 03:52 pm IST