Get, Set, Ciclo !!
These days, most people travelling on the busy commercial thoroughfare of Road no 36 Jubilee Hills do a double when they spot this rather striking looking building with a huge cycle wheel logo. Ciclo (Italian for cycle), part of the chain from the Chennai-based TI Absolute Concepts, ( a JV between hospitality venture Absolute Concepts & TI Cycles) positions itself as a lifestyle cafe and is a haven for those who love cycling. Ciclo has the right energetic vibe, exuding wellness from every corner, and all the natural daylight streaming in thanks to the glass facades are a big add-on.
On the ground floor are bikes of all kinds and makes, Indian and foreign, Ladybird, Dahon etc etc. for kids and adults. Interestingly, there is a host of cycling accessories and merchandise, like saddles, lubricants and even air pumps! There is even an innovative recycling of cycle legs for the dining tables!
On the first floor is their restaurant which is quite spacious and airy, with 100-odd covers, with the bar (last we heard, its yet to get the license) in a separate closed room.
Awaiting us at the bloggers’ table is a huge spread from the menu, which itself is quite exhaustive and very competitively priced. We start off with oven dried tomato and olive puffs which come with a generous overdose of mayo, a tad too much for my liking, personally speaking!
The lemon butter chilli potato which follows is of course quite delish and has all the flavours intact. I also like the coconut crusted prawns (esp as the coating of coconut powder is different from the usual panko and beer batter fried etc) which is served with a pretty innovative mango jalapeno dip. Grilled Chicken Cajun is also competently done, bit the tiger burger with lamb and cheddar melt is found a bit too rare for all of us.
Lemon Butter Chilli Potato was good!
And so was the Cajun Chicken on Spinach Puree
Ciclo Full House Pizza followed (I told you, this was a humungous tasting) with assorted peppers, olives, mushrooms, onion and a host of other veggies, which was quite nice; I could not however try the tandoori chicken pizza after a bite of the vegetarian pizza.
In main courses, I found the quinoa and ragi crepe of leek and mushroom with tomato cream and smoked scarmorza to be definitely distinctive, nutritious without losing track of flavour. This is how delicious it looked like:
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Mr Ashish Thadani, the CEO of TI Absolute Concepts drops in and gets talking about the two mottos of Ciclo, cycling for health and good food, informing us that there are weekend breakfast packages priced nominally which enables you to hire a cycle and come back to a hearty breakfast comprising of choices of waffles, pancakes and eggs.
We are more than stuffed but there is a bite of dessert needed. Philadelphia Cheese cake arrives, but since i am not a great fan of cheesecake, I order instead the Bailey’s Ice Cream Pancake and boy, are we rewarded for the same! This is a deadly combo, a vanilla-flavoured pancake filled with Bailey’s ice cream (and it helps that Bailey’s is my absolute fave flavour).
I would absolutely recommend Ciclo, its not only a fun place to start biking from, it is also a cool hangout with some great menu offerings, including the cocktails!
