CHENNAI: Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor,’ says All-father Odin, from the Marvel Universe. So, are you worthy enough to wield Thor’s hammer? Find out at this sparkling new food hub, Stark Bistro, the city’s first restaurant dedicated to the Marvel universe and fandom. Before we enter the bistro, a figurine of Tony Stark aka Iron Man relaxing with a cup of coffee outside the restaurant grabs our attention.
Located in Chetpet, the restaurant opened its doors recently and has intrigued us for all the good reasons. A giant vigilant hulk watching over anyone who enters the doors, Marvel comic books decked neatly on the tables, ‘Avenger’ Uno cards, and of course, the famed Thor hammer at the entrance — a possible free dessert for anyone who raises the Mjolnir to arm level! We passed up on the challenge but every other customer tried their luck.
“That’s one of the fun challenges we have here. We are planning to introduce more in the coming days,” says 24-year-old Vinojan Chandrasekaran, franchise owner of the brand in Chennai. Walking us through the makebelieve Marvel world located in the heart of the city, he says, “Opening a restaurant has always been my dream. I was going through a website that had a list of franchise openings and, I came across this Stark Bistro in Cuttack. Being a Marvel fan, I was kicked about the idea and immediately met the founder. What they had in Cuttack was a small restaurant that served quick bites,” he narrates. When the franchise in Chennai was finalised, Vinojan, along with a city-based food consultant, worked on a menu that had both Italian and American cuisines.
“We reworked the original menu and included new dishes. Right now, we have a standardised menu across India and the founder is happy too!” he beams. The bistro serves dishes like Falcon wings, Mark-43, Heimdall’s vision, Groot roots, Thor Thunder, Phil Coulson’s Heroic and also serves beverages in quirky Marvel hero mugs! “We made sure that the theme is balanced out and doesn’t look too amateur. So, it’s suitable for both adults and children,” says the civil-engineering graduate, who now juggles between a career in photography and the restaurant business.
He asserts that the comic books available in the restaurant cannot be found in India or on any website. “I bought them from the US and we have about 50 comic books here. We will be changing it periodically,” he says pointing to a comic of Doctor Strange and The Infamous Iron Man. A wooden spiral stair, leads us to a statuette of Spider Man seated next to a table and a series of symmetrically placed Marvel posters on the wall. “These are from China and the statuettes are made in Meerut. We are also planning to place small Groot figurines on the table,” he smiles.
A few masks of the heroes and the BGM, up the Marvel quotient at this bistro. “It has been only a few days since we opened and we have already received good responses. We are still working on a few things and they will be incorporated soon. But so far, the reviews we have received for food and the ambiance have been gratifying and Marvel fans love it!” he claims.