It’s a Monday evening. Not quite the ideal setting for evening gowns, a red carpet or a glitzy restaurant launch. But that’s probably the whole reasoning that went into Sam Paul and Chef Willi opening their new restaurant, on a weeknight. Given how popular the two socially affable men are in the city’s circuit, the tiny 50-seating space was packed so much that the valet drivers warned us that there wasn’t any space upstairs, when we got there. With Sam Paul’s penchant for expanding at the drop of a hat, it only made sense that he would take out a spot on Kasturi Rangan Road, in the uber posh Poes Garden area, when it came on the lease market. But instead of just making it one his already popular Jonah’s joints, he decided to bring in the man who introduced us to Kryptos and Tuscana’s thin crusts and serve up some extra-special somethings. Of course, when a small restaurant, tastefully done up with packing wood and blue tinges, is stuffed like this one was — getting food looked like a distant memory. But as luck would have it, when we squeezed ourselves behind a couple of tables, we found ourselves right next to the kitchen and practically everything off the assembly line looked enticing. Add some lovely retro rock from Nadisha Thomas and Co, and you’ve got a recipe for perfection.
