Chennai has a new flower cafe and a space for Korean beauty and crafts

Chennai’s InKo Centre is abuzz with two new launches — a flower cafe and a Korean beauty and crafts centre

A matcha cake in a glass house, surrounded by flowers. This is how I like to spend my teatime these days (if my boss is not watching). I am at InKo Centre’s Flower Brew — a delightful combination of a flower shop (Flower Power) and a cafe (Bara and Bean). So, when you enter, the aroma of coffee and the scent of a myriad flowers greet you.

“Korea has this flower cafe culture; they have small, cute spaces where they have books, flowers and cafes. You can pick up a book, grab a bite, look at flowers and just spend as much time as you want. That is where this idea came from,” explains Rathi Jafer, director, InKo Centre (The Indo-Korean Cultural and Information Centre). InKo already had this space and Rathi was keen to turn it into “something that extends and connects through our senses”. “A hangout where people could connect with everything we have to offer,” she adds.

Chef Cheruba of Barra and Bean Cafe | Photo Credit: Johan Sathyadas

The 15-seater cafe — with indoor and outdoor seating — is run by Chef Cheruba Nelson, who is also associated with Ciacco on Anna Salai, and does a show on Sun TV titled Top Cooku Dupe Cooku. The cafe does Korean-inspired food and bakes. “For example, we have chiffon cake. Is it authentic? No, but because Koreans really enjoy their fruits, we add lots of seasonal fruits and cream — thereby adding a Korean touch,” says Cheruba. The menu also features gochujang chicken quiche, Hokkaido toast, kimchi and egg toast, Hokkaido milk gelato with a honey comb on top, green tea, corn tea, Americano, piccolo... the most popular however is the iced matcha made with oatmilk. “We’ve noticed in Korea, they really like flavoured milk, so we have banana milk, melon milk, strawberry milk and citron passion fruit-ade and strawberry-ade with a scoop of sorbet,” says Cheruba, adding that they open as early at 8am and are exploring healthier options for breakfast.

The flower shop occupies one side of the room; one gets the feel of sitting in a garden. There are roses, orchids, tulips, sunflowers, and flowers I’ve never seen before. But Jayanthi Ravichandran, who started Flower Power, is there to acquaint you with the blooms. Jayanthi had a flower business in London and started this brand there, decades ago. In 2017, she decided to bring her flower shop to Chennai and set up in Besant Nagar and Akkarai.

Korean gifts at the craft centre | Photo Credit: Johan Sathyadas