Now, find Chennai’s Ciclo Café in the quaint lanes of Puducherry

As Ciclo Café completes a decade in Chennai, a new location is now on its menu; a charming, 100-year-old French-style bungalow in the heart of Puducherry which will also function as a bed and breakfast

A neatly-arranged row of champa flowers graces the steps at the entrance to Ciclo Café on Rue Romain Rolland in Puducherry, under a canopy of temple trees. “I have been told that these are probably the oldest trees here,” says Ashish Thadani, director, Ciclo. 

Celebrating 10 years in Chennai and having expanded to four outlets across the city, Puducherry seemed like the next logical step, says Ashish. Ciclo’s newest address in White Town in Puducherry is high on aesthetics, and comes backed by a treasure trove of trivia. “Film producer Samir Sarkar who is a resident of Puducherry told us that this bungalow, which belonged to his grandfather years ago, inspired veteran filmmaker Ang Lee to rebuild the entire house in Taiwan for the movie Life of Pi as Pi’s house in the zoo,” he says. Called The House of Upasana, the 100-year-old colonial bungalow is now painted in shades of teal and white and is located in the middle of the touristy, quaint White town.

Ashish chanced upon this house, which belonged to a friend, a few years ago. “We were keen on preserving the character and charm of the house and worked with INTACH to ensure minimal changes were made to the building and its facade,” he explains. A new building at the rear of the house has been their only major addition — a bed and breakfast with six rooms which marks Ciclo’s foray into the boutique hospitality space. The rooms will soon open for reservations.  

Spread across two floors, the café in Puducherry can seat 80. Following a bout of surprise showers, it makes sense for us to take our places in the open-air space on the first floor; one that offers a view of the bright yellow guesthouse opposite the café through an artful jumble of leaves and pink blooms. 

Ashish credits Arun Alagappan of TI cycles as having seeded the idea of a pioneering concept café themed on cycling in 2015, given that they were cycling enthusiasts. While this changed over the years and Ciclo’s focus turned more to food, they remain keen on promoting cycling culture. “Even here in Puducherry, we are planning to have cycles that people can simply pick up to ride around these streets. We are still passionate about cycling and would love to do more with the right cycling partners,” Ashish says. 

As we bite into shammi kebabs and cheesy garlic bread, Aman Thadani, head of operations in Puducherry says the new café will have all of the favourites from the Chennai menu — pizza, pasta, steak, sandwiches, salad, warm bowls, and their range of baked goods and artisanal ice cream. “Over the last decade in Chennai, we try and improve the menu consistently while keeping the base standard. There have been nearly 21 editions of the menu, and with every festival or special occasion we introduce special menus and then add some of those dishes to our menu — like the tortellinis from Valentine’s day this year or the Milo french toast last year,” he says. Alchohol will soon be included on the menu at the Puducherry cafe.

We sidestep the usual favourites like the butter chicken fries and go in for Ciclo’s newer warm bowls. The Mediterranean bowl has crunchy pita chips, fresh vegetables and fluffy quinoa, but the weather also warrants a bowl of soup. With a strong coconut flavour, the noodle soup might take time getting used to, but the secret is quite literally, in the sauce — a red, flavourful chutney to be scooped up into the soup.