In the bevy of cafés in the city, any new enterprise must scream itself hoarse and ensure there’s meat in its matter. Joining the din is Loretta’s Shakes & Screams, in Anna Nagar.
While there are plans to expand the menu at some point, right now, it’s mostly the expected bits, with the odd exception. The restaurant recommends their cheesy fries, and one would imagine a combination of cheese and fries would be tough to get wrong. But the fries are just smeared with cheese and topped off with oregano. Treating French fries like a pizza base may not be the best idea. They end up soggy in no time and are a pinch too salty — a recurring theme across some dishes, we find. It’s a fairly generous serving, though, and will keep two comfortably occupied.
The Chicken or The Egg is a must-have, though. This is an egg wrapped in a chicken patty, deep-fried in cornflour, with a squeeze of mayonnaise. The minced meat jacket is crispy and flavourful, with just the right amounts of spice and zip to it, and the hard-boiled egg is… well, a hard-boiled egg. As the egg and patty come apart, it does get messy, but that’s nothing that a handful of tissues can’t fix.
Texas chicken wings are an interesting take on an overdone starter. While they’re the go-to fare of sweet and spicy wing, brushed with a honey sauce, it’s the texture that really works wonders. The skin is crunchy, almost to the point of crackling; the meat is tender, cooked perfectly, and the honey just pounds a symphony of flavour into this riff.
Entrées are mostly a pick between varieties of burgers and sandwiches, not all of which necessarily work. The Something Fishy burger, for instance. A crispy basa fillet rests between two buns, quite unsure of its place there. The fillet is slightly undercooked, and oilier than necessary. I’ve never been sure of fish in a burger and this isn’t assuaging the sceptic in me.
The Paneer Twister burger, too, is a confused bit on what should have been a simple act. Instead of a paneer patty, it has a minced paneer paste as the lowest in a stack with nachos and lettuce above it. While nachos add some bite to an otherwise sludgy consistency, it plays havoc with the flavours and can’t be reconciled with paneer, sadly. Moreover, the paneer base is bitter and unattractive.
The 4 Loaf Chicken Club Sandwich pretty much has it in the name. There’s one slice too many here, and it really makes for quite a mouthful. And we’re not quite sure why, but despite the restaurant’s claims of using unsalted butter, the sandwich tastes overtly salty.
A Focaccian Fill then, comes as a pleasant surprise. Focaccia, topped with dried herbs, and a delectable centre of sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini, olives, bathed in pesto sauce and mayonnaise, makes for quite an effervescent combination. But this, too, is a smidge too salty.
The thickshakes, milkshakes and ice-creams are also mostly of the standard variety. Nothing’s quite offensive, but not much will really make you sit up and take notice of Loretta’s. Try the mud apple ice-cream, though. There aren’t too many flavours quite as pleasantly curious as cold chikoo.
So, does Loretta’s Shakes & Screams stand out from the crowd? Not quite. A few of their dishes are delicious and may be worth a second visit, but there’s little here to make you a regular. We found ourselves waiting abnormally long whiles between courses — often as long as 40 minutes. This, on a Tuesday evening with a scant crowd.
Someone steal the chef’s salt shaker, fast.