Spicy food is not good for eye make-up, so we learnt on a recent night out expedition to Elevate. Lipstick can be worked on surreptitiously but not mascara and eyeliner. While we girls took swigs of the deliciously fruity sangria in between dabbing our eyes with tissues, the only guy in the group, in his bid to act heroic helped himself to a few more bites of chilly chicken that had set our tongues on flame. Finally he abashedly reached out for a tissue wiping his tears like a stage artist with glycerine in his eyes. But the good thing at Elevate is you can bank on their beverages, be it the peach and melon mocktail, the cooling lemonade topped with ice or even their chocolate martini with a tangy twist…

Ironically Elevate is situated at the basement of The Chariot hotel. One of the staff quips, ' that’s because once you are here you begin to feel elevated'. The interiors have quite a few interesting quirks…a metal curtain, coasters which read: ‘One for the road’ and for those driving: ‘None for the road’, shot glasses made of ice, a popcorn vending machine which allows unlimited helpings of popcorn…But the centre of attention are the DMX lights, which they take great pride in. Rows of colourful lights on the ceiling flicker according to the tempo of the music booming from the speakers.

Meanwhile the rest of the food arrives. The famed vada pav here comes with a keema stuffing, the vegetable spring rolls are perfectly crunchy and packed with a lot of carrot…they are determined to make us healthy, and the kozhi pepper fry consisting of little canapés sealed with mince meat and garnished with slivers of raw mango offers a pleasant mix of flavours. Next up, achari fish tikka sprinkled with sesame. Feisty and flaming red, this is for the ones with a cast-iron stomach. But it’s still intriguing with a soft-as-cotton consistency that crumbles gently when we put our forks to it. At Elevate, both the drink and snack menu is quite extensive. Maybe, they want us to last long on their dance floor.

As the evening progresses the music gets better and racier, the light panels reciprocate and young couples and giggling groups of revellers shake a leg. We sit back comfortably on the couch with bowls of unending popcorn and watch the party get started.

Elevate is located at No 4, Thirumalai Pillai Road, T. Nagar. Ph: 39922666