This restaurant celebrates Tamil food from across the state

The restaurant, which opened its doors few weeks ago, stands out in the food street with its bright red exteriors and the unmissable logo of a man with his handlebar moustache. Open for lunch and dinner, the 34-seater gets packed soon as the clock strikes one in the afternoon. Techies from IT parks and offices around the locale flock the mess on weekday afternoons, while on weekends, it is mostly families that come in hungry for their vazhai ilai sapad. We managed to get a table just before the rush hour and were greeted by the waiters, most of whom were also sporting moustaches and dressed in a white veshti and shirt — keeping it casual, yet very Tamil. Melodies of Ilaiyaraaja and scent of agarbathis filled the air as we waited for our food to arrive.

“We wanted to provide the best food from Madurai, Coimbatore, Chettinad and other regions across the state at the restaurant. We want to convey through the name that we carry the same pride in the food we deliver as the men who twirl their mustaches and love their food,” the restaurant’s consultant Rajesh Kumar tells us. We began our meal Chettinad style with a nandu rasam (crab soup), which is a fragrant, flavour-packed spicy broth made of crab legs. If you want a cold beverage to quench your thirst, the restaurant offers traditional goli soda, refreshing rose milk and Madurai-style jigarthanda. There is a plethora of appetiser options, mostly in chicken, fish and mutton, prepared in cooking styles from across the state — which one can order alongside their meal as well. Their mutton chukka with spicy red chillies, laced with fennel seeds, awakens the taste buds making them want more. Vanjaram (seer fish) fry is another appetiser that not only looks enticing, but also uses delicious spices pounded in-house. Don’t miss out on trying the restaurant’s kola urundai (mutton keema balls), which are puffy, soft meat balls fried with clean and simple flavours.

What makes the food here so palatable is how they stay clear off of too many spices or overpowering masalas and instead let the good produce do the talking. Their mutton biryani demonstrates the same with minimal spices, yet very tender meat. Their vadiyal parotta was our favourite — which is a deconstructed version of kothu parotta — and is cooked over a layer of egg, with meat hidden in its centre and soaking in the juices of a thick gravy poured over. The dishes are also reasonably priced so they won’t burn a hole in your pocket. If you dine here at evenings, you are certain to be transported to Madurai, with the mutton kari dosa, egg kalakki, kothu parotta, and idlis and dosas served with chicken and mutton curries.