Malgudi, Savera Hotel, Royapettah, Chennai

Malgudi is one of the restaurants within Savera Hotel. I dont recall, when i first visited this place, or when they actually carved out or created this restaurant inside. But, i have been here many times and pretty impressed with their food selection. Malgudi is a smaller and lesser expensive version of Dakshin (located within the Park Sheraton). Malgudi offers a collection of vegetarian and non-veg food delicacies from south india. If you open the menu, you can choose from food from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The best bet is the thali, again you can chose from veg/non-veg. This gives you a quick tour of the food from these places. But if you want to pick and choose and soothe a specific hunger or taste, then feel free to flip through the menu and take a leap. The non-veg dishes compare decently to the restaurants that specialize in one cuisine. Most of the time, i have chosen the thali, many times the non-veg, and few times the veg. Their dosa and appam that comes with this thali is recommended. And you can eat as much as you want. The only problem with the thali format is that, you are served dishes in a particular order. You must specifically request them to bring dishes out of order.

They give you some free starters, vadams with different chutneys. But then you will really have to be on a strict diet, to pass up on the soft mangalore bondas. They also have a selection of delicacies that are more the home cooked variety than usually available in restaurants. Trust me, i could give you a list, but a visit is much better experience.

Their service could improve. They try, but at times, a lot of people are around, but not necessarily paying enough attention. This is true of most hotels and restaurants in Chennai and India.

To add to the experience they also have a 'killi jotsyam' and/or 'kai jotsyam'. So, if you miss these interesting diversions and fortune tellers of yesteryear, you can experience it here at Malgudi. Now it would have been complete, if they also had the 'boom boom maadu'.

Ente Keralam, Alwarpet, Chennai

They serve a good payasam. Well, you can make that home, if you are a mallu. But if you are not, and you crave for it, this is a place to go. Also carry your mastercard, cause the bill falls in the priceless category.
Expensive. That is only because i am a mallu. I eat this or similar food everyday. And there are other places in the city - kalpaka, kumarakkom, tharvad, etc, that provide the similar fare for a better price. I guess the dining experience and silver ware makes the difference. And by far, this lives up to the other restaurants, from the same management. But also like his other restaurants, it falls short of excellence. Its good imitation, it does give a run for the original cuisine, but you know a few things here and there could make a difference.

I remember the appam and stew (or ishtu), the fish fry and the payasam. But then again, nothing was monumental to think about returning soon. It would be nice for a grand occasion, where you need a nice ambiance and are willing to spend the money.

Talking about the payasam, the Aiyappan temple in mahalingapuram can serve an equally good payasam (off course it is the prasad from an offering to the god, but hey its good food too).

Suriya Sweets, Abhiramapuram, Chennai, India

Suriya Sweets located originally in Abhiramapuram is a hot stop for sweets and savouries. Fresh is the key, and the service. After initially doing just sweets and related stuff, they also have a shop next door selling fresh vegetables and groceries too. The specialty of the vegetable shop again is the freshness.

I never knew it existed until my sister-in-law shared a box of besan-ladoo, that was gifted to her, by one of her patient. I think the box had about 10-12 ladoos, and i may have eaten almost 3-4 of them in one sitting. And anything remaining was polished of the next day or so. It was then, that i set out to find this place. And even today, i think there is no besan-ka-ladoo like the ones that you get Suriya sweets.

You can add to this list, appam. It is made exactly to my liking. Soft and chewy, but a bit crispy on the outside. The only problem with the appam is the oil. Since this foodstuff is deep fried, it is inevitable that the oil has to be part of the ingredients. But this does put a dampener on the proceedings (eating). Although, i have been known to gorge through a packet before wondering the after effects of the oil and such gluttony. Even writing about this, makes my mouth water. I guess i am going to make a trip to Suriya soon.

For people in Adyar, if you thought it was chore, to go upto Abhiramapuram, you can now get the same selection on Greenways road, closer to the Adyar bridge. I guess they wanted to bring competition close to another hot spot, Adyar Grand Sweets (more on that later).

Suriya also scores on the service front. The ladies, are eager to serve and complete the ordering process, only to move onto another waiting customer. In the evenings, you can also get some chat-items, fresh-cut fruits and also a selection of sweets for instant consumption. Another good thing, is that, there is decent amount of parking for two-wheelers and cars. Although the Abhiramapuram location is in the midst of a residential area, and therefore has lesser parking. But then thats nothing new in India or Chennai.