I closed my eyes, and could almost convince myself I was on the highway between Bhiwani and Rohtak. Only the slightly humid air would perhaps give away what could otherwise have been the perfect ambiance for such a setting ' the aroma of freshly made rotis, people chattering away in Hindi and the sound of vehicles whizzing past! Even the Mallu Fresh fruit juice stall did not seem out of place. Well, I was exaggerating! The place I'm talking about is right in the heart of Velachery (well, not exactly the heart) ' on the Taramani-Velachery road. There is this nice little shop outside SSekar stores that offers wholesome and simple vegetarian food. This place is run, well, almost-dhaba style. The food is simple and wholesome, the setting even more simple and unfussy. You get a plate of five hot rotis with dal and two sabjis for Rs. 25/- which I thought was a very good deal. The daal had that distinctive flavor that I've tasted only in some of the roadside food joints in Rajasthan or Haryana! It perhaps a bit to do with the dust in the air or the way they make them, I don't know which.
It's amazing to see Chennai becoming truly cosmopolitan at least as far as food is concerned. A few years ago, I would have had to think really hard to come up with a few names of restaurants that served other than South Indian fare. Today, you can find everything from Chinese (Indian-style, of course) to Thai, Malaysian and even Japanese; however, what I find even more interesting is the amazing range of restaurants that serve simple everyday fare ' to suit the multi-cultural palates that have descended to this place, thanks to the BPO industry over here. A few years ago, as BITS Practice School students, we landed up at the coal town of Neyveli for our six-month projects. And we had Rajiv Kaul with us for company. Even today, when we get together and conversation traces itself back to the past, we recollect with amusement Kaul doing battle with rasam on a banana leaf. The poor chap had Hobson's choice when it came to lunchtime ' South Indian Thali or nothing! How I would have loved to take him to a place like this which served hot phulkas with sabji and daal. He probably looks back in wonder at how he managed to survive six grueling months in this heat and dust and THIS food!
This has become a favorite joint, whenever I don't bring lunch from home. Will let you know if I come across any more of these! Until then bon appétit!
If this joint was there during the initial INSYST days, we could have gone there in the night instead of going to the chinese food carts at Panagal Park !!
Strange that I should come around to reading this post today. Just this afternoon, my son and I were having lunch with an elderly North Indian friend who had spent some time in Chennai and Kerala, years ago when he was associated with the communist movement and AKG. He was telling us how he walked the lanes day after day looking for a place that would serve phulkas or parattas, much to his disappointment. He was quite pleasantly surprised too when he visited Keral again after a very long gap, a few years ago as there were many restaurants that had North Indian dishes on their fare. At least on the commercial front, including eating joints, there is a lot of integration, I guess..(.because it is profitable??)
There is one of these near Sathyam cinemas - when you go from Sathyam towards the flyover - to your right. Its called Krishna Bhavan. Just parathas, dahi, some daal and achar… Annadaata sukhibhava!
hmm, u and ur bro make chennai sound so appealing…
i do miss the restaurants tho not the heat and dust
Hmmm. I need to try out this joint some time. I had the pleasure of taking Roy Lee to Velu’’s and he made a mess of the banana leaf with his insistence on using the fork.