Restaurants in Tamil Nadu
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A
Coffee.Com
Puducherry's cosmopolitan vibe is typified by this hip little internet hang-out. It's a meeting place where you can go online, read magazines, drink espresso coffee and there's a widescreen TV and a selection of DVDs. The café also serves up great baguettes, pasta, pastries and milkshakes.
reviewed
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B
Sidewalk Café
A cross between an American diner and an Italian cafe is something you’d expect to find in Mumbai rather than the mountains, but it’s a welcome change of scene. The fluorescent interior is oddly out of place in Ooty and the food is a bit overpriced, but if you’re craving something Western this is as good as it gets.
reviewed
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C
Moonrakers
Like it or not, you’ll likely end up here at some stage; it’s the sort of place that magnetises travellers. Probably because it’s a three-storey resto-bar complex that dominates the backpacker-ghetto streetscape. Food is OK, ambience is better and beer is enjoyable from the top-floor verandah.
reviewed
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D
Amethyst
Set in a stunning lemon-coloured, colonial-era building, this place is comfortably posh. The lush garden setting and patio dining takes the cake for restaurant ambience. Expect comfy couches, tasteful antique furniture and afternoon tea with lovely cucumber-and-mint-chutney sandwiches.
reviewed
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E
Jayaram Fast Foods
There’s a busy (and yummy) bakery downstairs, and a crisp and clean restaurant up top that does a nice line in Indian fare, plus burgers and pizzas. While the latter aren’t winning any awards, this is as good a piece of pie as you’ll find in Madurai.
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F
Rendezvous
The steaks here are superb, but then again, so is just about anything at this suitably romantic restaurant, where diners can lounge in AC comfort or pick at their coq au vin under the stars on the lush garden terrace.
reviewed
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G
Shinkow’s Chinese Restaurant
Shinkow’s is an Ooty institution and the simple menu of chicken, pork, beef, fish, noodles and rice dishes is usually pretty good, if kind of uninspired.
reviewed
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H
Coconut Lagoon
Excellent Keralan and Goan fare with a focus on seafood delicacies, such as kari meen polli chathu (fish masala steamed in banana leaf).
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I
Hotel Saravana Bhavan, Mylapore
Dependably delish, 'meals' at the Saravana Bhavans, although this locale has some 'special meals' if you're willing to pay a bit more.
reviewed
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J
King's Cliff Restaurant
An atmospheric restaurant with quality multicuisine food. There's no alcohol permit, but you can BYO.
reviewed
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Royal Tibet
If you’re missing Tibetan food, come here for the chewy but tasty momos (dumplings).
reviewed
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K
Chandan Restaurant
At Hotel Nahar, Chandan serves up delicious veg dishes in elegant surroundings. Thalis are served at lunchtime or choose from a range of biryanis and Chinese dishes.
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Banana Leaf
The Leaf is the best thing going in Trichy, with an enormous menu that plucks off regional favourites from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. With that said, the speciality is the fiery, vaguely vinegary cuisine of Andhra Pradesh; if you can handle your heat, fall in love with the chicken Hyderabadi. Another branch is next to the Hotel Tamil Nadu in Trichy Junction.
reviewed
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L
Zara’s
Though this tiny place is a little tough to find, seekers will be rewarded by this ultracool tapas bar. Expect genuine Spanish flavour: everything from squid and olives to tortilla and sangria. Three-course lunch specials with wine or beer are a decent deal at Rs225/245 for veg/non-veg. The bar here doubles as a popular hang-out in it’s own right.
reviewed
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M
Kabob Corner
Aaargh – let your inner carnivore scream in vicious exultation after enduring the non-stop veg of South India. Here you can tear apart perfectly grilled and spiced chunks of lamb, chicken and if you like, paneer (wussy). Sop up the juices with pillowy triangles of naan and revel in your messy return to the meat-eating fold.
reviewed
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Sangam Restaurant
It’s as if the Sangam started in Kashmir, trekked across the entirety of India, and stopped here to open a restaurant that features top culinary picks culled from every province encountered along the way. The food is good, the joint is bustling, and the menu must be one of the biggest in Tamil Nadu.
reviewed
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Sparky’s Diner
Sparky’s is a wall-to-wall homage to kitsch. This expat-run ‘American’ diner is plastered with US state licence plates and movie posters, has Sinatra crooning on the radio, and decks its waiters out in baseball shirts. Look out for OK American specials like deep-fried chicken or Cajun gumbo.
reviewed
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Selvan Saloon
This isn’t a restaurant; it’s a stall. But it’s a stall that serves the best street food we had in South India: an incredibly rich and spicy mushroom curry that would shame some of the pricier dishes around. Look for the long lines, and get ready for bliss.
reviewed
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N
Le Yogi
This is probably the best Western food in town. The steaks, pastas and pizzas are genuine and tasty (if small), service is stellar, and the airy dining area, with wooden accents, flickering candlelight and billowing fabrics, is romantic as all get out.
reviewed
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O
Surya Restaurant
The rooftop restaurant of Hotel Supreme offers a superb view over the city and a nice pure veg menu, but the winner here has got to be the cold coffee, which might as well have been brewed by God when you sip it on a dusty, hot (ie every) day.
reviewed
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Freshly ‘N Hot
Yes, the name makes no sense, and we’re not sure it’s some cute misspelling either, considering the guys who run this open-air cafe have so many other Western standards down. Especially the ice coffee: hands down the best in town.
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P
Siesta
On the shaded and breezy rooftop of Sri Murugan Guest House, this tapas restaurant offers - among other things - authentic Spanish omelette, patatas bravas (fried potatoes in a spicy sauce), garlic mushrooms and paella.
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Fisherman’s Fare
This small, spotless, AC dining room gets packed to the rafters come lunchtime, with punters digging into well-prepared fish fare ranging from shrimp to fish curries to tandoori fish. There’s a great lunchtime special for Rs155.
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Q
Village Inn Restaurant
Tucked away off the main strip, there's cane furniture, a couple of tables on the veranda and Indian classical music playing in the background, with inexpensive seafood, steaks (order in advance) and, surprisingly, Scotch eggs.
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R
Kitchen K
Earth tones, clay pots and wrought-iron chairs make for a soothing ambience at this café serving Hyderabadi and Northern dishes. Cake Walk next door has tiramisu, apple pie and black forest cake, among other indulgences.
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