Other restaurants in Tamil Nadu
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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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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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A
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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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.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Hotel Saravana Bhavan
Dependably delish, ‘meals’ at the Saravana Bhavans run around Rs50, though the Mylapore locale has some ‘special meals’ for Rs95 and up. The Thousand Lights branch is more upscale, with an Rs180 buffet and silver cutlery.
reviewed
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C
Taj Restaurant
This non-veg extravaganza is packed with happily masticating families in the evening, no doubt enjoying specials like the Mughal biryani (only available Sundays) and the intriguing, occasionally offered pigeon masala.
reviewed
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Tava
A clean, fast and cheap veg option, this place has a wide menu; try the cauliflower-stuffed gobi paratha (spicy cauliflower bread) and sev puri (crisp, puffy fried bread with potato and chutney).
reviewed
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D
Ratna Cafe
Though often crowded and cramped, Ratna is renowned in Triplicane and beyond for its scrumptious idlis and the hearty doses of sambar (soupy lentil dish with cubed vegetables) that go with it.
reviewed
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Naalukattu
For the price, this is a rather gorgeous restaurant that resembles a dark-wood-accented Keralan verandah. The Malayalam-inspired food is all good, but it’s the fish curry that goes down an absolute treat.
reviewed
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E
Le Club
This club wraps three restaurants into one, with heavy French fare, a simple garden terrace and – unique to Pondy as of our writing – Vietnamese and Southeast Asian fare in the attached Indochine.
reviewed
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Malabar
In the KK Residency Hotel, this restaurant specialises in Keralan and North Indian food. The Malabar chicken roast (Rs100) is a spicy treat and there are seafood choices like tandoori pomfret.
reviewed
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Taj Garden Retreat
This indoor-outdoor restaurant is perched in the gardens above the city, with stunning sunset views. If you’re hankering for spag and salad in relaxed surrounds, this is the place to come.
reviewed
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F
Veg Tandoori
It may look tatty, but this spot adjacent to the bus stand does a reliable line in all kinds of veg cuisine, and the best dosas we tried in Trichy. Plus, it’s open late (well, past 11pm).
reviewed
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Annalakshmi
The top veg restaurant in town, this is run by devotees of Swami Shatanand Saraswati; the price of your meal helps support the Shivanjali educational trust for underprivileged children.
reviewed
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Archana Restaurant
At the Hotel Maadhini, this restaurant, which serves predictable if well-executed Indian fare, is best visited in the evening when the pleasant garden area provides open-air ambience.
reviewed
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G
Shree Krishnas
On the lower floor of Hotel Mathura, with a nice view of the buses playing plough-the-pedestrian across the road, this is a reliable spot for veg goodness and milky-sweet deserts.
reviewed
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Eco Nut
This interesting shop sells a wide range of locally produced organic health food – whole-wheat bread, muffins, cheese, salad greens – and essential oils, herbs and herb remedies.
reviewed
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H
Annapurna
A bustling hole-in-the-wall that serves up a lip-smacking taste of Bengal in Chennai’s Egmore district. Try the bhetki paturi (fish baked in banana leaves). Yum.
reviewed
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Thevar’s Biryani
Thevar’s specialises in exactly what the name suggests, and it specialises in the Mughal rice dish (done up with southern influences here, like sour tamarind sauce) well.
reviewed
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I
Copper Chimney
Vegetarians might want to give this meat-centric place a wide berth, but others will drool over the yummy North Indian tandoori dishes served among plush furnishings.
reviewed
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Sathars
Good service and quality food make this place popular. Downstairs is a veg restaurant with lunchtime thalis, upstairs is an AC section with great-value non-veg food.
reviewed
