Most vegetarians often cross various road‐side eateries, smelling delicious ghee‐roasted dosas and hot idlis with sambar. However, they choose to walk past it, resisting their temptation as they also sight a half‐boiled egg or chicken kothu paratha on the next pan. As a food aficionado, Raghavender Mahalingam, has traversed across and sampled some of the best vegetarian food at kaiyendhi bhavans and small road side eat‐outs. He gives us a list of some of the places he has tried out, with inputs from his father. “Most of these places are around Thiruvanmiyur, Mylapore, Triplicane and West Mambalam,” he says, vouching for their authenticity, quality and hygiene and opening up a whole new avenue of vegetarian options for vegetarians in the city.
At West Mambalam, opposite the Ayodhya Mandapam on Arya Gowda Road is a small cart‐shop run by a Tambram mama in the evenings. “Super delicious sundal, bajjis and vadais are available here,” says Raghavender. In T Nagar, near Brilliant Tutorials is the legendary kaiyendhi bhavan, which was closed for a while, but is back in action again. “Known for their sambar vadai, podi dosa and idiyappam kurma, they even have a fan following on Orkut!” exclaims Raghavender. He moves on to describe his `10 lunch experiences at a 100 sq ft shop near the Saidapet Railway Station. “I’ve been eating there since 1999 and they have some delicious soft rotis and sabjis which are out of this world,”says Raghavender. He takes us through the roads of Triplicane, describing the onion uthappam and rava dosai at the Vadivelu Tiffin Centre near the Big Street Bus Stop opposite the Zanda Market, a range of breakfast options at Monisha Tiffin Centre on Big Street, the delicious buns with channa stuffing at Masala Buns, the shack outside Chennai Fashions Shop on Big Street and Mangalore Bondas at a street shop at the junction of TP Koil Street and Singarachari Street, run by a Mr Rao.
When the topic of street food comes up, it is only inevitable that the joints at Mylapore figure in the list. The medhu pakodas, masala vadas and mini samosas sold at a small sweet shop diagonally opposite the Jain Temple is known to have caused traffic jams in the afternoons. Raghavender suggests that one have dosas and parottas at a small shop next to Kalathi Foods, known for their popular rose milk. Also, walk up to the window of the Jannal Kadai (christened by foodies in the city for easy reference), adjacent to the temple on the street that leads to the South Mada Street, to place your order for their unique chutneys. Of course, the well‐known bajji kadai near Adyar Bakery in Adyar is a must mention. “The best and yet to be beaten item there are their cutlets,” says Raghavender. Moving on to Thiruvanmayur, adjacent to the Marundeeshwar Temple, is the small Lakshmana Iyer Mess run by Chef Shanmugam. Their medu vadai and poori‐masala are a must try. “Their coconut getti chutney is the best.” You go anytime of the year on any day, the chutney will have its taste and texture,” offers Raghavender.
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