Chennai Burps

It was Dad’s birthday and we planned to hit an “Appam” place for dinner. Our original destination was the Annanagar outlet of Kumarakom but due to some abysmal parking facilities we found ourselves at Kairali which goes with the tagline “heavenly food at earthly prices”.

So this was not our first choice but it was not a NOA (no other alternative) option as Annanagar is blessed with a couple of others so we actually were spoilt for choice. Let me now add that I consider myself to be 25% Malayalee coming from that descent and so appams, puttu and coconut drenched fish curry are regular at home.

Kairali is in a renovated or remodeled bungalow and the entrance up a broad winding stairway makes you feel very cosy and far removed from the utilitarian and often ugly looking commercial complexes that house other restaurants.

We entered a nearly empty restaurant and so we enjoyed prompt service. As we went with a determination to have appams we ended up dispensing with the run of the mill starters and jumped into appams, sear fish curry, chicken stew, puttu and kadala curry. Let me go straight to the food,:

Appams: delightful, slightly sweet and just like mum makes at home, priced at Rs. 12 each, you just can’t stop at 1.

Sear fish curry: the waiter warned us that it would be spicy and he made it sound as a mismatch for the appams but we insisted and found that it was quite taste. You love the kodampuli or you hate it, I loved it. It was a great accompaniment to the appams. Price Rs. 70.

Chicken stew: again with some sweet coconut milk (did they add sugar?), this was just the way you expect a good home made stew to be and the chicken was also cooked well. Price Rs. 70.

The puttu and kadalai curry: I dispensed with it but I found out that they were a little tight fisted with salt and during a later discussion with some other diners we found out that maybe their vegetarian dishes are cooked with just that little less salt than desirable. Price Rs. 65.

Their dessert selection was restricted to ice cream which we rejected and payasam that we declined as we were already stuffed. I was a tad disappointed that they have discontinued their tender coconut pudding which I had enjoyed once earlier.

It was reasonable service, good food and good pricing in a comfortable ambience.

Final verdict: I think Kairali should change their tagline to “Homely food at earthly prices”, for it really is.

Rating: ▲