By Boopalan
Lately, we’ve grown tired of our familiar dining haunts in Chennai, the Saravana Bhavans, the Sangeethas, the Vasantha Bhavans, the Anjappars.
We thirsted and hungered for a change.
And so, when the suggestion came from SI to review Chennai’s famed Murugan Idli Shop, a 100% vegetarian South Indian restaurant, we smacked our lips in anticipation.
After all, these Murugan Idli peddlers are the talk of the town.
And the mere mention of Murugan’s sui generis Idlis has even grown men drooling a mini-puddle into the carpet.
So in the spirit of film-maker Woody Allen’s famous quip that 80 percent of success is just showing up, we showed up at Murugan Idli Shop at Besant Nagar (Elliots Beach, Chennai) for breakfast today.
Crowded Place, Poor Ambiance, Lazy Staff
We did not set our expectations high given our past unpleasant experiences at some well known South Indian restaurants in Chennai like Saravana Bhavan and Anjappar.
Besant Nagar Outpost of Murugan’s, Chennai
As we entered Murugan Idli Shop, our first thought was whether we’d mistakenly stepped into a college mess hall. You see, there were long rows of tables formed by joining them together.
Including an inner room (that was closed for service during our visit), there are about 50-60 seats at the Besant Nagar outpost of Murugan Idli Shop.
In a resounding testament to the restaurant’s immense popularity, almost all the seats were occupied with people blissfully oblivious to anything but the food in front of them.
The diners looked to be mostly from the South with a small sprinkling of North Indians. There was even a lady from the North-east with a kid who placed her order in Tamil!
Luckily, we quickly found a corner with seats that had just been vacated.
The lazy bozos at Murugan Idli Shop did not care to clean the table or take down our order. They showed no inclination of doing so until we got hold of one of them and asked them to do it. And when they did it, it was accomplished so indifferently and inadequately.
Cheapo yet Clever Way of Serving Food & Water
We were excited to see plantain leaves being used to serve the food, transporting us into a fond reverie of childhood days in our native towns.
As we were on our plantain-leaves nostalgia trip, our eyes fell upon an unusual item that was similar to water ‘tumblers’ (as water-glasses are known in Tamil Nadu) but with holes in its body making it incapable of holding any water.
Tricky Tumblers and Plantain Leaves
Soon we realized the ‘implementation’ of the Murugan ‘tumbler’ methodology. We noticed that they had put disposable water cups into the holed tumblers.
Those containers were meant to provide you with a better grip to hold the water-filled disposable cups and trick you with the feel of drinking from the ‘tumbler’ itself.
Well, we haven’t encountered such a novel way of serving water anywhere else.
Murugan Idlis – Delicate Darlings
Idlis occupy pride of place in the Tamils’ dietary pantheon and are a regular sight at breakfast and/or dinner.
We’ve had Idlis of all kinds in our life time. Some so soft and light that they need paperweights to keep ‘em from flying. Others so hard that they could easily double as paperweights or be used in lieu of jelly-stones in road construction projects.
Thankfully, we did not end up with the latter variety at Murugan Idli Shop.
Murugan Idlis – Ah, Yummy Delicate Darlings
It took a little over five minutes for our Idlis to arrive.
The dazzling Idlis at Murugan Idli Shop came accompanied by pretty bridesmaids in the form of various Chutneys and Sambar.
Boy, these Idlis are yummy, soft, tasty and such delicate darlings.
Guys, we ain’t had nothing like these Idlis nowhere.
The French expression nonpareil describes Murugan’s Idlis perfectly. Continue reading »
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