Living in Madras, and not savouring the local food, doesn't gel. With so many vegetarian places existing and new ones mushrooming every month, the choice is wide. Do you have your favourite veg food place in the city that you like to visit again and again? The trusted never failing one? DO share with us..
Meanwhile we tried a relatively new place, well it's been a few months it exists. 'Flavours of Lalgudi', it rhyming with Malgudi already makes it interesting. We were invited to experience the food here. It was great to have Mr Deepak, the owner around and hear about his love for food and how he travels a lot, tries different cuisines and gets inspired to have a version of his favourite dishes at his restaurant.
Meanwhile we tried a relatively new place, well it's been a few months it exists. 'Flavours of Lalgudi', it rhyming with Malgudi already makes it interesting. We were invited to experience the food here. It was great to have Mr Deepak, the owner around and hear about his love for food and how he travels a lot, tries different cuisines and gets inspired to have a version of his favourite dishes at his restaurant.
Located on CP Ramaswamy Road, where Papa Johns existed previously, at Alwarpet, the area is pretty good. The only effort one has to take is climb to level 1.
AMBIANCE:
The first thing we notice is the sketches, totally resembling Malgudi days and the music starts playing in mind. Ah, nostalgic, loved that show!
We can't help but enquire about them. Are these inspired by Malgudi Days? Yes, but are the artist's own rendition. Basically it is inspired by the book 'Swami & his friends' which happens in the village called Malgudi. The TV drama of that book was called Malgudi days. Interiors were painted by artist called Karmugil.
Apart from this sketches on all the walls, the 50 seater restaurant is damn simple.
FOOD:
Since we were invited to try their special afternoon feast, we left it on our host to decide what they wanna serve us.
The first choice was the South Indian Virundhu. This is available only for lunch and serves about 18 dishes in just Rs 195/- . I guess now they have an offer where if you order two of these meals, you get the third one free. It is available only on weekdays and for dine in.
It comprises :
Rasam Vadai
Rice
Podi
Ghee
Sambhar
Vathakuzhambu
Morkuzhambu
Kootu
Avial
Sweet
Appalam
Rasam
Poriyal
Second Poriyal
Variety Rice
Pickle
Gonkura Chutney
Ice Cream
We started off with the Rasam Vadai: Bestu start to a meal, the Indian soup way. This rasam is a basic runny rasam, with all the flavours intact. The vadai just adds to the awesomeness. I couldn't stop at this.
Next we took some rice, added the parpu podi with dollops of ghee... it was one of the yummiest podi rice I have eaten recently... no exaggeration there. Couldn't resist having another helping of this magical combination, which I never eat in my routine. The Podi has a bit of Andhra touch, a bit nicely spicy, lesser fried gram, the way I like. They make the podi fresh there, on their own.
Don't reach out for the sambhar and rasam yet, take some rice and add that VathaKuzhambu. This is another dish, I usually am not very fond of. but they seem to have got it just right. Yummy yumm. Everyone seems to love the VathaKuzhambu from here. Looks so fresh and has all its aspects right from being medium spicy, tangy and giving the right kick when mixed with the humble rice.
MorKozhambu : It is like a South Indian kadhi, made with tempering buttermilk. Not bad. Good for summers.
Avial was a bit different in the thali, as it is a Kerala dish. So this is a true South Indian Meal, not just Tamil Nadu. They made a slight twist to the Avial by making it a bit saucy, as the original is usually dry. It was nice actually.
MorKozhambu : It is like a South Indian kadhi, made with tempering buttermilk. Not bad. Good for summers.
Avial was a bit different in the thali, as it is a Kerala dish. So this is a true South Indian Meal, not just Tamil Nadu. They made a slight twist to the Avial by making it a bit saucy, as the original is usually dry. It was nice actually.
Kootu, Sambhar, Variety Rice and Pickle were regular. One poriyal was simple beans and carrot, while the other one made with raw banana was a bit odd. Probably it should have been chopped into small cubes, as the thick round ones are good for frying and not poriyal.
Gonkura Chutney was very very nice. Spicy and right.
The Sweet on the thali was a crushed rice payasam, which I am not too fond of.The thali has an Ice Cream too as part of the meal, that is served after the meal, but we skipped it.
STARTERS:
Yeah, I know I spoke about the meal first and then starters. That is because I wanted the Meal to get it's due.
Paneer Tikka: Marinated with yellow pepper and grilled in Tandoor. This didn't impress me much with its flavours.
Stuffed Mushroom: If you are there, Do Not Miss This. A definite try worthy starter. I can go there just for this. Mushrooms are stuffed with paneer, cheese and chilli mixture, covered with tandoori masala and grilled in Tandoor.
The dish has been inspired by its Italian counterpart, where the stuffing is almost same except paneer and that one is baked.
The FoL version is so so yumm, we couldn't stop with one piece at all.
That Urulai Roast or Potato Roast is another must have. It is Deepak's recipe. It is dry & roasted with addition of their inhouse Idli Podi. It goes so well with the curd rice or VatthaKozhumba Rice. We love having it just like that with the starter.
Bread & peas masala: This has been inspired by a similar dish that used to be served at a place called Dasa Prakash in Chennai, which is closed now. While the bread is plain toasted and kept simple, the peas masala is creamy, rich and tasty. The combination goes very well. It is great as a light lunch or dinner or just a snack when hungry.
Deepak suggested to try some of their Garlic Naan too and Buoy, am glad I did. This one was different and very very nice.
This too has a story behind its recipe. There's a restaurant called green leaf in Aurangabad, where they serve the Garlic Naan like this. Chopped garlic is thrown over the bread with chilli powder, which is then kept in tandoor. So when they take it out, the garlic gets dry and roasted and makes the bread itself very yummy. I could have this as Indian Garlic Bread actually <3
BesiBella Bhaat: This is a Karnataka dish and usually referred to as Sambhar Rice in some places of Tamil Nadu. But in reality this is different. A good Besibella Bhaat is food for soul.
The version here was not that great.
BEVERAGES:
This mango lassi was way too good. Medium consistency with good flavours. Not made with real mangoes, nevertheless nice.
Lemon Juice was quite regular.
How can you not end a hearty South Indian Meal with the signature filter coffee. So did we.
OVERALL:
The unlimited South Indian Virundhu that we had is only for weekday lunch.
Apart from that, they have executive lunch and North Indian thali on the menu. Both of these are available throughout the day, evening and dinner too.
Executive lunch is vathakuzambu rice , bisibelabath, curd rice , 1 Chapathi kurma.
I haven't tried these, hence no comments on them.
I have ordered the limited virundhu for home delivery and the portion was so huge, three of us actually shared it. Along with potato roast, one garlic naan and mango lassi, the home delivery parcel charge came to about Rs 490, which was a good deal.
Well, saying it for a veg place, but there are dishes you should try. The unlimited south indian virundhu is absolute steal. The stuffed mushroom and potato roast are too good.
They have started serving breakfast stuff too with discounts. There seems to be always something interesting at a good deal here.
Great location, only thing is you need to climb one floor above, and I guess no harm in that. Anything for good food!!!
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