For people visiting the Poompuhar showroom on Anna Salai, there is more than just traditional artefacts and handicrafts up for sale. Tucked away at the back is a café that has been serving traditional delicacies for over a month now.
The ‘Craft Café’, an initiative of the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd, popularly known as Poompuhar, and Sanskriti, a Chennai-based store, serve a mix of millet-based dishes and popular South Indian delicacies.
“The showroom sees a good number of tourists as well as visitors who like to take their time and browse through the handicrafts on display and make their purchases. While we initially made arrangements to serve refreshments for them a few months back, we realised then that there was empty space which could be used for a small café,” said Santhosh Babu, Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd. “A café in Mahabalipuram is being conceptualised as a space which can also host small events and for tourists to lounge at, apart from having a similar menu of traditional delicacies,” Mr Santhosh added.
Mital Surendra from Sanskriti, who runs the café, said that they had conceptualised the menu keeping in mind traditional dishes which were completely free of preservatives or artificial additives.
