Steaming white pillow-like idlis dipped in hot, tangy sambar; crunchy masala vadas; and fragrant orange-yellow biryani are not monuments or tourist sites, yet they have become a permanent fixture in the itinerary of visitors to the city.
Increasingly, people visiting the city for work or tourism have been taking time out to pay homage to some of the iconic restaurants in the city and sampling Chennai’s famous delicacies. Restaurants with food that was earlier considered unsafe, or too spicy, have now become important destinations.
Mark Bloom from Chicago, the U.S., has been coming to the city regularly for the past couple of years on work.
“Earlier, people would warn me to stay away from the food because it was too spicy and may not be clean. Then, one of my Indian friends brought some food home from Murugan Idly Shop, and I was fine the next day. Since then, I have made it a point to discover a new place every time I come,” he said, adding that he was wary of uncooked food like chutneys.
Ratna Café, Murugan Idli, Buharis, Rayar Mess and even Velu Military have all been seeing their fair share of foreign faces.
Hoteliers say that guests to their hotels often insist on at least one meal outside the hotel, even if they are in a resort. Shabin Sarvotham, Senior General Manager, GRT Grand says, even Japanes and Scandinavian tourists, who are completely unused to spicy food, insist on trying a couple of dishes.
“Most of them have already done their research on Trip Advisor or Lonely Planet before they come to us for recommendations of food,” he says. “While we still continue to have our regular visitors, foreigners come in to taste our food almost every day. While many of them are from the U.S., we see our fair share of Japanese and other Asian tourists,” Somu from Ratna Café says. He adds that many of them have already looked up the restaurant on some websites since they ask for the café’s famous sambar.
Other restaurants, too, say they have seen an increase in the number of foreign visitors in the last couple of years. Nawab Buhari, Managing Director of Buhari, Mount Road, says most of their foreign visitors come in from France, Germany and Russia.
“Many ask us to make the food less spicy, and our biryani and Jamani chicken gravy are the most popular,” he said.
Even tour organisers say that there has been an increased awareness of south Indian cuisine, with food being one of the main attractions of Chennai. “Hygiene is still a big concern for many, and we find that most of our guests avoid uncooked food here if they can help it. Smaller restaurants and street-food carts should ideally be big attractions, but they need to improve hygiene standards,” Vijay Prabhat Kamalakara from Storytrails India Private Ltd. says.
People visiting Chennai
for work or tourism
have been taking time out
to sample the city’s
famous delicacies
