Coimbatore: Stairway to culinary heaven
Place: Sree Annapoorna Sree Gowrishankar
Address: People’s Park Race Course, near Collectorate
Time: from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Telephone: 0422- 4392117
The waft of ghee roast welcomes you to Sree Annapoorna Sree Gowrishankar. At eight in the morning, the hotel bustles with lawyers, students and IT workers. But, it’s a brigade of Kanchipuram sari and veshti-clad families from the nearby temples that catches everyone’s attention. They make a beeline for the mini breakfast. Says Divya, “No other place can beat the Annapoorna sambar.” The fare offers you a variety of South Indian breakfast dishes such as upma, pongal, and idli. The ghee- soaked pongal will definitely bring smiles on your face. After that, you will be served a roast. The mini breakfast also comes with a variety of desserts — pineapple kesari, jalebi or wheat halwa. Now, team this delightful fare with a strong filter coffee, you are ready to face the day.
For a wholesome breakfast
Place: Shree Anandhaas
Address: Puliakulam, near Lakshmi Mills Signal
Time: 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Call: 080563-02222
Make sure you are really hungry when you order the special tiffin (Rs.125). Along with regulars such as idly, sambar vadai, roast, pongal, and upma, you also get crispy poori that tastes heavenly with the coconut chutney and the flavourful aloo masala. “We want our customers to sample every dish. On Sundays, we jazz up the menu with items such as vazhapoo pongal, banana/ strawberry kesari, mini adai, mini uthappams and so on,” says Sathesh Srinivasan, the vice president of the hotel.
Those who like their caffeine fix to be sweet and milky, this is your adda. The idli is soft and thin. The podi roast is spicy. Try it with their pickles. And when you feel you are too full, you notice that golden scoop of kesari, glistening with a layer of ghee. Well, there is always space for dessert.
Home food so near
Place: Cream Centre
Address: Thirugnanasambandam Road, Race Course
When: only on Sundays
Phone: 0422- 4348889
The joggers and early risers from Race Course throng this place on Sundays. The reason? Who can say no to a traditional, South Indian breakfast which is so close to their homes? A diner, who has hit 60, has come with her daughter, grand-child and wife. The hotel is a happy place for the family during the weekends. The best thing is, “It feels like food cooked at home. There are no masalas or added flavour. The food does not tamper with my sensitive stomach,” he says.
The unlimited buffet, priced at Rs. 150, includes pooris, upma, vadai, idlis, water melon juice, filter coffee, ghee roast, podi roast, etc. The elaborate fare is available at the banquet hall on the first floor of the Cream Centre complex.
Bhature with a hint of pop culture
Place: Tim’s Bistro
Address: Race Course
Phone: 0422- 3211135
Time: 7 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.
You can have a traditional breakfast in a chilled-out ambience. I dig into Chole Bhature, as I admire the wall poster of Pink Floyd.
It is not bursting with people like other eateries. A slow breeze wafts into the restaurant as I taste the soft elaneer idli, soaked in sambar and mutton kuzhambu. The coconut flavour is subtle and balances out beautifully with the spicy mutton gravy that comes with soft pieces.
For the health conscious, there is a guilt-free fare. Dosas are made of millets and served with five different accompaniments like coconut, coriander, onion and tomato chutney, sambar, garlic curry, and chicken/ mutton/ fish kuzhambu.
Aloo, gobi and paneer parathas are an all-time favourite. And, do not miss the cloud-like appam, served with sweet chicken stew made in coconut milk.
A taste of the Nilgiris
Place: Hotel Coonoor Ramachandra
Address: Peelamedu (opposite Varadharaja Mills)
Time: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Phone: 0422-2593-993
I am at a loss. Hotel Coonoor Ramachandra, a traditional chain specialising in the Nilgiris cuisine since the 60s, offers four breakfast combo packs! But, it’s been a while since I had my breakfast the English way. So, I go for their English Breakfast Combo, consisting of bread, butter, and jam, sausages, eggs and tea/ coffee. The other varieties are mini tiffin, non-veg mini tiffin and Malabar breakfast combo. The meat lovers can team their idli, upma, vada with Nilgiri chicken curry and eggs. All combos are priced between Rs. 80 and Rs. 90. The soft fluffy appams are served with chicken stew.
For early risers
Place: Vs Cafe
Address: Bharathi Park Road, Sai Baba Colony
Time: 9 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.
Phone: 0422-4322206
Vs whips up some yummy continental breakfast on Sundays. Start your day with their egg Florentine, egg Benedict or baked eggs. Apart from this, there is a breakfast set priced at Rs. 200, featuring Danish pastries, muffins, cornflakes, omelette, and fried eggs/ scrambled eggs or coddled eggs. On special orders, the chefs prepare pancakes in peanut butter, chocolate and banana, strawberry and whipped cream, and banana and honey flavours.
These are priced at Rs.150. They plan to add more items into their Sunday breakfast menu, says Vishak Chandrasekaran, the owner. “Though we have regular customers, the culture of eating out for breakfast still needs to pick up in the city. The hotels need to come up with more varieties for that. We are thinking of introducing a buffet. For professionals who head out early for work, the grab-and-go concept will work. We can introduce take-away packs of juices and sandwiches. It will be quite popular. Times are changing. These days, people do not have time to cook meals early in the morning.”
