At a time when eating out was unthinkable, two brothers, one of them a purohit from Palghat, came up with the idea of establishing a hotel.
R.N. Sivrama Pattar and Sesha Iyer launched Sri Rama Bhavan and Lodging with uncanny business acumen in 1933. Two years later, Pattar’s son, Narayanaswami alias R.S.N Iyer, joined the business, giving up a job in the Corporation of Chennai, just a day after his appointment there.
Sri Rama Bhavan was established
The outlet was shifted to Thambu Chetty Street
The eater's signature coconut chutney,'Hitler chutni' was introduced
It won the rolling shield for 'best-kept hotel in Madras'
The Chennai Hotels Association honour was conferred on it for being one of the oldest hotels in city
In Honour of its founder, Sesha Iyer, instant food products under the brand 'DhideereX' was laundched. The jackfruit payasam product, especially, has been a success story
Known among its loyalists for its coconut chutney, Sri Rama Bhavan has seen several ups and downs and moved a couple of times before dropping anchor in Thambu Street (then known as Thambu Chetty Street). In 1942, during World War II, when the city was evacuated fearing bombardment, R.S.N. Iyer revived the business and six years later, the hotel moved to its current premises. At a time when rice was rationed, the hotel used maize to prepare idli.
The family-run enterprise has survived despite the mushrooming restaurant chains. A third-generation entrepreneur, R.G. Ananthanarayanan, a chartered accountant by training who joined his father to run the business in the 1980s, says a chance meeting with some loyal customers during a train journey with his newly-wed wife to Madurai was a turning point in his life.
Notwithstanding innovations and the modernisation of its kitchen, the hotel’s recent effort to stay open on Sundays received lukewarm response. “That is when we realised that the hotel predominantly serves office-goers,” he says, adding, “Our speciality is the coconut chutney, milagu rasam and coffee. We maintain quality despite odds.”
Kannadasan has mentioned the hotel in Arthamulla Hindu Madham , recalling that his doctor, also a resident of the locality where the hotel is situated, had actually prescribed that he drink the rasam served by the hotel. “We continue to serve the dish. The paste comes from our sister concern, Sri Ganeshram’s 777,” says Ananthanarayanan’s son, S. Balaji, who is now assisting his father in the business.
The hotel has over 50 rooms which are preferred for overnight stay by those who come to the city on business or by families that come here for medical treatment.