Ratna Café in Triplicane is a unique restaurant - patrons come mainly for the side dish, sambar than for the main dish – idli. From the time it was started in 1948, its trump card has been its sambhar-soaked idli.
Ratna Cafe was established in Triplicane
Rajendra Gupta bought the hotel from his uncle, Triloknath Gupta
Idli, vada, dosa
This south Indian restaurant was founded by Triloknath Gupta, a native of Uttar Pradesh.
Being a native of Uttar Pradesh did not stop Triloknath Gupta from starting a chain of south Indian restaurants of which Ratna Café is the sole survivor. Rajendra Gupta points out that even this famous restaurant would have faded away when Triloknath Gupta, who was suffering from serious health problems, decided to close the hotel. “In 2002, when my uncle proposed to sell the restaurant, I decided to purchase it,” says Mr. Rajendra Gupta who was running the Picnic Hotel near Ripon Building.
The secret behind the restaurant is not only the recipe, but also having separate cooks for different dishes. While always eager to talk about the idli-sambhar combo, Mr. Rajendra Gupta says it is wrong to leave out the other dishes like parotta, dosas and the filter coffee, which are also much in demand.
After the takeover, Mr. Rajendra Gupta went about modernising the wood-fire kitchen while retaining the taste of the traditional dishes. He says: “At first, there was resistance from the cooks who claimed they would not be able to get the same taste, but the transformation to smoke-free and hygienic kitchen helped us get positive reviews from customers.”