My friend and I had to meet someone in Thuraipakkam and by the time the meeting concluded, it was almost lunch time. We decided to have lunch somewhere in the vicinity.
Back of my mind, in spite of being very hungry, I wanted to try some nice place. The first place that came to my mind was Kalpana Andhra Mess, close to Accenture in Sholinganallur. I must have eaten there umpteen number of times when I worked in Accenture. Did not mind the drive, we proceeded all the way and spotted the place on the opposite side of the road. In a bid to make a U-turn, we went a little further when I spotted this restaurant ‘Gongura’ ! I have heard from a few that the food is good here. So decided to eat here instead.
As we walked in around 14:30hrs, the place was jam-packed, literally full! Lucky to get a place right away, we settled down. It was a nice feeling to read Telugu in the menu after a long time 🙂
We ordered two Spl. Gongura Non-vegetarian meals, a Gongura chicken curry, and an Omelette each. Since Omelette wasn’t available, ordered a Podimas(Burji) instead. It took about ten minutes and slowly the waiter came and apologised that the soup was not available, and if he can serve the meals. Being very hungry, we loved the idea 🙂 Then came the Thali, with accompaniments in small bowls along the circumference of the plate. No non-veg gravies to be seen! Then the waiter assured us that it will follow.
Started with the sabudana(sago) payasam, it was tasty. The Majjiga-pulusu (Mor-Kozhambu) was good. There is always this ‘fry-anything-under-the-sun’ poriyal in any Andhra mess or a restaurant 😉 Couldn’t make out what it was, but it was tasty ! ‘Gongura Chicken’ was good, and it was not just the name of the restaurant this time, but the Gongura leaf itself in the preparation. In the mean time, chicken gravy was served. It was very tasty and together with the egg podimas, it tasted yummy! The slit green chillies in the podimas almost showed us a glimpse of Andhra 😉 Almost stuffed, just tasted very little of the rest of the items for a complete picture of the lunch. Tomato Pappu was good, Kandha gadda pulusu i.e Puli Kozhambu made of yam was slightly sweet, but very tasty. Rasam was good. Sambhar was watery and the only average item in the meal. While we were focussing on this, to our surprise, Neththili fry with a boiled egg was served. Did not know this was also included in the meal. Passed on the Neththili to my friend and I ate the egg. My friend liked the Neththili Fry. Curds was good, but was more like the store-bought one, creamy and not firm. Nothing to complain though! Had it with the ‘green chilli chutney’ on the table, and it was awesome!
Overall a very tasty meal, and truly an Andhra meal. Unlike many places that serve the normal South-Indian Thali with just the paruppu podi and gongura and call it an Andhra Meal, this tasted pretty different and authentic. A nice place for the IT Folks on OMR and no surprise that people were waiting in batches when we came out.
I would certainly recommend this place to friends !
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