Heard so much about Viswanathan Chettinadu Hotel in food circles, never really had an opportunity to visit it. A friend and I happened to find ourselves in the vicinity of Chennai Citi Center around lunch time and I immediately decided this was where we were going to have lunch, glad we did!
There are two branches of the restaurant located diagonally opposite to each other. One was an AC restaurant, while the other one was a basic non-AC place. Assuming that the AC restaurant would be dimly lit, perhaps not good enough for clicking pictures, we stepped into the non-AC place. It was a simple no-frills place.
We decided to have meals and order some side-dish to go with it. Ordered two meals, 2 Egg Omelettes, 1 Sankara Meen Fry (Red Snapper Fish Fry) and 1 Chettinadu Chicken. To start with, the size of the plantain leaf was a delight. What followed was Keerai and Poriyal along with a limited portion of rice. They served a variety of non-veg gravies in bowls that we could help orselves with – Karuvaattu Kozhambu (Dried Fish gravy), Eraa Kozhambu (Prawns gravy), Mutton Chops gravy, Nandu kozhambu (Crab gravy). The quantity of rice was actually sufficient for a good eater. Me being a limited non-veg eater, tried just the chicken gravy and mutton chops gravy. Chicken gravy was good, while the mutton gravy could have had a little more salt in it. Friend tried all the gravies and seemed to like them. Sankara Meen fry was a full fish and friend liked it. He definitely confirmed that it tasted fresh. Chettinadu Chicken was good, soft well-cooked chicken with a nice taste from the onions and masala around it. We got a Dodla curd cup when we asked for curd.
Overall, a wonderful lunch and the price was even better to hear. A meals without any extra side orders with all non-veg gravies (without pieces of course) will cost you 80 rupees, how cool is that! We paid exactly 500 in all, 160 for two meals, 120 for Sankara Fish Fry, 180 for Chettinadu Chicken and 40 for two omelettes. I would say it was absolutely worth it!
If you’re in and around this place, it is worth a try for sure. If you’re particular about ambience, I’m assuming the AC restaurant should help, though I didn’t see it personally!
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