Karaikudi Restaurant, Chennai

Visited Karaikudi in Besant Nagar after ages and must say the only thing i like here is their Vazhapoo vadai.. 

This time, went with a friend and both of us ordered Fresh lime soda salt.. The waiter served us the drinks, but one sip and I knew something was wrong. Requested the manager to try it, and he graciously replaced them with 2 others which did true justice to the drink we ordered. 

For starters we ordered Vazhapoo vadai. Oh they call it banana flower vada now and when i quizzed about name change the waiter told us "madam, lots of foreigners come, so we change name to something everyone can understand".  And yes, i did notice quite a few foreigners in the place. The vada was yumm, but they brought the green mint chutney only after my friend asked for it. 

For Main, we ordered egg biryani, and my friend ordered chicken varuval. The biryani was good, had 2 eggs tucked away inside. It was served alongside onion raita and a gravy of sorts [not sure what it was, just knew it had onions, curry leaves and a korma sort of taste]. As always, we skipped dessert and headed out to be greeted by gentle rains. 

The bill for 2 of us came to Rs630[approx]. The service here is good, food was alright [3/5].. Most people who come here are looking for a quick lunch, and good non-veg dishes. 

I personally prefer the egg appam, but that is available only post 7pm. They have also introduced a new Special chettinad thali [for lunch]- rice, sambar, rasam, vegetables, curry, koottu, fish gravy, chicken gravy, roti/poori, dessert, papad for Rs129/- 

Service: 4/5

Ambiance: 3/5 [still the same ol run down building]

Price: 4/5

Address:

Annai Velankanni Rd, Besant Nagar  Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Ph: 044 2491 0900

Directions: If you drive down from Malar hospital, take the left, go down the road, all the way to the end, and then turn right at Rajaji Bhavan and drive straight down. It is the corner building

Alternatively, you can go down the road from Bessie beach on Velankanni temple side, and will find it near the left turn.