Madurai Musings A City Where Small Eateries Are a Big Draw. J. Chacko My first visit to Madurai, Tamil Nadu was in 1980. It is one of the oldest cities of India with a great historical past and with many legends associated with it. The famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple makes it a great pilgrim and tourist centre. There are other historical sites like the massive Tirumalai Nayakar Palace worth seeing. My brief visit in 1980 was essentially to see a relative. After a round of the City, we dropped in at a small restaurant, just outside the Tirumalai Nayakar Palace for some coffee and snacks. I do not even remember the name of this eatery, but the Masala Dosathere was the best we ever had anywhere. Since we were on a very brief visit, we had no chance to try any other outside food. My next visit to this City was after a long gap of 19 years in 1999 and thereafter till 2004 I used to visit Madurai once in a while, on official work. It was during this period that I came to know about the legendary small eateries of Madurai dishing out heavenly food. The Murugan Idly shop, Konar Mess, Arulandam Mess, Prema Vilas Halwa shop etc. are legends in their own rights. People are ready to wait patiently for their turn to get a serving in any of these places. Then there are numerous small shops selling excellent decoction coffee, tea and snacks all over the city. There was one shop which people seek out for the coffee. Crowds would be waiting for their turn in front of all these joints. Konar Mess has nothing to do with Konark in Orissa. Konar seems to be a caste in Tamil Nadu and hence the name. They are open only in the evenings and that too by 1930 hours. Located in a congested area in the City, the shop, specialising in non-vegetarian snacks, is very small with limited seating capacity. My first encounter with the food culture of Madurai started here. I was shocked by the place and the surroundings when my colleagues took me there. As soon as our car reached there a person came and took orders. I was in for another surprise when told that the food would be eaten standing on the road or sitting in the car! As I was debating in my mind whether I made the right decision to come to this place, the first lot of the items arrived- idiyappam and chicken. It was simply out of this world. As I was eating, I noticed that limousines were parked here and there in the vicinity and the bearers were carrying items to all these vehicles. The next item was mutton dosa, another superb dish cooked toperfection. My friends then told me that all the high and mighty of Madurai who enjoy non-vegetarian food, are regulars to this place. As I was keen to know more about the place, I went near the shop and found that the owners virtually operate from the foot path in front of the shop. At the entrance to the shop itself the cooking takes place. They have a limited number of items besides what I had and all these are gobbled up by their eager clients before they close shop late in the night. Murugan Idly Shop is a vegetarian joint and they specialise in idly, dosa and such other items. Acclaimed for their high quality, it is another very popular joint. They have now branches in Chennai also where again people have to wait patiently to get in. Arulanandam Mess is only for lunch. They also serve excellent non-vegetarian stuff. They also opened a branch in Chennai, I was told. Prema Vilas is another place whose Halwa is legendary. This is yet another small place where one can always see a lot of people waiting to savor their favourite halwa. There are many aspects about these joints worth analysing. All of them have given precedence to substance over style. Their ambience may not be great but what they dish out, is. All of them are very reasonably priced. Their food never caused even the slightest stomach problem for me which speaks volumes about the quality. They are not greedy to sell all sorts of things all the time as some of the present day “multi-cuisine” outfits attempt. Konar Mess is open only during dinner time and Arulanandam Mess is open only for lunch. They are all quite contended with the business during this limited period with a few specialized items. Since demand always outstrips supply, there is no chance for any stale item getting served even by mistake. Above all, Madurai being a pilgrim and tourist city, there is always a vast floating population and in such situations people are happy with whatever they get. These Madurai joints have not tried to exploit this situation to dish out something worthless with an eye on the quick buck. The last time I was in Madurai was in 2007. What struck me most was that it was the same place I visited 26 years back. No shopping malls had come up there and I could not even find a shop which can even be called a mini super market. The city, the streets and the shops were all the same which saddened me for I thought that the economic developments taking place elsewhere in the nation are giving a go by to this great city. It even intrigued me because the city is dominated by Chettiars and Nadars, two of the most enterprising and prosperous communities of our country. I do not know how the City looks now. I had a round of these food joints in 2007 also and they were the same, which was a veryhappy feeling. My prayer was that even when Madurai catches up with the rest of the country at some future date with swanky shopping malls, wide roads, giant super markets et al, Konar Mess, Murugan Idly Shop, Arulandam Mess, Prema Vilas Halwa and the numerous other such joints should continue to serve such superb fare at reasonable rates.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 11:20:22 +0000
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