Madurai Raja Virunthu, Choolaimedu, Chennai South Indian Restaurant

Phone: +91 9840082772
Address: Green Grande Inn ,21/113, Periyar Pathai, Choolaimedu, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Time: 11 AM to 11 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 300
Cuisines: South Indian, Chettinad
Facilities: –

Madurai Raja Virunthu, Choolaimedu, Chennai: Decor

I am the first diner for the day at Madurai Raja Virunthu, which literally translates to Madurai King Meals. I hear strains of Om Namho Narayanaya play on the sound system and agarbatti fragrance surrounds me. I can choose any table, and I decide on one facing the main entrance. Granite topped and straightforward, it has plastic chairs and Formica room dividers. Nothing fancy, not even the yellow ceiling or the grey patterned wallpaper. Steel tumblers and jugs of water in round plates decorate every table. A rectangular gap in the wall lets me witness kitchen action. Tradition meets hygiene as a large banana leaf arrives. I sprinkle it with water and get set…

Madurai Raja Virunthu, Choolaimedu, Chennai: Food

Before the first dish arrives, Neeraj tells me a little story. An event manager, he always wanted to open a restaurant. Through all his travels, he found the food in Madurai the best and decided if ever his dream was realized, his restaurant would serve Madurai food. And here we are, starting off his realized dream with Mutton Chops. These are no ordinary Mutton Chops. The meat comes from Madurai and is cooked to a delicious tenderness over live coals for as long as it takes to literally fall off the thin back of the neck bone. The traditional masalas completely complement the meat.

Crisp from the charcoal flame it is cooked on, the Adivaasi Chicken is boneless and comes on skewers. The country chicken comes with an integral rustic taste, and is enhanced with lemon flavours.

The broiler variety, the Picha Potta Koli could pass off for egg bhurji with shredded chicken. Made in the Madurai style, complete with intact curry leaves, along with shallots, which are strong and sweet and are so typically South Indian.

Using only pepper, curry leaves and shallots, the Nalli Kari has the bone, tender meat and marrow all intact. Point to note: no tomato is used in this dark dish, and the marrow is what everybody loves. For the vegetarians, hope comes in the form of a Madurai-style village Kootu. Very different from the light yellow-green, flecked with mustard tempering and rather bland kootu I am used to, this one has tamarind, country tomato, eggplant and potato simmered in a home-made masala that contains, hold your breath, 40 ingredients. Mixing it up with my white rice, I quite enjoy the flavors, enhanced by the wood-pressed sesame seed oil that it is cooked in. Only one oil is used to cook food here, and the dishes are blended with herbs and made in Theni.

Madurai Raja Virunthu, Choolaimedu, Chennai: Plus & Minus

This is an eat-and-leave place that concentrates strictly on food. I love the fact that they use banana leaves and staff is so well informed.