If you are in Chennai… do this!

The article below is by my friend Priya Subramanian. Some of her experiences in Chennai and places to visit. Very useful for people wanting to know more places they can shop, eat out etc. Enjoy!

Last time while I was at Chennai, I totally went nuts on eating out, shopping and hanging out with my best-est-est friends. Many of my friends and family here in the US have been asking me for info on all the ‘wheres’, so I just thought I’d pen it here rather than sending individual emails.

Restaurants:

~ Cream Centre (near Chennai Kaliappa/Billroth Hospital) – for awesome parathas and chaats
~ Sigri (in Quality Inn, Aruna) – for yummee starters, dum Biryanis etc
~ Tangerine Restaurant (Alwarpet) – for spicy Paneer Kababs
~ Ajnabhi Mithai Ghar (Egmore Fountain Plaza) – for Chaat
~ Shree Mithai (Spencers or Chetpet) – for Channa Baturas, pedas, kathlis, bengali sweets etc
~ Copper Chimney (near Music Academy) – just about everything’s good!
~ Annalakshmi (Mount Road) – for exotic juices and thaalis! Lovely ambience too!!
~ Dakshin (Park Sheraton) – for Aapams and stew
~ GRT Grand Days and Mathsya – good buffets (at Mathsya, kids eat for free)

Of course, there’s the usual Vrindavan, Murugan Idli shop (yummee kutty vengaya uthappams), Saravana Bhavan, Gangotree, Mansukh etc. Don’t forget to grab Pan Kajur at Mansukh for a scrumptious post-meal experience!! Coffee Day at Kasturba Nagar houses delectable veggie tikka sandwiches.

Clothes:

This designer’s name is Mrs.Bhuvana Ramanan and she runs an ethnic boutique, ‘Vasthara’ in Thiruvanmiyur. Her numbers are:
9940388815
9790977773
She pretty much does everything from salwars to kurtas to kurtis to sarees to just dupattas etc etc and has her own fabric. I totally fell in love with every inch of clothing she designed for me this time.

Trinkets and other paraphernalia:

~ Seventh Sense (Mrs. Kanchana Ganesh) – you get really neat terracotta sets and gifts here.
~ Sundari Silks (t.nagar) – my favorites for ethnic pavadais for kids, ethnic gifts, jewellery, ethnic skirts, tops, podavais etc.
~ Golu Bommais – there is this great guy in Saidapet who makes his own bommais and packs them up really nicely for shipping to the US. His bommais have really sharp features and his sets are quite different/novel. I will post his number soon..
~ Cane and Bamboo (Ethiraj salai, Egmore) – http://www.caneandbamboo.in/

Temples:

~ There is a beautiful Shirdi Sai Baba temple at Injambakkam, Chennai (near Prarthana open air theatre). Try to visit if you can.
~ Shri Muralidhara Swamiji’s ashram at Manimangalam/Malaipattu graamam (just past thambaram) houses a lovely Gurukulam/Veda Paatashala/Goshaala and its such a pleasant retreat of sorts for any visitor.

Movie Theatres:

~ INOX in Chennai City Center and Sathyam Theatres are my favorites for a phenomenal audio/video and overall experience. Oh and they both have online booking and home delivery of tickets too!

I would really encourage y’all to add more to my list above.

I wish you an enjoyable trip to the glamorous and one and only Singaara Chennai!!