Bengaluru’s benne dosas and Chennai’s podi dosas co-star on the Tamarind Tales menu

Chennai’s newest restaurant Tamarind Tales has a menu that draws from all the southern states, serving up buttery benne dosas, idlies, idiappams and puttu, all alongside filter coffee

What constitutes a tiffin dilemma? 

This is something Tamarind Tales, Chennai’s newest restaurant that throws open its doors on Monday, hopes to answer. “What if I am craving a benne dosa, a podi dosa and some puttu?  I would rather not head to three different places,” says Yeshvin Mathew. 

Having run hotels and restaurants in Ooty, Kiran Anandamurthy and Sonakshi Krishnamurthy worked with Yeshvin, who runs Grub Food Company to bring the best of what South Indian vegetarian cuisine has to offer. at their new Chennai venture. “We did not want an extensive menu, but were keen on bringing some favourite main offerings at a good price point,” Kiran says. When we walk into their space, the kitchen is fully in action, unbothered by the pre-launch chaos outside. There are dosas being plated, cups of steaming hot coffee being readied, and mini idlis being doused in sambar. The chefs are from Mandya in Karnataka, we are told. 

Chennai might be blazing hot in the afternoons, but this does not stop us from reaching for their filter coffee right off the bat and it does not disappoint. Strong, hot and with just the right amount of sugar, we are off to a promising start. 

We sample the dosa next. The open benne dosa is served here with a scoop of potato masala and coconut chutney as well as a dollop of butter. Most places tend to go overboard with the butter but here, the dosa is crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and surprisingly prudent with the grease. For the spice fiends, the pesarettu that comes lined with a spicy ginger chutney should be your pick. The mini idlis served soaked in sambar disappoints; the idlis need to be spongier, so they soak up sambar. 

Our next round of mini idlis come tossed in a signature chilli garlic crunchy mix, something that we are told the kitchen at Tamarind Tales specially worked on. This crunchy mix has been used to whip up another dish we immensely enjoy, a chilli garlic rice that feels like the equivalent of having a spicy avakkai rice on the menu. This Pan-Asian influenced dish is an unexpectedly pleasant surprise at a place that promises great tiffin. 

With most of the items on the menu being dishes ideal for its self-service setup, Tamarind Tales also has meals during lunch. There are long high tables facing the open kitchen, as well as a good number of tables arranged in tastefully wallpapered rooms for diners who want to have a more leisurely meal. “We also plan to have a small cafe outside the restaurant where people can either drive in and have a coffee and a snack, or can take them to go as well,” Yeshvin says. The outdoor cafe, which will stay open later into the night will have jam and butter buns, samosas, puffs, bajjis and beverages.