Chennai | How Anna Nagar turned into a hotspot for food and nightlife in 2024

Anna Nagar's Fifth Avenue transforms into a bustling food street, attracting crowds with diverse culinary offerings and vibrant ambiance

It is 9.30pm at Anna Nagar’s Fifth Avenue and a serpentine line of at least 80 gourmands has been shoo-ing mosquitoes while waiting patiently with buckets and hot packs. A security personnel has been trying to control the crowds, and redirect potential customers parking cars and bikes. Anytime now, the owner of Kabali’s Thai Ilai Biryani, will take the lids off two deep, fragrant cauldrons full of biryani. A bubbling wok of oil will fry their freshly-prepared chicken 65. People will either go home with parcels, or stand along the edge of the road and delve into a hot plate of biryani after the long wait. . 

“It is common for us to have as many people waiting in line everyday. The cart begins serving food around 9pm and goes on till about midnight. When we began one and a half years ago, we made smaller quantities. Now , we make 90 kilograms of biryani over the weekend. Sometimes, fights have broken out here [for the biryani],” says Aravindan, a member of the team manning this tempo traveller-turned-food cart. 

Thai Ilai Biryani is one of Anna Nagar’s many success stories.

This year, Anna Nagar’s personality has shifted from that of a residential haven to a culinary destination, and more recently, a favoured weekend rendezvous spot for the city’s youth. From IT professionals in Thoraipakkam to young residents from Ashok Nagar, the locality sees a steady inflow of city dwellers who gravitate towards a nightlife, sans alcohol and parties, populated with a large variety of food. 

The night is young 

Take a metro ride to Anna Nagar Tower station over the weekend, and find yourself flanked by two bustling streets: Fifth Avenue, and 10th Main Road, Second Avenue. These streets house many among Chennai’s aspiring restaurateurs and their entrepreneurial dreams atop food carts, and car bonnets. .

While Fifth Avenue is dotted by carts that sell biryani, freshly-made chicken 65 and even the unique chicken semiya and Nanjil payasam, broken occasionally by smaller carts that sell various kinds of buns, the parallel street is dominated by desserts. 10th Main Road is a colourful strip of stalls that whip up everything from a kulukki sarbath to cheesecakes, popsicles and even fresh pineapple slices doused in a barbeque sauce.