Prems Grama Bhojanam - Adyar

Prems - Grama Bhojanam

19/90, Sardar Patel Road,Kasturibai Nagar, Adyar, Beside GRT, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600020

Ambiance: Is tucked away inside a compound adjacent to GRT jewllers. A flight of stairs to climb and you see a big hoarding with pics of the things you could order. Once you walk in, you get the feeling of being inside a "kudil" hut esp. with the wall colors and decoratives. That elusive "kolam/rangoli" on the walls leaves and some folk melody playing (flute) not there leaves me dissatisfied even after my 4th visit here. There is a sample of all the millets used in small boxes at the billing counter. Everything looks simple and neat and is well maintained over the year of its existence by the whole family of NSK Sir.

 

There is no parking unless you are on a two-wheeler. Find parking in the by-lanes or on the main road if available.

Water needs a special mention as it tastes exactly like the temple "theertham". So you get that divine feel and the ingredients (beetle leaf, edible camphor, tulsi, cardamom) helps you in many ways including digestion.

Food: The concept of health food scares the hell out of people and we have still not gotten used to these as they are long forgotten even in the villages these days. But millets are rich in fibre, minerals, micro nutrients and less on the GI than our traditional cereals of rice and wheat (ideal for diabetics and health conscious). To bring back those hidden treasures and run it as a resto in a prime location successfully is no mean feat. People are slowly realizing its value and patronizing it and make it a regular part of their diet is a welcome sign. If the place is relatively free and if you spot NSK sir around, he will be more than happy to fill-in a lot of details
PS: These millets need very less water compared to regular cereals to grow and many governments esp. telengana is providing a lot of benefits to farmers to grow the same

Millet Rasam sadam - Sampler, but tasted very good, so much so that I had to point out to my wife how rasam is to be made. I keep teasing her rasam to be "hot water" all the time.

Tumkur Thatte idli 50/- : Soft melt-in-the-mouth idli (1/2 in the pic) is the signature dish at this resto. We Chennai-ites traditionally go for idli first, then the other items like (dosa, poori, pongal etc). So the trend is pretty much the same here 

 Oothampam : The three taste oothappams were yumm with the tomato-kollu (horse gram) chutney, the peanut chutney and delish sambhar. There was also spicy aromatic channa for the rotis in the four-dish container
Kuzhi paniyaram (hot): 5 pieces per plate and we got two complimentary as he realized we couldn't finish another plate. 






 





Davanegere benne dosa: and the highlight was the Davanegere benne dosa. He specially topped it with a dollop of butter to make it yummilicious
Red rice dosa: Next up the Dosa made with red rice and absolutely no oil, wafer thin and crisp melted in the mouth in no time along with the chutneys and sambar

 

Service: Was prompt, responsive and friendly. The epitome of  service, NSK himself was at the table suggesting things to have and carefully deciding the portions so we can eat the max items and not feel stuffed.  So more of 1 by 2 of everything helped us go through many items on the menu

Dessert: A complimentary asoka halwa was mild in sweetness that comes from the use of country palm sugar and the ghee just right satiated the sweet-toothed me

The total bill was 622/- and everyone was filled to the brim. Happy tummies and we bi-adieu to the village inside the city

If NSKrshnan was for comedy.... NSKrishnamurthy is for food (village food, healthy food, homely food, millet food). If you know him too well, you will also see the comic side of him 

Hail the wellage caterers catering the village concept food from around South India!