MADURAI SIMMAKKAL KONAR MESS - EGMORE

SIMMAKKAL KONAR MESS

No. 29, Whannels Road, Ansari Estate, Egmore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The mood was set to try some quick non-veg dinner after having read a recent post by a fellow blogger about Konar Mess Egmore

Location: The restaurant is the ground floor of Park Plaza Hotel, Egmore diagonally opposite to Albert Theater on the left and TASMAC on the right (getting the drift? yes...) 

At around 8:00 pm, We had our quick car-o-bar session and got parking promptly in the front yard. Walked into a near empty restaurant with only a few customers. 

Ambience: The restaurant had a fresh vibrant look with posters of pencil art sketches of Madurai's Temples, popular spots and its details. Tables were clean and new (its only been a month since they started). There is another dining area with sofas and long tables (more suited for big numbers/families). The service staff outnumbered the customers inside.

 

We were seated promptly and menu cards were offered to both. Went through the items and prices and they looked slightly on the higher side. Nevertheless, went about ordering

 

The first item we ordered was idli and ayira meen kozhambu. Idlies were soft and the meen kozhambu was watery in its consistency. We fished out the ayirameens on to our leaves and mashed up up the idlies, toppled some soup onto it, gave it a nice mix and gulped. Was a good start

The kola urundais were tasty that tempted us to order a few more. All the gravies and dishes were served in Areca plates and main dish served in a banana leaf which is the need of the hour to keep it hygienic and no re-use guaranteed. This was a very good decision by the management in these critical covid times.

Next up, we tried the FAMOUS Mutton Kari dosai. Though it looked well roasted and brown on the top (pre-cooked meat topping), the insides of the dosa weren't cooked fully. The batter was still sticky, raw and the egg was goey. The dosa tasted slightly sour.  The moment the service guy saw our faces, he came back to find out if things were ok. We gave him the feedback and he tried to explain that it might be just the egg and I didn't want to argue. Both the naattu kozhi gravy and the regular chicken gravy didn't make any impact on my taste buds.

Next came the muttai botti. There was absolutely no bad smell and tasted fresh and well cleaned. Unfortunately, it tasted very normal and I felt that something was a miss. The spice levels were low too.

Here is where I gave up on the food. I couldn't get myself to click anymore pictures of the parotta or the veechu. Both were very chewy and not crispy/fluffy/soft. We decided to finish off with these and leave the place.

 

When asked for feedback I clearly explained what was a hit and a miss(es) and he understood. He mentioned that all ingredients arrive fresh from Madurai every single day by bus. That is definitely a great effort.

Verdict: I went there with a lot of expectations and was disappointed. Except for the ambience, the bio-degradable serving dishes and attentive service there was not much to write home about. I seriously feel that the MASTER CHEFS OF MADURAI  must have done the initial hand-holding during the launch and left the novices to fend for themselves. This very much shows in all the preparations food-wise

The very next day I had a chance discussion with a close friend of mine (Art Director) and he had the same opinion as mine. He had also given his sincere opinion about the taste to the staff

An experience that cost me dear. I remembered a quip by my Tamizh Aiyya who was totally against students preparing from Konar exam guide 

 Konarai nambinar ponare...