here is no dearth of food options in Chennai. Every passing week, a reel comes up talking about the most unique dish in the city, a new hangout spot in one of the neighbourhoods, a decadent dessert to try out...the options are plenty. As we continue to celebrate the city even after Madras Day, Team CE adds its personal favourites to this unending roster of eateries and why we think this should be on your must visit list.
Beef Biryani at KGN Aarifa Biryani
When you have been a biryani lover your whole life, finding the best places serving it in Chennai becomes a mission rather than an option. So when my friend told me that KGN Aarifa served hot, tenderly cooked beef biryani at 3 am, it was intriguing to check it out. KGN Aarifa is a smallshop in Pulianthope. Beef, chicken, and mutton biryanis take pride of place, alongside kuska, noodles, shawarma, tandoori chicken, and a long list of chicken dishes. The beef biryani brings most of the people there. The hot, fragrant rice with beef is cooked to perfection. At Rs 80 for a half portion, it is also the kind of meal that comforts you more than any midnight snack. Even at 3 am, the shop is packed with people. Whoever told you Chennai has no nightlife definitely needs to take a swerve away from the usual locations.
Blue Diamond from Corner Snacks
In some stores, it’s the sight of a dish being carried to another table that catches our attention. In others, it’s the photographs printed on the menu. But at Corner Snacks in Velachery, it’s the very name of a drink that makes us pause and wonder: Blue Diamond. Two fascinating words put together, and suddenly we are curious. It does look almost blue, and I imagine it’s as refreshing as a diamond might be, if we were to compare its looks to how it tastes! And 100 marks to whoever came up with the name as it gives absolutely nothing away about what to expect. If you’d like to be surprised, stop reading here. But if you’d rather know what’s hiding behind that intriguing name, here it is: ice-cold milk, blackcurrant ice cream, and grape juice, all married together in one tall glass. Priced at Rs 80.
Ice cream at Kavi Cool Bar
Tutti Frutti has a charm of its own and it has always had its moment, especially for those of us who grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s. When four little scoops of differently flavoured ice cream (mostly chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and butterscotch) come in a dessert bowl with tutti frutti on top, it feels like it has come straight out of the candy-coloured dreams of our childhood. So, trade the magnums, and the ice cream places where they beat and chop ice cream so loudly that your ear drums start to ring, for this confectionery. Priced at Rs 50, this dessert from Kavi Cool Bar in Ambattur OT, has been on their menu for over 15 years. If you aren’t a fan of tutti frutti, be sure to ask for a badam fruit mix (Rs 30). It’ll impress you just as much on a hot day.
Chaat items at Shankar Chat Bhandar
Chaat has long been an integral part of Chennai’s diasporic cuisines. While Sowcarpet and George Town remain the city’s epicentre for North Indian delicacies, these flavours have gradually travelled beyond those neighbourhoods, finding new homes, local variations, and loyal patrons across Chennai. One such establishment is Shankar Chat Bhandar, which has been serving Anna Nagar for nearly 35 years — from a time when the neighbourhood was still finding its existing identity. Over the years, the eatery has relocated along the same road, prices have risen, and the space available to peacefully savour a plate of chaat has grown considerably smaller. Yet, Shankar Chat Bhandar has remained a constant in Anna Nagar’s foodscape. Best known for its pani puri and chana samosa, the shop offers a wider thread of chaat favourites as well. Opening as early as 9 or 10 am and remaining bustling until around 10 pm, it is a place where certain favourites disappear almost as quickly as they arrive — particularly their signature gulab jamuns and samosas. Run here to revel in chaat items.
Gobi Manchurian at Vinayak Sweets
Though the orange name board spells ‘Vinayak’s Chats and Sweets’, ask anyone on station road of West Mambalam about the gobi manchurian kadai and you will be pointed — sometimes accompanied — here. Every evening, post 6 pm, the bustling shop that goes by their unofficial name Vinayak Sweets by customers and on Google, sells minimal yet tasty snack options like samosa, chole samosa, bhel puri, gobi manchurian, and noodles. The latter is a newer addition. For more than two decades, customers have been making a beeline to the shop on dot at 6 pm to purchase these delicacies, as they often get over in a jiffy. The gobi manchurian tastes quite different to the Indo-chinese saucy ones we are used to in high-end restaurants in the city. Here, a reminder of cauliflower pakoda is tossed lightly in soya sauce and a hint of tomato ketchup, with a fistfuls of chopped onion and and capsicum. This 200-250 gram delight of serving for Rs 130 can also make for a light dinner. If you are a fan of noodles, the same gobi manchurian will be added and served as gobi noodles too!