Thought the petite thattil kutti dosa shops are vanishing from your eye? The city may boast of the best non-vegetarian variety basket, but definitely who would turn down the offer of a hot piping dosa with thick coconut chutney?
At a time when non-vegetarian restaurants are occupying every nook and corner of the city, you will be more than surprised to see the crowd at Pillai’s Snacks in the city. Located at Railway Station Link Road, the eatery has been in full fledge ever since it’s launch 72 years ago.
The best part of this humble eating place is that you can relish ethnic South Indian delicacies, including hot piping dosas, idlis, vadas and a potpourri of chutneys at any time of the day. ‘’
We don’t have a huge variety palette at our place. Dosas, idli, puttu, poori etc still remain our specialities. But our customer flow has not reduced till date,” say Manoharan Pillai and his wife Sheeja, who take care of the eatery at present. The day at Pillai’s Snacks starts every day at 2 am. “By 4 am, everything will be set. All what is needed next is preparing the dosas according to the customers’ order,” says Sheeja who helps the cooks in her kitchen.”
Order a dosa set or a plate of idli and there follows a list of accompanying chutneys along with it. Coconut thick chutney, katti chutney, tomato chutney and mulaku chutney are just a few ones in the list. Kutti dosa has a great demand at the place.
“When the shop was established decades ago, the same menu pattern was followed. Even at a time when you get readymade dosa and idli batter and puttu powder at your shop next door, we haven’t changed from our traditional method of preparing them in our kitchen.”
“Sipping hot tea or coffee with these spicy dosas or idlies provides you an unforgettable eating experience. What is more attractive is that the prices here are cheap. It is “great satisfaction for less money,” says a regular client at the eatery.
Not differently, the owners put in that even after the shop gets ready to shut down at 8 in the night, people come asking for kutti dosas or idlis. “Till date we have never had to throw away food. The shop opens in the early hours of the day and by the time we close, we would have only empty vessels to wash. Refrigeration is done very often, but only for batter,” she adds. If you believe ambience is equally important to eat out, the Pillai couple just rules out this stand. “We believe where there is good food, the crowd will just flock in. This has been the secret recipe of our success,” they say.