Lunch at Suvaii - a Pandyan legacy !

I had a day off from work today and so decided to give my wife a break from cooking. We had recently seen a video of a tamil chettinad cusine restaurant in Bengaluru named 'suvaii' on YouTube and were wanting to check it out. We thought today is the right day to try out their lunch menu. 

Suvaii - 'a Pandyan legacy' as its called, is located in Indiranagar, an area know for food in Bengaluru. Suvaii in Tamil literally means taste. The Pandyas were the medival Tamil empire who ruled the south with Madurai as their capital. So it was obvious that the owner of this restaurant must also be from my hometown Madurai. 

The restaurant's interior design was well done to reflect the traditional architecture of the Madurai Chettinad region. The use of Aathangudi tiles for the flooring and wooden pillars gave it an authentic vernacular feel. The ceiling was beautifully done with exquisite kolam art. The walls had framed art depicting the essence of Madurai like the Jallikattu, Meenakshi temple and other cultural scenes. Even the furniture and lighting complimented the Madurai concept beautifully. 

Temple chariot

Meenakshi temple corridor

Marudhu brothers

The menu was exhaustive with items that reminded me of my hometown...We started with the mutton bone soup. The soup was fiery red hot and if you are not used to hot spicy food this is not the place for you! 

Mutton bone soup

For the main course I went for the mutton Biriyani. I was told the mutton comes directly from Madurai. It was cooked with the flavorful seeraga samba rice and is one of the better Biriyanis I had tasted in Bengaluru. The meat was flavorful and tender and was accompanied by a boiled egg. The onion raitha was rather disappointingly dry and I had to order extra curd to make it up. They definitely have to improve their raitha !

Mutton Biriyani on banana leaf

My wife went for their famous non vegetarian mini meals. It came with an assortment of dishes including mutton biriyani, ghee rice, curd rice, parota, chicken 65 and payasam. For the sides we ordered mutton chukka, meat balls and karandi omelette. We were very happy with all our menu choices and hoped to come again to try some more of their authentic dishes next time!

the non -veg mini meals

Mutton chukka and meat balls

Chicken 65

Karandi omelette

We had nannari sharbet drink and Madurai's famous jigarthanda for dessert. Overall a very spicy hot and satisfactory experience. As on date this restaurant to me is the closest to the taste of Madurai that you can find in Bengaluru!

Sharbet and jigarthanda

Selecting the dishes