As soon as I placed the order for a ‘combo’, my breakfast was handed to me on a steel plate. At ₹50, it is a steal. There is a mini masala dosa, one idli, one vada, a generous serving of upma and kesari, sambar, two varieties of chutney and one piping hot tea.
No wonder The Kanchipuram Café, a no-frills outlet on the busy Vazhuthacaud-Jagathy Road, is the latest go-to-place in Thiruvananthapuram.
Also read: In search of Kancheepuram idli
The scarcely one-month-old place is a gourmet’s heaven if you are vegetarian and enjoy South Indian food.
The Kanchipuram Café in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: Saraswathy Nagarajan
The customers at 8am include families with school-going children, techies, autorickshaw drivers, professionals in a hurry and homemakers. A notice written on a board declares that there are no takeaways in the morning for the ‘combos’. Food aggregators do not yet have this place on their list. So one has to go there to enjoy their breakfast menu.
If the combo does not appeal to you, there is the ghee-soaked podi idlis and Ramasseri idli. There are a variety of paper-thin, golden brown dosas on offer — ghee roast, masala dosa, paneer masala dosa butter masala dosa and plain dosa. The aroma of ghee and dosa is hard to resist. Hot onion bajjis, fresh from the wok, tempts many to buy them, deep fried to a crisp.
New concept for foodies
Darshinis serving hot-from-the-stove South Indian food from corner shops and tiny outlets, popular in Bengaluru, are new to Thiruvananthapuram.
The Kanchipuram Café introduces the concept in a prime locality, and customers are undoubtedly enjoying the bustle and food of the eat-and-get-going outlet.
Now for the flavour checklist. The masala dosa, idli and upma tick all the right boxes. The kesari, with an occasion nugget of cashew and kismis, has the correct amount of sugar to begin the day on a sweet note. The cold vada is disappointing and the tepid sambar, usually served in vegetarian eateries in the city, lacked the fire and zest of the Malayali sambar.
The idlis and podi should gladden the hearts of all idli lovers and the heat kickstarts the palate. A customer, while tucking in idlis drowning in sambar, says she enjoys the idli-sambar the best.
If dosa and idli do not appeal to your taste buds, try the puffed puri and potato masala. Value for money, indeed!
The Kanchipuram Cafe serves poori, different eats such as vada, banana fritters, samosas etc | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
There is fresh tea and coffee for those who want a cup with their breakfast and various other eats such as thayir (curd) vada, pazham pori (banana fritter), samosas and so on.
By around 11am, only tea and deep-fried snacks are served. “In the evening, we again start serving dosas, idlis and vadas. Instead of puri, there is batura and channa on the menu,” says M Radhakrishnan, proprietor of The Kanchipuram Café. A caterer, Radhakrishnan adds that he decided to spread his wings by opening this outlet.
Muthukumar S, co-proprietor of The Kanchipuram Café says their plan was to start a budget-friendly outlet for youngsters. He hopes to widen the lunch menu with rice varieties such as sambar baath and curd rice. The initial plan to start a ‘degree’ coffee outlet was shelved in favour of this café. “By February-end, we will begin serving different kinds of rice. That will also have a combo offer of two kinds of rice. Our dream is to have 70 varieties of rice,” says Muthukumar.
The Kanchipuram Café opens at 7.30am and shuts down at 9pm. The management says the ‘combo’ offer will come to a close on February 14.
Published - February 08, 2024 11:50 am IST
