If you are a die-hard non vegetarian and if you are looking for a place for lunch, this is among the first names that would pop into your mind. A franchise made popular by their unique taste and wide array of dishes (nadakuradhu-oadradhu-thavaradhu, u get everything here ;)) this was one place I was eager to lunch at.
So when the opportunity presented itself a couple of days back, the 6 of us decided to grab it. The TAMBARAM branch of PONNUSAMY HOTEL was sparsely filled, which is very rare around lunch time for a ponnusamy hotel. We should have probably taken this a warning sign but a growling stomach and the franchise’s reputation got the better of us.
The initial orders were placed. Surprisingly, the veg meals cost MORE than the non veg meals! An indication of why this place is a speciality non vegetarian restaurant. Well being a non vegetarian myself, I wasn’t complaining ;D
The one vegetarian in our group though kept groaning throughout the course of the meal about the lack of vegetarian dishes on the menu card. To be quite fair, the choices were limited. In case you are a vegetarian, word of advice- DO NOT go to ponnusamy for breakfast/lunch/dinner.
As for the remaining 5, we had almost the entire menu card to choose from. We ordered mutton biriyani, rotis and non veg meals along with drumstick chicken, chicken gravy and mutton chukka. Half way through the course, after much persuasion from the waiter, we ordered RABBIT FRY. The meals comprised steamed rice and papad with chicken curry, mutton curry, fish curry, rasam and butter milk. To me that was the best thing we had there for the drumstick chicken tasted and smelt bad, raw infact, the mutton chukka was too spicy and the rabbit fry was too rubbery.
FINAL VERDICT:
AMBIENCE: 3/5
quite good. Not over crowded in a way it suffocates and not too empty such that it resembles an under construction building, the crowd and setting was just right.
SERVICE: 3/5
apart from the fact that the waiter/server tried to and eventually, sold the rabbit fry that was apparently prepared last year to us, the service was quite good.
TASTE: 1/5
definitely not your traditional ponnusamy food. Almost all the dishes were found lacking in taste and preparation.
VALUE FOR MONEY: 1.5/5
the food here is definitely not worth the money they charge for it. The rabbit fry cost 550 rs and if your system isn’t quite used to digesting foods prepared the previous year, the total cost may shoot up to a 1000 bucks if you were to count the medical bills too. ;) Fortunately for me, since I get to travel a lot on college tours and eat THAT-WHICH-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED/SMELT/EATEN, my immune system is pretty much used to such crap.
In a nut shell, if you are a non vegetarian and you happen to find yourself at ponnusamy, tambaram by some bad luck (or you ex girlfriend’s curse-'pathini paavam polaadhadhu ;P), have only the non veg meals here. And though rude, kindly ignore the waiter when he is cajoling you into ordering the rabbit fry. ;D
And if you happen to be vegetarian don’t even consider coming here. Unless of course the pretty girl from college decides to stop there for lunch. ;)
Until next time then,
Happy eating,
ADIOS!
