Authentic Andhra palate and plates

The festival of joy, sparks and light is here. With it comes all the cleaning and visiting your kin to share sweets and savouries. If you are tired after a long day of shining your tiles or unsure of what to buy as presents to your friends and family, The Amaravathi group of restaurants’ new venture, Andhra Tiffin Room (ATR), has got you covered.

Live counters that cook sumptuous soft idli, crispy dosa, healthy pesarattu, tangy allam chutney and snack counter — Andhra Home Foods — serving delicious snacks including tasty punugulu, spicy chilli bajji, crunchy medhu vada are a few offerings of this newly opened store at Amaravathi Complex on Cathedral Road.

Launched on October 23, the premise was decorated with fresh flowers, green leafy wall paintings, pulli vecha kolam (dotted designs) on plates as part of aesthetics, a few round tables for people to discuss with each bite, in the background musicians sang melodious Tamil music. “The brand focuses mainly on value for money and quality ingredients. We want to become a place where people come in multiple times a week, and it is light on the pocket,” said Nivrithi Reddy, director of Amaravathi restaurants.

The unique feature of this new joint is that there are no refrigerators in the kitchen. The batter is ground twice a day and the chutney is freshly made every two to three hours. “We want to keep it as fresh as possible.

Also when we eat it, it’s a little lighter on the stomach,” she pointed out. Open for business from 7 am to 11 pm, the team hopes to extend the working hours to 1 am. “The other thing we’re trying with is location, which is to bring in a drive-in concept in the mornings on Saturdays and Sundays,” added Nivrithi.

Nina Reddy, joint managing director of Savera Hotel, helps manage ATR. She shared, “We have been in business in Chennai for the last 30 years and we are proud of the way we Andhra people have been accepted by Chennaiites.

We have always been associated with non-vegetarian food, and we live in a time when people are opting for vegetarianism and veganism. So this is the flagship store in this line.” The expansion plan is already under discussion. So, Chennaiites, indulge in the exquisite menu of ATR.