Get a taste of tradition at city’s sabha canteens

The Madras Music Season, or Margazhi season as it is commonly called, has had its annual editions since 1928, led by people who set up the Music Academy on TTK Road as one of the earliest music academies in the country. 

As rasikas attended the kutcheris organised at the Academy and other venues like the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha in Triplicane, started way back in 1900, their hunger had to be satiated too. That is how the canteens attached to the music and arts venues have been flourishing over decades.

V Mahalingam, the joint secretary of the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, which has been in existence for the past 68 years, says, “It is like hitting two mangoes with a stone. 

As more sabhas began cropping up over the years, there was a need for canteens. With no Hindu weddings taking place during the month of December, contracts to run the canteens were awarded to caterers who serve at marriages and other special ceremonies. Through this, people visiting sabhas could get traditional food, and the caterers could find business and prospective clients too.”

Mountbatten Mani Iyer, 88, the reigning ‘catering king’ at the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha canteen, has been responsible for drawing huge crowds to the sabha, for the past decade he and his team have been serving there. Known for their kalyana sappadu (wedding lunch), the banana leaf meal (priced at Rs 442) remains much sought after during the season. 

The meal includes at least 15 dishes, including a variety rice like coconut sadam, a variant of vadai, two varieties of vegetable curries, a kootu, no-onion and no-garlic sambar with a different vegetable each day, a flavourful rasam, thayir pachadi, and betel leaves and nut to end the meal.

There’s also a different payasam served each day. “I’m happy only when a customer is satisfied with the meal,” he tells us as he tirelessly walks through rows of diners sweeping off food from the banana leaves. They also serve breakfast and dinner, with a varying menu of different kinds of idli, dosa, pongal, idiyappam, kozhukattai, etc. In line with the trend of health foods, millet idiyappams are their newest offering this season.

Millets are also seeing the light of the day at the Music Academy’s canteen, which is being run this year by Sri Balaji Catering Services. Head down there during the evening and you’ll find dishes like ragi dosa, kambu (pearl millet) dosa and millet idiyappams.

Even the regular puris and idlis served are given a healthier upgrade with the addition of methi in puris and the idlis tossed in a karuvepillai podi. Run by mother and son duo, Latha Sampathkumar and Venkatesh, along with a team of about 100 people, the 35-year-old catering company is also popular for its dishes like kadamba sadam and Kanchipuram idli. The unlimited banana leaf lunch, here too, is an onion-and-garlic-free affair, priced at about Rs 420.

Meenambiga Caterers who have been operating at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club during the music season for the past 30 years, serve an economical lunch with about 10 dishes at Rs 200. A banana leaf meal with a variety rice, poriyal, kootu, sambar, kara kuzhambu, and payasam is just enough to recharge you in between concerts. K Baskaran, a third generation caterer, says their kozhukattai and vadai are among the top sellers during dinner hours.

At Narada Gana Sabha in Alwarpet, Sri Sasthalaya Catering Services has set up an exclusive Chettinad counter for dinner, offering classic dishes made in Chettinad homes like the vellai paniyaram, a rice and urad dal paniyaram deep fried in oil, instead of being shallow-fried in the paniyaram pan. 

While their sweets like milk halwa or badam halwa could be a tad too sweet for one’s palate, dosas here get exciting with stuffing like paneer beans masala, etc. Don’t forget to slurp the filter coffee at the end of your meal at the canteens.