Food review: A flavourful journey through South Indian cuisine in Anna Nagar's Malli Mess
A new eatery aiming to serve authentic south Indian dishes has popped up in Anna Nagar. The operational manager of Malli Mess, Elvis Jarret, talks to DT Next about the launch of the diner and what inspired them to choose the neighbourhood
Variety of dishes from Malli Mess (Photo: Hemanathan)
CHENNAI: When it comes to food, Anna Nagar is undoubtedly the most relevant neighbour in Chennai of late. Whether newbies or renowned restaurants, almost everyone strives to acquire a space in this locality. One such new spot is Malli Mess, serving authentic south Indian dishes in a neat ambience.
Started a couple of months ago, Malli Mess was started by Vijayakumaran, out of his passion to achieve something in the culinary world. One aspect on which most restaurateurs focus now is to give a quirky and peculiar name to their restaurants. “We wanted to highlight the different spices used in south Indian cooking. We named our diner Malli, signifying the coriander flavour,” says Elvis Jarret, operational manager.
Malli has an array of non-vegetarian dishes featuring chicken, mutton and kinds of seafood. “Like many other individuals, we chose Anna Nagar because of its wide scope. Families, youngsters and office-goers are our target audience. And our goal can be achieved in Anna Nagar because it has a mixed crowd,” he shares.
We were welcomed by the minimalistic aesthetics of the restaurant. We started with the welcome drink, mutton nalli soup, which was high in pepper and a must-try. The super soft mutton kola urundai was great and had an overpowering garlic flavour. A dish that blew our minds was the manjal special chicken. The green chilli paste-coated chicken was juicy and had an apt amount of spice level. The milagai urgai paneer was also good with cheese stuffing.
The fluffy nool parotta with a flavourful chicken Chettinad gravy was delicious. The chicken pieces in the briyani were succulent and the spice flavours seeped in through the meat. The Chettinad gravy went well with the briyani, adding more layers of flavour. The taste of the mutton chukka was nice. However, the dryness of the chukka was missing, as it had a semi-gravy consistency.
The mutton flavour in the mutton omelette was absent. They also have meal options for lunch. Apart from the south Indian dishes, there is a variety of Chinese food as well. At last, the sweet bomb was yummy and appetising with condensed milk and ghee filling layered inside parotta pockets. The sweetness was quite more but definitely worth a try.
