Dinner at Kovai Alankar Vilas

After spending couple of hours in Anna Nagar tower park, we were totally exhausted and starving for some good food. Not in a mood to have vegetarian for dinner. So decided to drive to Kovai Alankar Vilas, a recent addition to chennai food scene serving kongu-style food. It lies right next to the main road 2nd Ave near tower park.

Car parking was made easy as there was enough space on the road side parking space. It is a small restaurant located on the basement. Seating was quick in seconds. Heard it would be crowded during lunch time.

We were asked if we need kozhi rasam (chicken soup). Though it was very cheap (30₹), we were not in a mood for any soup, so we had to skip it. So started our orders with a plate of idly(35₹) for the kid and mutton biriyani(210₹), chicken kothu parotta(200₹) and KAV special chicken 65(210₹) for us. It is important to note that they don't serve coke or pepsi, but serves local drinks like rose milk, ilaneer payasam. And they use only cold-pressed oil.

Idly was very fresh, pillow-soft, just like we make at home. They served it along with 3 varieties of chutney (ground nut, coconut and onion/tomato) and sambar. One can visit this place just for the idlies alone.

Mutton biriyani was brilliant, made of seeraga samba rice with no irritants, but lot of meat(with bone) pieces. It was almost tasted like junior kuppanna one. It had meat pieces with bones, served with the typical onion raita and non-veg gravy which was quite different.

KAV Special Chicken 65 was tender and juicy with some kind of spice topping and fried green chilies. Loved it to the end. Chicken kothu parotta was a surprise for all of us. It was super tasty and filling to end the meal.

Some of the dishes were value for money. But some are little pricey. But quality-wise, they are the best. Only complaint is no one was available to refill the water glasses. Some of the servers were only walking here and there without keeping an eye on the customers. Otherwise it was a nice experience.

Would we visit again? Definitely we would visit again in future to try their other speciailities like kozhi rasam, kola urundai, mutton kothu idly and ilaneer payasam.

..gastronomically yours. Raja