The Ambika stores as they are commonly known, have been around for years. They are a one stop outlet to purchase all your requirements of South Indian appallams, masala pastes, vadam, condiments, thokkus, pickles, chutneys, sweets and other specialities that are not easily available under one roof elsewhere.
The best part is that the quality of the products are consistently good and the prices are reasonable. South Indians visiting Chennai from elsewhere in India, and abroad, stock up with the Ambika goodies especially their masala pastes such as lemon rice paste, puliyogarai paste, vattakozhambu paste, sambar / rasam pastes etc etc, the list is endless.
I have been to the Ambika depots at Kapaleeswar temple in Mylapore and the newer outlet at Adyar on Sardar Patel Road. My most recent visit saw me shopping till I dropped. Ambika has introduced several new varieties of their famous ready pastes which are so convenient for south Indian cooking, especially for those of us living elsewhere where these ingredients are not easily available. They also have typical South Indian sweets such as fine ground rava ladoo, peanut ladoo etc, and murukku and other snacks which I have not tried, but they looked okay. A must visit one stop shop for all South Indian cuisine lovers.