Anyone who has lived in Madras for a reasonable length of time and has an interest in the good things of life, would have heard about Ratna Cafe. It was a place tha that served good old fashioned south Indian vegetarian fare.
People who are in their seventies and eighties at the turn of the twentieth century talk in hushed tones of the iddlies they ate there over the decades. The general consensus was that, if you didnt eat iddlies at Ratna Cafe, you dont really know what an iddli is. Ratnas was indeed a brand.
Then, for some reason, they decided to expand and go to places more than a stones throw from Triplicane and the brand is now taking a beating.
We went to their branch in T Nagar soon after it was opened. We should have got a bit suspicious when we saw the menu - it was not pure south Indian anymore. The high expectations plummetted a few brief moments after the food came to our table. The first thought that came to my mind was that we had entered the wrong place. The food was nowhere near the original. Once it was clear that were at the right place, the second thought was that this was our last visit.
I wish people would stick to the basics and serve the kind of food they are good at!