When the Triplicane branch of Murugan Idli Kadai was opened at a location just some 20 feet away from the legendary Ratna Cafe (fondly pronounced Ratna Kay-f, as in Katrina Kaif, or Mohammed Kaif, if you please), it seemed as if the old, outmoded Ratna Kaif was going to slowly lose its customers to the trendy MIK. For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Ratna Cafe is a hotel on the Triplicane High Road, Chennai. It’s idlis are known for their quality and for the sambar they’re drowned in. If you visit the hotel in the morning or in the evening, you can find most people eating nothing but idlis. ’Thou shalt be generous with sambar’ is an unwritten motto at Ratna Cafe. At other hotels, you’d have to ask for ’’sambar idli’’ to get a plate full of hot sambar and a couple of idlis in it. At Ratna Cafe, idli means idli sambar.
Well, Ratna Cafe’s fantastic idli-sambar survived the Saravana Bhavan onslaught. Saravana Bhavan was to Chennaiites some 15 years ago what MIK is now. The idlis being discussed here have the size of standard Udipi hotel idlis. They’re almost similar to other Udipi hotel idlis except for the slightly sour taste that you get from other, mortal idlis. Ratna Cafe’s idlis are sublime when they’re drowned in a plate of sambar which is filled to the brim. The sambar here is so deliciously hot that you’d have had 2 pairs of idlis before you could say Murugan Idli Kadai. I’d say that the sweet equivalent of Ratna Cafe’s sambar-idli combination is gulab jamoon! You’d love this place even more if you’re into coffee. You see, quality is immortal and MIK’s deterioration in quality and the arrogance of its waiters have helped Ratna Cafe even more.
But the cons: the ’’table : ceiling fan’’ ratio is about 5:1, which means you need to finish your idlis and coffee faster. Until recently, this hotel used to be one of the few that didn’t allow its waiters to receive tips, but now it has changed. This means that having idlis at Ratna Cafe is costlier than before because one idli costs Rs. 4.75. Tourists, if you ever come to see the Marina beach, don’t miss the real local flavour!