The lock down is keeping a number of WhatsApp groups deliciously active. Several sets of friends and organizations exchange pleasantries with the aid of the social media. The members of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage - founded by Late Pupul Jayakar, a close friend of Indira Gandhi) are quite active these days. The non political organization has been into the promotion and preservation of India's priceless heritage.
The lock down is keeping a number of WhatsApp groups deliciously active. Several sets of friends and organizations exchange pleasantries with the aid of the social media. The members of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage - founded by Late Pupul Jayakar, a close friend of Indira Gandhi) are quite active these days. The non political organization has been into the promotion and preservation of India's priceless heritage.
The memories of eating out in town were shared by a couple of the senior members of INTACH and a senior Stanite . "I came into Coimbatore in the seventies of the last century. Those were bachelor days and I stayed at the JM English Hotel. The place had four rooms. Usman Sait of PSG Arts College and myself were the regular occupants. The hotel served tasty continental food. Breakfast consisted of nice fluffy omelette, cutlet, potato fry and we were served bed coffee by a helper who used to wish me everyday. ' Good Morning Master ' was his salutation and he would polish my shoes regularly. The shoes used to glitter really. JM served us fruit and custard puddings. Their baked dish used to be very nice. Of course the chicken curry and sauce was a delicacy. The Court Annapoorna (KG Hospital) came up a few years later and I was their customer on the first day itself. Lunch with curds would be at Hotel Woodlands and would cost Rs.3 (Rs.0.50 for curds). I still remember the brothers Anil and Sunil who used to hang out in the billiards room. Films stars used to stay at Woodlands. The old RHR (Royal Hindu Restaurant ) was for dosa, Venkateswara Lodge for night meals and BBH (Hotel Guru) was for the Permit Room (Bar). Those were times when we watched the cabaret at Hotel Minimax in Pappanaickenpalayam. A number of business people would come there with a towel hiding their head and most of the face. Only the eyes could be seen. Hotel Needos (Oppanakkara Street) was a happening place. Butter Chicken was introduced by Hotel Needos in town. Well, Aristo Hotel on Trichy Road used to belong to Actor Raghuvaran's father and it was well known for its Kerala items. Mithra Samaj was for consuming jangri and dosa. A number of restaurants were donned with dark paint and had dull lighting. Those were times when people may drink or smoke and hence this arrangement ensured lesser visibility. A few officials used to visit me in my room in order to have a nice chat and unwind themselves," stated Ramachandra Prasad, the Convener of INTACH - Coimbatore Chapter.
"We used to enjoy the Chinese Restaurant on Trichy Road and JM was the place for roast chicken then", reminiscences Shashi Ghulati , former Convener of INTACH.
Entrepreneur Mohan Menon spoke about his experiences, "Nawab Rajamanickkam used to live near Central Theatre and his daughter studied along with me. I used to attend his dramas and would wonder how it was possible to have a snake above Lord Krishna while he was carried across River Yamuna. That was when the theatre was a place for conducting dramas. We used to buy pickle on a ' paakku mattai ' I (areca nut leaf) in order to have it along with our curd rice. Once in a way we would get rose gulkhand from the same North Indian merchant. This was a luxury.The college days saw us going by triples to Central Theatre. I still remember seeing the Annapoorna brothers with huge milk cans on their scooter at the time of the matinee shows. The keerai vadai by them was fantastic. Ramesh Bhavan was another place and the gulabjaan there was fantabulous. Many of the hoteliers were from the Mangalore - Udupi belt then."
Ice cream entrepreneur Narayanakrishnan of Suvai Ice Creams shares , "I was in the merchant navy and took up Joy Ice Creams business in Coimbatore. Haridas Bhagat was already selling Joy Ice Creams on Jail Road . We made one litre bricks and gave it to them. They used to cut them into slabs. There were 25 varieties in all and the ice cream parlour had venetian swinging doors. One of their employees was a snooker champion too. The Kolathier Mess in Grey Town just had six tables and was famous for its Palakkad meals. The rasam used to be outstanding. The outlet had just six tables but they had chairs for the ones who would crowd the place. Tie clad executives and bankers used to literally swarm the place,".
Nellai Arya Bhavan on Big Bazaar Street has been famous for its getti chutney and huge crispy ghee roasts (dosa). Many of the merchants loved the sambar which came along and some of them used to jocularly state that it they added inches to the waist because of their visits to this eatery. Annapoorna Coffee Bar on Raja Street was known for its ‘ standing coffee’. The sweet store there has been giving tasty maida biscuits for decades. S.Ramesh of S.Ramesh Jewellery is a business man and social activist. He had once created a database of blood donors from the old market area. Ramesh shared some information on some of the eateries which were mobile, "Thambayya, Perumal, Nagamanna, Govindanna and one more person Pattabiraman near Gopanna's shop (R.S.Gopal Chettiar) used to run their food business on the thinnais (verandahs) of the shops which were part of Thyagi Kumaran Market complex. A few of them ran ' untime ' business (staying well into the night). They used to make and sell adai, butter, dosa, sarasthalu, pappu rotta to their customers. People from all over the region used to wait for their adai and butter. It used to be mouth watering delicious. Sivaramanna used to sell tiffin items during the evening hours (5 PM to 7:30 PM) and we would sit between the vendi angadi and bangaru angadi (silver shop & gold shop) belonging to P.A.Raju Chettiar and have them. "The Komati or Arya Vysya community was known for its tasty food and people loved their vegetarian food. The ' Kaiyandhi Bhavans ' (hand held eating typed restaurants) were run from push carts and food was reasonably priced. Bonda Mani/D.Mani used to also be found selling similar items 40 years ago. Kandan Pani Poori near Garadi Temple was loved for its unique chat and so was Babu Pani Poori. " Babu Pani Poori is one of the oldest in the pani poori business in town. Idli kadai near the Sowdeswari Amman Temple (Flower Market / Poo Market) has been there for a long time." states Ajay Kumar Sharma.
Stanite R.P.Ramesh remembers, "Davey & Co near the railway station served parottas after the evening movie hours. Iranis on Oppanakkara Street was known for kuska after 12 in the night. Murli Restaurant was for chapati, ghee rice and chicken. Central Biriyani was for the late night chicken and parotta. Angannan Biriyani served excellent chicken and mutton biriyani for years. It created athe biriyani culture those days.
A number of shoppers from Kerala used to fill up the place with their families. Of Course we relished the godhi halwa and paruppu vadai at Original Viswanatha Iyer. This was an old outlet and the founder used to sell his stuff at Perur nearly hundred years ago. The goods had been transported on bullock carts to the banks of River Noyyal. Mishtan was frequented for its basundi and chat varieties."
Perur K.Jayaraman is a fount of information on this region. He had worn many hats and he used to visit each and every food outlet in order to savour its offerings. One can very well do a book based on his experiences, "Chetty Veedhi housed the Sellammal Idli Kadai. She used to make hot idlis in her huge vessel. We used to buy 50 to 60 idlis for our night shift workers from her. One had to wait in a que with her. She used to state that one has to wait for his or her turn and it did not matter if it was the Jilla Collector. One Ganesh Bhavan was run by a gusthi bylwan and his clients consisted of his friends who were also his fans. He had a python for a pet and it used to loiter around in his restaurant. The bylwan used to wear it on himself at times ! Chuducaya near Kennedy Theatre was the place for meen varuval (fish fry). The fish used to be from Muthannan Kulam. The owner used to serve meen kozhambhu for all the items and this was his specialty. Lucky Tea Stall on R.S.Puram was the joint for chilling out with a smoke. People used to enjoy its Ooty varkey and buns. Kala Bhavan served night meals and high quality ellupodi for its idlis. Manohara Vilas was a biriyani outlet near Sowdamman Temple and Arya Bhavan near Town Hall was known for its elai adai. One variety was stuffed with sweet poornam. Rotis unlimited was the scheme at Kailash Parvath near Thomas Street. He used to serve hot rotis continuously along with nice chicken curry. Of course we cannot forget Madras Hotel which served mutton puffs, idiyappam and paaya to its clients. Coimbatore had been endowed with Padma Vilas, Bharat Vilas and Sumuka Vilas earlier. The name ' Vilas ' was the trend at one time".
"Hotel Majestic on Government Arts College Road was owned by one clean shaven and tall Krishnan. He used to look majestic with his shirt tucked inside his dhoti.The well built hotelier wore a coat all the time. A number of Europeans used his facilities. They visited the place for breakfast often. It had excellent cutlery, crockery and the place would be spic and span. Continental non vegetarian food was offered for the elite. The stewards were turbaned. It was not very big but had the required facilities. Krishnan lived in a small lane off Avinashi Road near the V.O.C Park. My uncle N.V.Subburathiam and father N.V.Narayanaswamy purchased some of the cane furniture at the time when Krishnan exited this venture. I still have one of the chairs and believe it or not we just paid Rs.10 for it those days," recalls N.Sundararajan, a long time resident of Vincent Colony.
"Coimbatore had been a great place from the word go. The entrepreneurial spirit gave it the right mix. People enjoyed life but they knew how and were to draw a line. We must remember that it is possible to have a good time in a decent manner," added Ramachandra Prasad.
The utterly delicious mouth watering moments are still the talk of the town.