Chennai eats in two registers: the vegetarian tiffin-and-mess tradition of Mylapore and Triplicane, and the chilli-heavy Chettinad, Ambur and Kasimedu cooking of its Muslim, Nadar and fishing communities. Three days covers both.
The lanes ringing the Mylapore tank fill from 06:00 with jasmine garland weavers, banana-leaf stacks and carts of drumstick, snake gourd and curry leaf. Small onions run ₹40-60/kg, a metre of malli ₹30. Trading thins by 11:00.
A 1940s mess opposite the temple tank serving the unlimited banana-leaf saapadu: rice, sambar, two kootu, poriyal, rasam and curd, refilled until you fold the leaf. Lunch service 12:00-15:00, cash preferred, no reservations.
Chennai's benchmark sweet and savoury counter since 1980, with queues for adhirasam, Tirunelveli halwa, thattai and murukku fried the same morning. Boxes are weighed to order and every customer gets a free sample plate at the door.
A newspaper stall that became a Mylapore institution for chilled rose milk — Bovonto-cold milk, house rose syrup, no ice. Served in glass tumblers on the pavement from 16:00 until the vessel empties, usually around 21:00.
Running since 1948 and known citywide for one thing: idlis flooded with ladlefuls of thin, sweetish sambar, topped up by a server circling with a bucket. Also poori-masala and ghee pongal. Opens 06:00, busiest 08:00-10:00.
The Mount Road original where Chicken 65 was created in 1965 under owner Ahmed Buhari. Order it alongside the mutton biryani and a plate of parotta-salna; the deep-fried, curry-leaf-tossed chicken still arrives bone-in and fierce.
A restored colonial bungalow wrapped in old trees, pouring single-estate Coorg and Chikmagalur coffee alongside lemon tarts and salads. The verandah seating is the calmest afternoon spot in central Chennai. Open until 22:30.
Chettinad cooking at full strength: pepper mutton chukka, nathai (snail) masala, quail fry and crab thokku, all built on the stone-ground masala of Karaikudi. Dinner from 18:30; the biryani sells out by 21:00 on weekends.
Chennai's working fish harbour, where trawlers unload seer, pomfret, prawn and squid from 04:00 and the auction runs on shouted Tamil bids. Stalls at the gate fry your pick in rava and red masala within minutes of purchase.
The Marwari and Gujarati quarter north of the fort, packed with chaat carts, jalebi vats and kachori counters. Try the Chennai-only version: pani puri with tamarind water, followed by kesar milk and hot jalebi at the Kandhoi shops.
The Chennai outpost of the 1957 Dindigul original, cooking seeraga samba rice biryani — short, fragrant grain rather than basmati — with mutton on the bone. Comes with brinjal gravy, onion raita and a boiled egg. Open 11:00-23:00.
Leather-clad walls and a long list of gin and rum built on Indian distillates, in the hotel occupying the old Gemini film studio site. One of the few licensed bars where Tamil Nadu's state-monopoly liquor rules are invisible.