Rayar's mess

Hello all, & I am back with a new post about one of the oldest institution in Chennai. Functioning from the last 8 decades, this place has been the hot favourite for the localites. In this write up, I am reviewing about an iconic mess namely Rayar's mess in Mylapore, Chennai.

Known for its limited menu which consists of Idly, Vada, Pongal for the breakfast and never miss an opportunity to savour the Spicy "Karam" chutney. Similarly, Rava dosai, onion dosai, Mysore bonda, jamoon for the evening snacks.

I have been visiting this place since 2018 & this has been my favourite place to break the fast or atleast have a light snack along with kaapi before I head to a concert as an audience. 

I make sure that, my visiting time would be quite early. Preferably the first batch of customers of the day. Limited occupancy is the point which makes the place extremely crowded if you visit after 7:15 AM or during the weekends..

Chennai happens to be the most eco friendly city in terms of food. Plantain leaves are the substitute for the steel plates. Plantain leaf was on the table & before serving we must clean the leaf by sprinkling some amount of water and wiping it. Piping hot idly which was just taken out from the steamer after it was converted into a solid from the liquid form. The Idly even though it was soft, but it wasn't fragile as you get it in Bengaluru. There are possibilities of the difference in ratios of the ingredients which made the idly of Rayar's mess not to be extremely fragile. Chutney was out of world, simple chutney which was having coconut as the main ingredient & some small amount of chillies. Also I requested some "Karam" chutney, which has chillies as the main ingredient. The karam chutney is served very little, due to the extreme spicyness.

Cherry on top for the piping hot idly was generous amount of ghee which was lashed (on request)! The next serving was Vada & this vada had its holy bath in a pool of oil to get crispier & make the humans happy. Vada had traces of pepper, coconut which was just finger lickin good.

One can have nearly 4 to 5 idlies along with minimum of 3 vadas. Never miss the Pongal vada combination or else it's termed to be a sin. Pongal with a cup of thick chutney & watery coconut chutney along with piping hot vada is heaven!

To flush out all the oily stuffs from your throat, a cup of coffee is a must & should. I prefer the strong coffee.

Prices are very economical here,

1 idly costs ₹15/-

1 vadai costs ₹10/-

A plate of pongal costs ₹40/-

& A cup of coffee costs ₹20/-

Time to present a report card for the iconic Rayar's mess

Taste - 9

Ambiance - cute little place which can occupy around 16 people at a time & typically old school mess, 9

Service - quickest 10

Quality - 8

Value for money -9

It's advisable not to visit this place during weekends & public holidays for the extreme crowd yet longer queues! 

The OG saagu masalé dosé- Agrahara Myalari

Hello all, after a short break I am here to narrate my experience in the form of words about an institution in Mysore which has been serving the masalé dosé which has saagu instead of the Aloogadde palya (potato curry).

Native Mysurians still have confusion which is the original Mylari hotel! 

Oho! Did I just reveal the name of the institution? What a human I am! Anyway let's time travel to May 2022.

After a long drive from Chennai to Mysore which is about 8.5 to 9 hours we checked in to the holiday home's family suite which was pre-booked. The holiday home is maintained by CPWD or central public works department & the preference for allotment of rooms are for Central government officials & their immediate family. So, being a brat of Central government officer I will be having few more months to enjoy these perks!

Next day, I was waiting for the watch to display 9 AM so that I can meet my friends who are musicians based out in Mysuru & they are also percussionists. We had been mutually sharing some food reels during the lockdown due to the pandemic & we had decided to taste the saagu masalé dosé here in Mylari hotel.

Welcome my dearest friends Nandan and Shamith. Nandan was the one who told about the glorious history of this institution even though I was aware of this institution through my foodie guruji Mr.Kripal Amanna, who gave the visual treat of the greatness of this small restaurant.

Now, there is a small change in the place. We decided not to visit the Vinayaka Mylari which is in Nazarbad, Mysore. But, we decided to meet in this particular Mylari which is located in the area called Agrahara. Anyway I was waiting to play the test match in the form of gulping down these saagu masalé dosé.

We placed our order for a serving of 2 idlis along with chutney and saagu. Many resturants don't serve saagu with idli, this restaurant is an exception & you don't get Sambhar. We got our first serving of idlis along with chutney and saagu. The idly was topped with a dallop of butter which is the taste enhancer for that piping hot idly which was scrapped out of the moulds, which was steamed for few minutes in the steamer. The idly was extremely fragile & fluffy that it has to carefully handled. Rough handling of idly leads to deformation 🤣.

The butter was royally spread on the 2 idlis and the very first bite of idli along with chutney. Ah! You can just visualise the reaction of Mr. Kripal Ji's reaction when he tastes good food. That was my reaction. The idly being too soft, it started melting in my mouth & the chutney which has coconut as the main ingredient & green chillies as the spicing agent. There were traces of garlic too. Time to dunk a piece of idly in that saagu. Saagu was a very simple yet spicy & delicious accompanist for idly. Saagu had primarily onion, potato, garlic & some other veggies. Saagu was a spicy dish which was balanced when we had it with idly.

Time to order some OG saagu masalé dosé ft.Mylari style! Initially I was reluctant to have 2 dosés, i was convinced by these amigos of mine that "you won't even realise that you had 2 masalé dosés". True to their words these masalé dosés were smaller in size filled with saagu in the inner part of the dose. Gently roasted with extra amount of oil & later topped with butter! 

When I got my first set of saagu masalé dosé, I was pretty curious about the exciting aroma of the dosé. I came to know that they refrain using the LPG & other fuels for cooking these OG saagu masalé dosé. But, they are still dependent on the firewood or soude olé. What more can you expect from the dosé which was gently roasted on the tava which was placed on the stove which is still using the firewood! 

Now you guys will be getting the answer regarding why I christened this blog as OG saagu masalé dosé in Mysuru! The dose being not too extra crispy like the one which you get in many of the darshinis or restaurant, still you could feel that homely yet heavenly taste! Let me just bring the Mysurian Mr. Raghu Dixit sir in the scene. Dear Raghu sir, I have a doubt.. Did you compose the song "TelaDuta.. I am falling in love" while having this Dosé? 

Yes.. you guys will definitely start singing the song as soon as you have your first bite. 

On the other we were gossiping here & there still my mind was here enjoying the masale. I was ready for the second round of another 2 masalé dosés & sing "TelaDuta.... I am falling in love".

Once we had the 4 saagu masale dosés, it was time to flush out the excess fat in the tongue by drinking a glass of straang kaapi sans sugar! One thing about this restaurant is, it's not too pricy. Secondly, don't dare to visit during weekends because you might end up waiting for a longer time.

Honestly I am remembering the prices but I can definitely share the report card for this restaurant.

Taste - 9.5

Ambience - 10

Service - very quick 10

Value for money - 9

As you all see the report card is according to my experience in this restaurant. I request you all to visit this restaurant and savour some saagu masale dosé & those fluffy idlis along with that spicy saagu!

Take care & happy eating.