Best south indian restaurant in bay area

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By now, I’ve visited sufficient Tamil & different South Indian eating places within the San Francisco Bay Space to have some favorites (and not-so-favorites). Listed here are my favorites, “honorable mentions”, footnotes, and disclaimers. Take pleasure in!

Favorites

Most of those prime eating places are within the South Bay space (Moutain View / Sunnyvale / Milpitas) until in any other case specified.

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• Annachikadai (அண்ணாச்சிக்கடை) – I believe this isn’t solely the perfect Tamil restaurant within the Bay Space, however I’m going to name it and say it’s the perfect within the US. Best within the US & Canada, ha! If you as much as the entrance door, you might be greeted first by the odor of a kitchen or restaurant in Tamil Nadu. The authenticity is clear within the meals (high quality and style), intention (supply genuine menu gadgets past the overplayed normal Tamil restaurant fare), and atmosphere (modest digs, and servers racing to deal with buyer calls for). The restaurant solely opened 3 months in the past, and it was a delicate launch (no bulletins or promoting in any respect), and even 1.5 months afterwards — when I discovered it — the place is at all times packed. It was onerous to discover a desk throughout off-hours (4pm within the afternoon) on a Saturday. They provide veg & non-veg meals, and have an infinite saapppaadu possibility for $13/$14. Each merchandise on the menu is finished nicely, with out being too spicy or too greasy. Ex: they make paniyaaram (குழிப் பனியாரம்) and accomplish that good with out making it greasy / overly oily. They replicate their Southern Tamil Nadu background by providing gadgets saalnaa (சால்னா), however YMMV. The one factor I would like out of this place is to have it greater — greater menu, extra seating, extra servers, extra conventional grains (சிறுதானியம்) extra deserved acclaim.
• Madras Cafe – This place is the go-to Tamil restaurant within the Bay Space. It’s in all probability the place everybody else would inform you to go first. It’s so busy that their counter-serve fashion is extra like a necessity to get the turnover to maintain up with the crowds. And the crowds throughout regular meals crowd the little foyer space and spill outdoors the entrance door like a TN bus. The chutneys are all top-notch — they’re the one place that makes couriander/cilantro chutney nicely sufficient to make me neglect that I don’t naturally just like the style of couriander. They make the perfect vadai I’ve had outdoors of Tamil Nadu, by far. All of their meals is vegetarian, however they excel in idli (இட்லி), thosai (தோசை) and vadai (வடை) much less so on pongal (வெண் பொங்கல் / kothu parotta (கொத்து பரோட்டா) They open at 8:30am. For the longest time, this place has been my favourite, and continues to be fairly shut in high quality. Solely within the final 12 months have I seen some slight drop in sambar (சாம்பார்) high quality (extra watery/oily than I bear in mind) and consuming an onion oothappam (வெங்காயம் ஊத்தப்பம்) made my abdomen not really feel so good afterwards. Costs was the bottom right here, however they solely just lately went up ever so barely. I nonetheless extremely suggest, however in the event you go throughout regular hours and dislike ready in strains as a lot as I do, there are different choices that you could find.
• Madurai Fashionable Cafe – I believe this place is new, maybe opened previously few months, too. From the identify, it appears to be emulating Madras Cafe, and since it’s newer and never in a typical business space, the costs are decrease, the wait is way shorter, however the meals is simply pretty much as good. They’re additionally open 7 days per week, together with Mondays. It’s run by a husband-wife couple with the youngsters hanging round within the evenings, and in the event you’re a prepared participant, the toddler’s mischief is entertaining. All of their meals is strong, though maybe the kuruma is a bit of bit oily. Nothing is dangerous. Additionally notice that they don’t serve parotta, in case you see it on a menu or within the footage within the storefront window.
• Tirupathi Bhimas – This can be a good go-to place. They actually deal with this restaurant like a transplant of a typical restaurant (aka “hotel”) in Tamil Nadu. No frills, loads of seating with quick service and quick turnaround. It’s all in regards to the meals right here. Every part is vegetarian and good. The saappaadu meal (சோறு சாப்பாடு aka “thali”) is $10 however not limitless, not like the $13-16 limitless choices elsewhere, however you’ll in all probability be full in the event you clear your plate right here. One factor that they do right here higher than most is their thayir vadai (தயிர் வடை – vadai dipped in yogurt) as a result of they put further stuff within the thayir to make it fascinating, like ginger (இஞ்சி). By comparability, Madras Cafe’s vadai would have the ginger within the vadai, and different locations don’t try ginger in vadai or yogurt, in all probability as a result of it’s onerous to tug off.
• Amaravathi – it is a Telugu (Andhra/Telangana) restaurant, and I discovered it as a result of it’s near Madras Cafe, with comparable menu gadgets, a not-too-high degree of chili spice, and has loads of seating each time I am going there. All the meals is vegetarian. The thosai, idli, sambar, pongal, chutneys, and so on. needs to be just about the identical because the Tamil fashion (besides their idli, which isn’t as delicate, however oh nicely). The reason being that one among their cooks is from Tamil Nadu. Solely their kuruma and parotta are markedly totally different than the Tamil fashion (and so-so for me). Getting the limitless rice meal (“thali”) is method an excessive amount of meals to complete even earlier than refills, until you intend to go there after a loopy 30 mile bike trip or intense weight lifting. Their costs are pretty low, and by way of worth, it’s in all probability the perfect. You get very full off $10 of meals. Up till now, breakfast was tough as a result of all gadgets begin round $5.50-6, so how do you not overeat? Final weekend, I seen that they just lately launched an $8 all you possibly can eat breakfast buffet – idli, vadai, pongal, sambar, chutneys (coconut, tomato, peanut, ginger), made-to-order plain thosai, and kesari (கேசரி) candy. That’s the candy spot lacking in breakfast — I could make my very own “combo” order in ways in which the menu wouldn’t simply enable w/o over-ordering, so this is likely to be the brand new go-to for breakfast. They shut on Tuesdays as an alternative of Mondays, and solely open for breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Didigul Thalaipakatti – That is the most recent fashionable Tamil Nadu restaurant chain to open a department within the Bay Space. Like the opposite chains, they appear to go for the “Chettinadu” fashion of meals – a number of non-veg choices, and spicier than common for Tamil Nadu. The meals right here is spicier than the opposite Tamil eating places above in my record, however not as spicy as a typical Telugu restaurant (by which class I put Mangoes in addition to the current choices from the native Ananda Bhavan and Saravana Bhavan branches). This place makes a speciality of biriyani (பிரியாணி), which they do nicely, they usually additionally do kothu parotta very well. Their vegetarian choices are good however restricted in seletion. For a modestly priced Tamil restaurant, the decor is absolutely trendy and the bogs are comparatively clear, particularly in comparison with most different comparable eating places. This place can get busy, and is open 7 days per week.
• RASA – The chef who created the menu for the SF stylish thosai-themed restaurant known as Dosa — left Dosa in SF to begin his personal swanky restaurant in Burlingame. The menu is comparable by way of “fusion thosai” and different Tamil fusion gadgets, the placement is compact and super-clean. All the meals is of top quality. The restaurant earned 1 star from the Michelin information, so you possibly can think about that it’s on the marginally costly aspect. In the event you like a fine-dining expertise, fascinating mixtures like truffle oil thosai, and/or reliably clear, well-maintained bogs, there’s no competitors right here.

Honorable Mentions

• Bezawada – This Telugu restaurant, by way of meals, is definitely fairly wonderful. Which explains why they’ve 3 areas already. The fish was wonderful. My preliminary draw right here is their limitless thali, which is absolutely just like a Tamil Nadu soru saappaadu thali meal by way of style. It’s $16 and it’s method an excessive amount of meals. But it surely’s good if you include a bunch as a result of they simply go away the buckets of sambar and rasam in your desk. (The buckets are smaller and cleaner than what you get in a modest restaurant or big day meal line (பந்தி) in Tamil Nadu.) The spice degree is elevated in comparison with Tamil Nadu, as is to be anticipated. My Yelp-level nit-picky gripe is that the service was bafflingly negligent or unusual. Solely the invention of Annachikadai’s model of limitless rice meals supplanted the spot that Bezawada had for me within the record of prime locations.
• Arusuvai – (Word: not associated to the Arusuvai eating places on the East Coast, apparently, fwiw) That is an impartial (non-franchise) restaurant becoming into the class of Chettinadu-style non-veg & veg. I actually favored this place when it opened a couple of months in the past, and the non-veg continues to be pretty good, however some elements of veg meals have turn out to be suspect. I nonetheless just like the place, and I ought to in all probability go away them a notice on Yelp in order that they step up their degree of high quality again to what it was.
• the vegetable dosai at Vik’s Chaat Cafe – in the event you’re nearer to Berkeley than any of the opposite locations, and also you want idli / thosai and never a lot else, then go right here. In any other case, you’ll discover easy meals with a North Indian flare, as “chaat” implies. The one factor that this place does nicely is that the greens that they put into the vegetable thosai are cooked like a Tamil Nadu-style “poriyal” (பொரியல்) satuee earlier than being put inside, and there aren’t any starchy potatoes, and so on. used as filler.

Footnotes

• I don’t perceive all of the 4/5 evaluations on Yelp for the great Tamil eating places, however half of them sound like they don’t know what to anticipate (like they’ve by no means eaten in Tamil Nadu earlier than) or they’re simply overly fussy. Who’s extra explicit about meals than SF hipsters writing Yelp evaluations? Nearly any South Indian grownup I’ve met who talks about South Indian meals. Besides they’re focus is all in regards to the meals, not about BS demerits for atmosphere and repair.
• Many eating places are closed on Mondays
• Many eating places shut between lunch and dinner hours. Many eating places aren’t open for breakfast.

Disclaimers

• I not get pleasure from making an attempt to eat the spiciest meals doable. My degree of spice tolerance is probably common for Tamil Nadu, and definitely low by Telugu / Tamil Eelam / Korean requirements.
• There isn’t a lot of a eating-out tradition in India — which may be a mirrored image of economics — however both method, there presently isn’t a tradition round customer support, not to mention hygiene, not to mention rest room cleanliness. I want all of those eating places emphasised that extra
• I prefer it when eating places within the Bay Space put a sink for laundry palms outdoors of the lavatory. It makes it simpler for individuals who eat with their palms, and that is normal in houses and plenty of public consuming locations that I’ve seen in Tamil Nadu.