Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Madurai - there's a lot more to it

                
                  Today, while the evening is sinking under an outrageous temperature of -4 degree Celsius, and I have nothing but a dead old plate of lettuce to consider for dinner, I am dreaming about one of the most heartwarming feasts I have ever – I’m sure – had.


It was sometime by the wry end of an Indian summer when we were on a road trip by the lustrous looking, newly smartened up NH7. If you had been driving long over the same road during the pre-makeover days, you will know what I am talking about. The new NH7 is a driver’s perfect Indian dream. So, anyways, after what seemed like a glide of a ride from Nagercoil to Madurai, we hunted around – late in the night - utterly famished – but still unwaveringly unanimous (all of us and that was quite rare) - for this little, old place that – stories said – was a rare treasure to a food lover’s soul.

Hmm..so we did arrive at this dreadfully rusty looking, almost invisible (no boards, no flashing lights!) rugged building that stood on not more than 500 sq feet of ground in its entirety which included the family room, of course - the only one, about 5 * 5 (I’m serious), in size, which by a hair's breadth could seat about six hungry people.

We looked around and beamed in pride - We were at the unbelievably popular(for the what it looked like) ‘Konar Mess’.

With the infamous stories we had been religiously collecting about the restaurant, we were not surprised. Not even when we saw a string of dimly lit wagons along the whole street outside Konar Mess, in which, we later heard, the big wigs of the Madurai circle (dons/dhadhas included) dined. Uh –uh! I think we were far too starving for any surprises.

When the table was, at last filled with what we had been craving to see, in sheer glee, we let our tongues drop flat onto our plates. And then followed an evening of a south Indian delight of meat!

          My favorite was the Kari dosai – a kind of ghee-roasted dosai with fried, spicy, minced mutton filling – the most popular pick of the menu. To soften the crispness, Kari dosais are traditionally accompanied by a small bowl of mutton gravy – simple and authentic. As we began nibbling those pieces of wonder down, we let a gush of pride roll over in honor of the experience.

So then I dived into what was considered yet another sin-not-to-have by the Konar-mess-lovers-club. So next appeared on the table, a plate of steamed idiyappam with the accompaniment of a bowl of Mutton Chukka (Mutton Chukka varuval to call it, in native fondness) that rather smelt like a tangible mesh of the best assortment of south Indian spices.

It looked dark, rough, kinda jagged but tender to touch. It was not the typical chukka I had believed I was a fan of. There was definitely a secret ingredient, I could just smell it.
I didn’t ask; didn’t feel up to it. But ever since, I almost gave up ordering chukka elsewhere.

Ohh! And - Of all the bites of intoxications we blissfully indulged in, that night, Mutton Kheema (I can’t precisely remember more details of what I ate this with) deserves a pat on the back too. It wasn’t my order and by the time I wanted to, they ran out of it.

            That’s one grave misfortune Konar mess can mercilessly inflict upon you. You need to be quick enough to let the orders move in to your table. They vanish from the pantry at the blink of an eye and you do not want to go through the depression of watching the last plate land up on your neighbor’s table.

As a traveler that cannot just hop onto Madurai every other day, trust me, that, can be pretty heartbreaking!

9 comments:

$ph!nX said...

For a second there, you left me fuming! I actually thought u like Madurai! Then when I saw Konar Mess, I cooled down. I went to another signature place called Amma Mess - another non-descriptive place(not so cheap) Awesome food!

But yes , that,Thiruparankundram and the Meenakshi Amman Temple are the only places worth going to in that ...... place..... (if i can put it lightly!)

Ohh! The temperature is -4??? Wow. I heard its hovering around 10 degrees @ Calabasas. Sigh. Miss the cold :) I am eating Aaapams, Idlis, Dosais, Puttu, Fish Thiyal and a lott more though.. BoooYaaaaaa :D

PurpleHeart said...

Did you really have to add that last line over there ????!!!!! I'm already quite bummed,as you can see. Fish Theeyal huh ??? I think there went down a few tears down my lashes.

But anyways, Amma Mess is another favorite spot of mine. Their 'kola urundai' is quite a beauty!
I think I visit Madurai majorly for three - Lunch at Amma mess, dinner at Konar and an evening 'Jigardhanda' at 'jil jil' - It's a festival to your little belly. :)
Actually, I like Madurai - very earthy and the nativeness kinda shows up all around the streets - the It's one of those authentic Tamil places.

And yes, it was -4 yesterday and it's supposed to get lower and snowing this week. I am contemplating running away to the west. Forever !

Karen Xavier said...

How come I've never heard of these little diners? I'll keep an eye out for them the next time I'm there...
That's the way I tasted Tiramisu, after reading bout it here ;)

Cotton Tail said...

Yes Madurai symbolises the spirit of the south I feel. The things I love about the city are the temples and their food,it wins the best place in the state for non vegetarian food hands down. And the city almost never sleeps!

PurpleHeart said...

Karen, when you are in Madurai the next time, just hop around asking. And the door shall open :) And don't foget the jigarthanda. An absolute relish !

Rassi, you nailed it !! It has such a high spirit to it. Even at 1:00 AM. The town buses run around like way past midnight,jam packed with locals. I mean, it has such a zest that you can feel. In fact it's one of the raw, virgin towns of the entire country - still fully alive in its own pure self, content and daintily away from modern influence. Madurai ROCKS !

Gaudham said...

Madurai Really Rocks in all Senses...

As u Tagged "there`s a lot more to it", Yes u can feel it, if u stay more than a month :)

PurpleHeart said...

like a million bucks !

bala said...

$ph!nX just recommended your post...

Konar mess is one of my favorite 'eat spots' in Madurai :)... be it with family or friends we always had a royal treatment and a great time out there... your post makes me miss my school days when we used to go grab something at Konar mess in between two tuition slots :).. birthday treat or loosing a bet or India victory in cricket or a good score in math or a poor score in chemistry :P.. we used to gather money from all possible sources n make sure we were out at some restaurant like 'Konar mess'...

n Sandhya, you should try our own Jigarthanda next time you come to Madurai... a heavy dinner n a cold Jigarthanda would be the best combo !!!

lemme continue with my work now :) gotta wait for another 78 full days to go to Madurai...

neha pandole said...

a big fan of ur blogs.. its grt whn i read ur xperiences wrote in simpleistic yet interesting way.