Sri Ram Nallamani Restaurant

We are on Whannels Road in Egmore, right near the Albert Theatre. If you’ve ever gone to see a big movie there, you probably walked past our door. The building has two numbers, the old 3A and the new 7A, which sometimes confuses the delivery guys, but we’ve been here so long that most locals just know the spot. Egmore is a part of Chennai that never really sleeps, with the railway station nearby and all the commercial activity. Our place has that old-school Chennai feel to it. The walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint, but we spend more time in the kitchen than worrying about that. When a big movie finishes at Albert, we get a huge rush of people coming in for a quick tiffin or a coffee. It gets very loud then, with everyone talking about the film. The rest of the time, it’s just the usual crowd of office workers and people living in the apartments nearby. We use those heavy steel tumblers for the coffee and the plates are basic. The ceiling is high, which helps a bit with the humidity, but it’s still Chennai, so it’s always warm. We don't do anything fancy with the presentation. It’s just food served on a plate as fast as we can manage. It’s a bit of a squeeze when it’s busy, but that’s just how life is on Whannels Road. It's nothing special, just a local spot.