Karaikal Chettinad Restaurant

Anna Salai is a long road, and we’re right across from Hotel Ram International. Pondicherry gets very humid, so we try to keep the place as airy as we can. We specialize in Chettinad style cooking, which means a lot of grinding spices by hand every morning. The kitchen gets quite smoky when we’re frying things up. It’s a plain place with simple chairs. We don't go in for the touristy stuff you see near the beach. We’re more for the locals and the people working in the offices nearby. I spend a lot of time talking to the vegetable vendors to get the best stuff for the day. If the drumsticks aren't fresh, the sambar won't taste right. My wife helps with the accounts in the evenings. We’ve had some of the same staff for over ten years now. They know the routine. Some days the rain comes down so hard you can't see the road, and we just sit and wait for it to pass. Other days are so busy we barely have time to eat our own lunch. We don't put up big signs or try to pull people in from the street. People find us because they like the way the food tastes. It’s honest work. We try to keep the prices fair so anyone can come in. That’s just the way we’ve always done it here in this corner of the city.