Mansukh's,T.Nagar,Chennai

If you are looking for some authentic Gujarati/Rajasthani meals, this is one of the few places in Chennai. The meals includes dhoklas, rotlis, puris, sweet and normal dal, kadi, three sabjis, khichdi, plain rice, curd rice and a sweet. All served piping hot and unlimited. There are times when one of the sabjis goes overboard with masala and oil, but thats only with respect to their other dishes and not comparing them with the other run off the mill North Indian restaurants around. Ideally go there for a Sunday brunch, eat your heart out, come back home and sleep.

Mansukh also makes decent chats, and some quick meal deals like roti and sabji of the day. Their Aloo Parathas are sinful. They also sell good sweets and Gujarati snaks like Khakdas, Theplas, Ghatiyas.

The only minus point is the parking space or the lack of it.

Kailash Parbat, Harrington Road, Chennai

My memories of eating at Kailash Parbat, Colaba, Bombay took me to this place. And it did not disappoint me (us) one bit. The chaat platter was refreshing, the pani puri crisp and healing. Ragda patties taste good, wish they were served hot.

The bhatura platter was a big hit. 4 varieties of bhatura in a platter served with some awesome chole. We over-ordered the bhatura platters (thanks to one of the waiters misguiding us that the bhaturas are in the size of rotis), and hence need to go again (and again) to try out more things.

There is an express counter for a typical come, have chaat and go experience instead of the sit down dining restaurant upstairs.

My next visit gave an opportunity to try out more things. The Paav Bhaji was too salty, hopefully just an accident on that particular day. The Jaipuri Biryani is really delicious with a wonderful taste and flavour to it. The Awadhi Biryani wasn't too far behind, but could go less on the oil front. In fact, overall the food is quite greasy.

Chaats @ Adyar, Chennai

‘Parathas @ Adyar” would have been a more apt name for this little place serving, parathas, chaats, other north Indian dishes and the omnipresent Chinese.

They have a good variety of parathas like aloo, mooli, gobi, methi, etc. Gobi paratha is quite unusual, with shredded fried cauliflower (serves the purpose for gobi Manchurian as well) stuffed in the paratha. Parathas are serves with dal, sabji, pickle and curd, each one simple and tasty.

The chaats were quite disappointing with the ingredients not being too fresh and an overdose of the sweet chutney. It was quite like the chaats available in all south Indian joints, not what is expected out of some north Indians running the place.

The ambience is no-nonsense, come, eat, go types.

Overall, a good place to go dig into some good parathas.

Location: Off MG Road, Adyar,Chennai.