Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant
“If you haven't had South Indian cuisine, do give it a try – you are in for one delicious surprise!”
“Also instead of ordering the regular bread I combined the sada dosa with the mutton masala.”
“I also wished the parotta in the kothu parotta retained some of its crispiness.”
Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Best butter chicken ever!
I went to Anjappar in Kuala Lumpur in 2010, and it was the best Indian food I had ever tasted. Visiting New York, I just had to go again to see if my memory served me well. Happy to report that it did – this butter chicken is just amazing!
The service was good, the room is not the most charming (as in most Indian restaurants) but quite frankly who cares when the food is this good. And at very reasonable prices, so excellent value for money.
If you like Indian food, go to Anjappar and order the butter chicken!
Hmm okay so I wish I could give this spot 4.5/5. The service was exceptional. I was so impressed!! I just wish some of the dishes had more flavor. The veg korma was good but not quite there completely for me. A little watery and bland. The Kerala porotta was amazinnnnnng as was the roast dosa. I will definitely be returning.
Delicious Indian food, great spot for lunch! I had leftovers from the chicken tikka lunch special so don't be fooled by the tiny bowl it comes in 🙂
And it was the first time I've been here. 🙂
Prices are not on the Anjapparusa website, which is odd. Then again, it's a bit pricier than most of the other places in the area.
Was here with one other. The other person was looking for more meatier food around this area so we settled with this place, since Chettinad is the well meatier area of South India (I know that Haandi and otherwise would have more but we decided to try something new.)
Walked in here, there were 2 other groups, place had 5/6 groups by the time we left so it was definitely a bit less crowded than some of the other places in the area. We were seated right next to the front of the window for obv. reasons. Restaurant is huge, smelled a bit of bleach but very lightly. Bus boy brought over some lukewarm water (why) and handed us our menu.
They first asked for drinks. I got a buttermilk, after asking whether it was chaas. I forgot that chaas is the Northern Indian term for spiced buttermilk but well whoops. I then checked if it was spiced buttermilk and he said there were little spices and some salt. So yea, it turned out to be chaas. i wouldn't say it was any better or worse than other versions. If anything, it was a bit pricier at 4.50 for a very similar portion with not much ice. Other person got a beer. He asked for Hayworth's which was listed on a weird little back menu but it turned out that was an old menu so he settled with a Kingfisher.
I started with a Nandu Rasam. The woman noted to me that it is extremely spicy but I was fine with that. It happened to be the best dish I had there. Super spicy tomato/tamarind soup with some finely minced crab? Excellent. Though I might serve it in a different bowl. It was brought out scorchingly hot and well the boll prevented it from cooling down in any reasonable time. 3.8
We both got Chettinandu Thali meals. 15.95 for one and 16.95 for the other I think. Mine was mutton while his was king fish.
His curry: Quite fishy but I honestly preferred it. Good fish flavor though and I liked the gravy. 2.8
My curry: Heavy spices, not much meat. 3 little pieces, one gummy with 2 bones. 2.2
In terms of the rest of it, I'll put it, outside of the rice/bread/yogurt from least favorite to favorite.
Chapathi: A bit hard, not fresh maybe?
Rice: OK
Appalam (Papadum): Interesting texture compared to most places
Curd (well yogurt): It's yogurt
Pickle (small piece of a super spicy pickle): Spiciest thing, super small. Flavors were fine
Rasam: Tamarind/tomato soup. Solid if not as flavorful as the prior Rasam.
Sambar: Vegetables in Tamarind sauce. Flavorly complex but nothing super special.
Poriyal (fried/sauteed veggies): Excellent, least spicy but the flavors were nice
Kootu (vegetables with lentil, similar to Dal but more creamy): Nicely spicy, good flavors, I liked this a lot, probably since I like Dal.
Sweet: Vermicelli noodle, I think it's Semiya Payasam judging by images. Excellent.
I think I'd give this place around a 3, mostly since I am not used to the flavors. Service was ehh.
Wanted to try this place before moving out of the neighborhood and I guess there's a reason I've never been here before – did not have a pleasant experience at all – from the service to the food, very underwhelming and honestly, just not good.
To start, and I've always thought this, they need to change their curb appeal. It just doesn't look like a restaurant you want to go in – very old school and not eye-catching. The red awning is outdated, as is their decor. Inside isn't terrible, fairly spacious and clean – definitely bigger than neighboring restaurants like Dhaba and Kokum.
When my roommate and I walked in on a relatively uncrowded weeknight, they seated us against the back right wall, between two other parties. There were many other tables and was just weird to be sitting so close to other customers when there was so much room.
The service was a bit interesting. First, a waitress came and took our app order, and mentioned and would be back for main course because we weren't ready at the time. She never came back and another waiter came and took our main course. We mentioned to him that we ordered our app already with the waitress and he just nodded his head. Also, being both vegetarian, we asked what popular items were and didn't get much responses or answers. Horrible service thus far.
It felt like we were waiting a long time for the food, but realized we weren't getting an app. Our main dishes came out – my roommate's a few min before mine. When I reminded them about the app, he looked confused and said "oh, they're cooking it." We told him to forget about it bc our main entrees were already out.
I got the vegetarian thali and it was a terrible decision. To start, there was so much junk (spices, leaves, etc.) that you need to fish out in order to eat it. Also, given that everything is premade, there is no room for customization and some of it was bland. South Indian food is known for spices and flavors, and most of it did have that, but it didn't taste good at all.
My friend got the paneer butter masala, spicy, and said it was decent. However, when we asked the original waitress, she said they couldn't make dishes customized, even the North Indian dishes. When we asked the waiter, he said we could.
Given the plethora of Indian restaurants, I will never be back to this one. Terrible service, coupled with unappetizing food (and lack of customization / veggie options), I'll opt for other places.
(2.5 stars)
Anjappar is an overcrowded, overpriced restaurant with zero service.
We ordered four thali meals (two fish, one chicken and one mutton) and were sorely disappointed to see the minuscule portions, especially of the vegetable and dal. If you've ever eaten a thali meal before you will know that the generous bowls come topped with veggies and lentils. This one was barely two bites and NO refills either. At 15.95 for mutton and fish thalis, & $14.94 for chicken, it's not worth the wait of 20 minutes to get your meal. Can't understand why the restaurant is skimping on portions – clearly they don't want customers to come back. Also each thali has only one chapatti/roti in it. An additional order of rotis (2 per plate) will cost you $4.90 which is ridiculous.
Now for the food:
We started with a portion of fried idly (8 small pieces for $10) – which was good, came accompanied by two small bowls of chutney. From the main course, everything on the thalis was fresh. Beware the fish curry was spicy as hell – you must have a very high spice threshold to enjoy this dish. The bowl had one piece of king fish in thick red gravy. Chettinad cuisine is supposed to be fiery, but this dish had a very singular note – the spice levels drowned out every other flavor. Full marks to the server who was refilling our water glasses promptly — thank you! I loved the green beans and yellow moong dal in my meal — it was well prepared and well balanced in terms of spices, but still can't get over the miserly portions.
Service was extremely rushed and inefficient. We asked for buttermilk ($3.95), which came promptly, but warning – their version is as spicy as their curries. I also asked for coffee – which they forgot about. When it finally arrived it was completely cold.
Will be taking my business elsewhere next time.
We usually come here for dinner, and the food is always amazing! This is a very specific kind of South Indian meat and seafood based cuisine. The food is spicy and flavorful and very different from the food you'll get in other Indian restaurants. The spice is mostly black pepper based which gives it a unique kind of hot flavor.
Make sure to ask for the daily specials! They often have a fried/baked fish that is consistently good. Try the drums of fire, which are spicy and well cooked. The kottu paratha here is solid too. And definitely make sure to get their appam! It's deliciously fluffy and sweet-savory and served with coconut milk and a korma type curry, both of which go really well with it.
The service is personal and they do explain the dishes quite well to you, but they might go missing sometimes when you want a refill of something. Can't complain too much about this place though, the food is certainly worth visiting for.
Its a OK place. The ambiance is good. The service is also good.
I ordered a chicken biryani thali for lunch. The biryani was OK, the portion was also OK (Though I would have liked a little more). I have had better biryani in past, So just 3 stars.