Minar Mess, Angappa Naicken st, Mannady

For exact location: https://goo.gl/maps/pF5itA1yCD72

Another place to hog in the Mannady area. Chennai has tons of road side parotta kadais but this was the first time I was seeing aapams being made with the same enthusiasm as barottas! The
appam master was simultaneously seeing to 3 pairs of aapams on the flame to be served hot. Then there’s a barotta master on the side and another cooking range for indo-Chinese food but this place is known for the southern Muslim style non-veg dishes like mutton paaya, chops, beef items, murthabak, fish, crab, prawn curries and more!

Minar has a good crowd most of the times owing to the large selection of non-veg items in the menu. There’s a display case right near the billing counter at the entrance where you can see about a dozen curries on display. For takeaway you need to check if the item you want is available, then pay get the bill and wait in line at the display where the staff are busy packing orders.

The place is literally buzzing with hungry eaters and take-away crowd. Not the place if you’re finicky about ambiance. You’ll be sharing a table with strangers if you’re two or less here. There’s even a small AC section which will be useful during summers. Not tried it.

Been here a few times and tried the mutton paaya, beef curry, barottas, idiappams and appams. I takeaway since I prefer to eat at home. The barottas are thick and good. The side curry which they give with barottas are thick and yummy with peanuts ground in.

The paaya was completely different from the style made at National durbar and the likes. This one is much thicker a bit more spicy but not in a hot way. Perfect to eat with idiappams! For around 100 bucks it’s great value and the beef curry also close to 100 bucks. Lots of super tender pieces in a lightly peppery thick gravy. Not extraordinary but tasty! Have also tried their egg curry for just 20 bucks a portion its pretty good too.

Coming to the appams, they pack it with some kind of coconut chammanthi (seems this is something called sambal made from dried fish!) which is nice. However the appams need to be had on the spot for the best taste since by the time I reach home (40 min journey) it loses the springiness. Not their fault though. They taste just fine and are just rs 10 a piece.

This place is ideal for non-veg eaters who want some typical southern Muslim non veg fare for a less cost. Pretty confident that most items here would be good to yummy. Because of the crowd many items get finished off few hours before closing time so the food is fresh too.