Top 6 Chennai's home kitchens

Chennai's home kitchens offer a diverse range of cuisines.

Chennai's home cooks prepare anything from Kashmiri mutton yakhni to Anglo-Indian cutlets. We've compiled a list of some of the city's best home kitchens that have weathered several lockdowns.

We all have a secret desire to know what is cooking in our neighbors' kitchens and how it compares to home cooking. How exciting would it be to be able to sample meals from a different cuisine every day? This is made possible by these fascinating house kitchens, which serve traditional family delicacies.

Nungambakkam's Andhra Deli

Hyma Sakhamuri, who has worked in IT for most of her life, finally realized her dream of owning a food business in 2019. Her mother and grandmother passed down heirloom recipes to her, which she meticulously handles. Her Guntur-style cuisine has earned her a devoted following. She announces her menu on Instagram and WhatsApp a day ahead of time and only takes reservations for small groups. Her intricate Saturday bhojanam, which has over eight sides and can easily serve two people, is worth mentioning and costs 700 rupees. You might be able to taste her ulli garlic (onion vada) with chicken curry if you're lucky.

Mahalingapuram's Madras Pantry

In January 2020, mother-daughter duo K Srilakshmi and K Keerthana launched a small meal delivery service in their neighborhood, supplying houses and hostels. Food delivery kept them going during the initial wave when their other operations were closed. According to Keerthana, running a food company during lockdown was difficult. “The menu had to be adjusted to 100% vegetarian when the meat outlets were closed during the lockdown,” she explains.

When they started serving food to on-duty doctors, business went off; their combo packages were a big hit. They feature a basic menu that can be reserved ahead of time, including chicken ghee roast with Bydagi chiles and prawn biryani with saffron milk. The price of their complex non-vegetarian package for two is $699.

8667306011 is the phone number to call.

@the madraspantry on Instagram

Vepery, Foodie

Anglo-Indian food is hard to come by in Chennai, as the cuisine is primarily limited to families and family recipes. Carl Fernandes' motivation for starting his home kitchen company was to serve authentic Anglo-Indian food to Chennai's curious gourmands. Earlier this year, this musician moved to cater as a passion. Once a week, he sends out a WhatsApp broadcast message to his customers with a pop-up menu. His popular dishes include Anglo-Indian beef curry and pig fry and coconut rice and ball curry with devil's chutney and cutlets on the side. 9840340926 is the contact number.

@foodsy kitchen is on Instagram.

Rebecca's Kitchen (Rebecca's Kitchen),

Nelson Manickam Road is a road in Nelson Manickam.

“Cuisine makes people happy, but good food feeds the soul,” Ammu Manoj says. In March 2021, she felt confident enough to branch out beyond catering for friends, thanks to her friends and peers' praise. She runs her business out of a separate flat that she has turned into a kitchen studio, serving Travancore food (South Kerala) distinctly. Her Quilon (Kollam) roots show in her kallappam, which is infused with tender coconut. Her signature dish, though, is a trio of palappams.

9884898998 is the phone number to call.

@rebeccas kitchen on Instagram

Vepery, Ayesha's Kitchen

Sohail Mohammed has been processing orders and coordinating deliveries for his mother, Shabnam Parveen's business Ayesha's Kitchen, for the past two years. Their client base has grown thanks to a concentration on Muslim home-style meals and consistent word-of-mouth exposure, as well as Instagram shoutouts. Shabnam makes sure to stick to her family's recipes to the letter: her Shammi kebabs are made with meat that has been marinated for hours, and her seekh kebabs require the charcoal to be heated just so to get the perfect smokiness. Sohail exclaims that his mother's paaya ka salan is "Azeez (wonderful)" and goes nicely with string hoppers as well as parathas. Supper for two will set you back around $600-700.

9003213351 is the phone number to call.

@ayesha.kitchen_ on Instagram

Kodambakkam's Abid's Kitchenette

Yasmeen Azeem and her family chose to share their treasure trove of Kashmir valley dishes with the public in May 2020. After her wedding in 1976, Yasmeen relocated to Chennai. Her bestselling mutton yakhni, which consists of meatballs cooked in a curd-based curry with a light dosage of aromatics, appears to have garnered many fans. Another meal to look forward to is the fiery-looking yet slightly spicy pasta. You won't be sorry if you wash it all down with a glass of home-brewed Mahwah. Yasmeen's daughter-in-law, Sadia, manages her social media and assists with the ordering process. Supper for two will set you back around $800-900.

9840089139 is the phone number to call.

@abids kitchenette on Instagram