“Annalakshmi” – Named after the “Goddess of Food”, is a restaurant at Chennai serving Vegetarian cuisine with LOVE !
“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart” – Golden Words of Confucius ! “Whatsoever you serve, serve with all your heart” – this must probably be the motto of Hotel Annalakshmi behind the grand success of this special place.
= = = = Annalakshmi = = = =
With “LOVE” as their basic cliché, Hotel Annalakshmi has been set-up by a Service-Oriented Organization called “The Temple of Fine Arts”. “Athithi Devo Bhava” meaning “the guest is God” is the adage filled in the minds of the volunteers working at this restaurant, which keeps them going along their path of love (Thanks: https://chennaionline.com)
= = = = Other Branches = = = =
Hotel Annalakshmi is functioning successfully at Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Perth, Penang and Coimbatore, with Chennai as their 6th branch.
= = = = What’s New @ Annalakshmi = = = =
• Entirely run by service minded Volunteers
• Profit solely goes to charity
• Both men and women volunteers work together with love and are completely committed to cooking, serving and billing – you could even find lot of professionally qualified youths here !
= = = = Locality = = = =
Tirupathi for Laddus, Tirunelveli for the delicious Halwaas, Sivakasi for the Fataa Futt Crackers, yes, Chennai for over 50 years is famous for the 14 Storeyed LIC Building !! Hotel Annalakshmi is sited opposite to this hottest landmark “LIC Building” at Mount Road. Annalakshmi is the building next to the office of ‘Addisons’, a very popular TVS Group Company.
= = = = My First Visit = = = =
By the time their branch at Chennai was opened, Hotel Annalakshmi had advertised extending an invitation to everyone to visit their hotel and pay whatever they thought their food really deserved.
My first enjoyable visit to Hotel Annalakshmi still remains evergreen in my memory. On the occasion of my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary, we decided to try this new restaurant. After a prior reservation of a Table for dinner, four of us arrived at the hotel by 7.00 p.m.
= = = = Our Entry = = = =
At the entrance, we could feel a vastly refreshing cool breeze of the trees and were delighted at our glimpse of a spectacular waterfall. Multi-coloured lights added to the beauty of the cascades and two uniformed guards at the entrance cheerfully welcomed us.
= = = = Our Funny Experience = = = =
At the reception, to our surprise, a very warm and friendly formally dressed gentleman informed us that our table was ready, even before we could introduce ourselves. Myself and my sister really couldn’t control our laughter ‘cause we both thought that we might have been the only people made a reservation for dinner at this new hotel. The Gentleman (eyeing our frenzied giggling) gave us both a blank yet a drolly look. After very reverently seating us at our table, the gentleman informed my dad in a very respectful tone (a sarcastic tone for us ???) that all others who had reserved tables had already arrived and we were the only set of people pending arrival and that was the reason he could easily identify us. Should I elaborate on his subsequent expression towards me & my sister before he turned around to leave?
= = = = Our Dinner Table = = = =
I think the Dinner Table is worth a briefing here ! It was a rectangular table covered with beautiful ivory coloured satin cloth. The table cloth had beautiful glittering minute light-shaded sparkling stones at the corners and at the center of the cloth there was some attractive flower (I don’t exactly remember what flower it was) that was really really majestic painted in shining black & golden colours. Added to the beauty of the table, was a small signboard displaying my parents’ names in golden words (the phone booking had been done in my parents’ name)….. imagine the kind of excitement and pleasure we would have got on seeing our parents’ name on the table of a restaurant, that too on such a special occasion (the restaurant was infact not even aware of this special occasion) !! Is there any other restaurant which does this ?
= = = = The Restaurant = = = =
As much as I loved the pleasantness of the foyer, I desire to pen a few words of appreciation on the beauty of the restaurant too !
It was a very brightly lit restaurant accommodating around 100 to 120 people at a time. The very first impression I got about this Hall was that it was much beyond the word “B E A U T I F UL” !! The restaurant was exquisitely decorated with gorgeous paintings and very elegant and stylish hanging lights. A few modern statues aptly placed here and there added to the charisma of the place. Over all, the restaurant was incredibly lively and to be more specific, very effervescent !!!
= = = = Our Dinner = = = =
It was one of the finest dinners I have had ! As soon as we were seated, two formally dressed ladies’ brought water and lemon in beautiful silver basins for us to wash hands. They informed us that they were yet to introduce other food varieties and since they were on their introductory offer, they serve only the Hotel’s Special Dinner which was a pre-fixed menu and we had no other choice (they already informed this to us while we made the reservation over phone). We ordered dinner for four of us.
= = = = Born with Silver Spoon = = = =
First, we were served a veg. corn soup all in silver bowls. Even the Salt + Pepper Containers were in glittering silver. Wow….. the soup was excellent ! It had been carefully prepared probably with lot of love … it was one of the tastiest soup I had ever had !
The dinner menu contained a vermicelli kheer, 2 onion vadas, mixed pudina rice, plain steamed chawal, South-Indian Sambar, Pineapple Rasam, mixed vegetable koottu, two side-dishes (a potato fry and some other cury), curd, pickle, pappads & salads. There were no rotis and the ice-creams. But we all loved the superb taste of every item served. The dinner was very tasty & filling. We paid and after leaving our comments, left the place. But the taste of their excellent food items was lingering on my tongue for more than a month and all of us were talking about this wonderful restaurant to almost everyone we came across.
The Highlight of this special dinner is that every utensil was in glittering silver !! Hee… Hee……… We too enjoyed like people “Born with Silver Spoon”.
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED”
Pros:
•Wonderful Ambience
•Clean maintained
•Peaceful Atmosphere
•Excellent Taste
•Friendliness & very polite behaviour of the Maître d'hôtel
•Serves both North Indian as well as the South-Indian food varieties
•All Served in nothing but Silver (??)
Cons:
•Costly, but worth spending for their quality of service and the beauty of the place
•Parking is a major problem. You would be required to park cars only in the side roads / nearby complexes
Thanks for your valuable time………… RRCing most welcome !!
Cheers
Jaya
