Chettinad Eatery Log: Priya Mess

Like I said before, one of the main objectives of this trip to Chettinad was to, well, eat. And eat we did. Almost every meal we had was at a different local mess or food stall, if not in a different town entirely!

I wanted to make a list of all the places we ate at, but since I have stories about each one, it was proving to be a rather long post. Instead, it shall be in installments.

Day 1: Lunch at Priya Mess, Karaikudi

We arrived in Karaikudi and drove straight to Priya Mess. The line to get in was long… we spent about as long waiting for tables as we did actually eating the meal. But it was so worth it!

Rush at Priya Mess

It’s a small place, with maybe ten tables in total. The service staff was extremely energetic, bustling about, shouting at each other – half in annoyance and half in jest – but with big grins on their faces all along. They served us stealthily, but with genuine warmth, urging us to “eat well, ma, eat well! This is home food”.

All the food in the meal was traditional to the Chettinad region. They began by serving us daal with leafy greens, and a drumstick poriyal. Then came rice – unlimited. This, with rasam later on, made up the basic vegetarian meal. Then they came around offering various gravies from meat curries to accompany our rice. Based on what we liked we could order single servings of various meat curries, which included two types of chicken – broiler and country chicken, mutton, prawn, and crab (my personal favourite). Each curry was slightly different from the other. Flavorful and well spiced – I sweated and panted my way through the meal, but I enjoyed every bite!

Can you tell by my face how good the food was?!