‘Vanakkam’ Namma pasangala, Namma tamizh sapadu now in Thane.

The typical day for a Tamil person starts early in the morning with reading the newspaper while sipping hot coffee. These are two inseperable things in most of the traditional Tamil families. The aroma of filter coffee in the house makes your morning fresh.

Vanakkam, 3 month old Tamil restaurant, has opened up in Hiranandani estate.

Food scene in Thane has been buzzing in the last 6-8 months. Lot of new fine dine as well as pop up restuarants have come up in the Thane city.

But still there was a dearth to find a restaurant serving good spread of authentic Tamil cuisine. This problem has now got a solution.

The four (rather 5 now with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana split ) South Indian states serve different cuisines. All four cuisines have their own preparations, flavours, texture and taste. So you cannot generalize a restaurant as a South Indian restaurant just because it serves Dosa and Idli.

Vanakkam, meaning Welcome / Namaste, welcomes you to an overdose of Tamil vegetarain food. This restaurant is opened by five passionate foodies who wanted to give Thaneites the taste of authentic Tamil food. Jude, Vishnu, Devendran, Dhanuj & Srinivasan have done a lot of research before opening up this place. All the ingredients are brought in from Tamilnadu except for the vegetables and few perishable items. This is to make sure that the taste is as close to the food that you will taste when you visit any city in Tamilnadu. All chefs working behind the scene at Vanakkam are from Tamilnadu.

For filter coffee lovers : When you nod your head slightly in the affirmative way after finishing your first sip appreciating the taste and instantly order your second coffee even before finishing your first one; that reflects the quality of Filter Coffee. I would rate the Filter Coffee served by Vanakkam in this category. Filter Coffee or ‘Degree Coffee’ or ‘Kumbakonam Degree Coffee’ is served here in the traditional cutlery.

There is another special local Tamil nadu black coffee available at Vanakkam. It is known as Panam karupati coffee. Black coffee with palm jaggery.

For tea lovers : Vanakkam gives you an option of Tamil tea, which can be customised as per your requirement : Light, medium or strong, and normal masala tea. The tea making equipment is also brought in straight from Tamilnadu.

The menu has a good number of dishes which will satiate your hunger.

The first thing that you will notice is the taste and texture of Sambhar. It is how a Tamil sambhar will look and taste 🙂

Dosai : Variety of dosais (yes Dosai and not Dosa – that’s how you say that in Tamil 🙂 ) like kal dosai, karapodi dosai, ghee roast, malli chutney kara podi roast, special small onion dosai, ragi dosai etc. are available. My favourite is Karai podi onion dosai (slightly spicy).

Kothu Parotta is a speciality of Vanakkam. This is one of the famous street foods of Tamil nadu. Kothu Parotta is normally made out of non veg ingredients. Kothu means chopped, minced or shredded. Parotta is made from maida. The preparation of this is done by mixing ingredients like chilli, tomato, onions and parotta. All these are then minced in the kal (tawa) with a iron / steel spatula. Vanakkam serves a vegetarian variant of it along with curry and it tastes yummy.

(They also serve veechu parotta)

Other offerings include medu Vada sambhar , Nellai Vada etc.

The chutneys and sambhar served at Vanakkam are not spicy.

Another Tamil nadu special delicacy is Paniyaram. It is made by pouring the batter in to a special pan. Vanakkam serves couple of varieties of Paniyaram.

If you are the type of foodie who prefer to have a sweet dish at the end of the meal then you should try the pineapple Kesari / Sheera.

Vanakkam opens at 6:30 am and makes sure that the aroma of filter coffee hits the road early in the morning. People who go for a walk / jog in the morning visit this place to get their hands on the filter coffee & newspaper.

So if you are looking for simple Tamil food then Vanakkam is the place for you.

Location : Near Hiranandani Foundation School, Hiranandani Estate, Thane West

Price : Affordable , meal for 2 : 400 INR

Ambience : Nice

Restaurant has a seating capacity of 22-25 people.

Home Delivery is also available at an additional cost.