Karaikudi

Best in town for: Chicken Tikka Makhani, Aloo Palak, Naan, Kulcha etc etc
Worst in town for: nothing

Opening Times:

Monday to Sunday

11.00am - 4.00pm

7.00pm - 11.00pm

Frontal view of the restaurant

View of Market Street, with the MPPP multi-storey carpark in background

From the official website:

Deep in the south of India's southernmost state, Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Tamils, is Chettinad, the land of the Nattukottai Chettiars. Karaikudi is its chief town. Karaikudi is about 425km from Madras (chennai), the capital of Tamil Nadu and the gateway to South India. Karaikudi derives its name from the famous plant "Kara" which abounds in the area. Chettinad's parched terrain may be some of the most inhospitable land in India, but man is at his most hospitable here.

Chettiar hospitality is legendary. A stranger is welcomed, a guest is fussed over and any occasion is reason enough for a feast to which he is invited. A feast is an occasion for a wide veriety of daily fare and an open-hearted hospitality. Perhaps the tastiness of the food has something to do with the traditional way in which it is prepared. Chettinad cuisine is spicy and full of flavours. South Indian restaurants the world over offer Chettinad dishes. Chettiar hospitality is legendary, hence our motto "our privilege to serve".

Here at Karaikudi Restaurant, we present you with the best of North and South Indian cuisine in a brilliant blend of flavours, seasonings, nutritional balance, fragrance, taste and visual appeal.

CAT: Karaikudi, is in my opinion, the best, and the most underrated Indian restaurant in Penang. It really is a shame that so few people have heard of this wonderful, wonderful restaurant. Located on Market Street on the outskirts of Little India, this shabby restaurant serves some of the most amazing Indian cuisine.

If you have never visited Karaikudi before, just follow the simple steps below and you won't go wrong!

Step 1: For each person, order a bread, either Naan, Kulcha or Pratha.

Naan comes in Butter/Garlic/Cheese flavours, while Kulcha comes in Onion/Masala flavours. The Cheese Naan, Onion Kulcha and Stuffed Pratha are all highly recommended

Cheese Naan

Step 2: Order some meat dishes.

My favorite dish here is the Chicken Tikka Makhani. Unbelievably tender Chicken Breast cooked with lots of butter in a rich curry sauce, this is a must try dish. The Prawn Masala is another favorite, with fresh, chewy prawns in a spicy Masala curry. We have to apologise for the poor quality of the pictures, it's hard to take appetising pictures when the lighting is poor and everything looks like goo.

Chicken Tikka Makhani

Prawn Masala

Step 3: Order some vegetarian dishes.

Being a carnivore, cats aren't big fans of vegetables. However, the curries in Karaikudi taste so good that even a meat-loving cat like myself can fall in love with their vegetarian dishes. Our favorites are the Aloo Palak (Potato in Spinach curry) and Mushroom and Peas Masala.

Aloo Palak (yes we know it looks like vomit, but it tastes amazing)

Mushroom and Peas Masala

Step 4: Eat like greedy bears.

BEAR: ... *growls*. I'm going to ignore that. Bear will find other ways to get back at Cat for that. anyway to me

Worst in town for: nothing Parking. People walking on the street like they own the damned road.

Ladies Finger Masala

Bear orders nothing but the Cheese Naan everytime we go there. It's delicious! The cheese naan doesn't have as much cheese as the one I once had in KL but that also means it doesn't smell like old socks cause the one in KL definitely smells of old socks after a while.

Kashmiri Naan with (from left) Butter Chicken Makhani,

Ladies Finger Masala, Aloo Palak, Prawn Masala

Bear's favourite dish of all time has to be the Prawn Masala. I can eat just that with the Cheese Naan and still be a very happy bear. Beside that, the Mushroom and Peas Masala is a must. It's really strange considering that I dislike button mushrooms and I hate hate hate peas but love the Mushroom and Peas Masala. Weird.

Peas are one thing where I could spit out each and every individual pea from a dish or spend the next 10 minutes sorting out the peas from my fried rice etc. but with the mushroom and peas masala, I'm always happy to get a second helping.

Onion Kulcha (delicious!)

We unfortunately never tried the desserts there considering Cat has a tendency to over eat about 99.99% of the time there and complains of tummy ache. So there's never any room for desserts with him around.

While the pictures looks like bowls and bowls or goo of baby food, Bear can give you her personal guarantee that it tastes better than goo.

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