At Adisil Sri Lankan Restaurant, a group of women from the Sri Lankan Tamil Rehabilitation Camp in Puzhal mill around the kitchen as diners walk in for lunch. A week into its operations, the bright, clean space has an extensive menu plastered on the walls, a glass case with snacks on display, and a coffee machine from Madras Coffee House.
The Adisil team at the restaurant | Photo Credit: S Poorvaja
The restaurant is an initiative supported by the Greater Chennai Corporation, and has been facilitated by the South India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with the guidance of the Commissionerate of Rehabilitation & Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils, and coordinated by the Organisation of Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR).
“The UNHCR has been working on strengthening the self-reliance and independence of refugees and as a part of our efforts, we have encouraged them to become foodpreneurs as well. For two years, many residents from the Puzhal camp came together for the Oorum Unavum food festival at Semmozhi Poonga, and we joined hands with the SICCI to set up a support forum as well,” says Satchithananda Valan Michael, head of field office, UNHCR. “While we were exploring the possibility of setting up cloud kitchens, this opportunity came up via the Greater Chennai Corporation and Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran, to set up a restaurant at the Ripon Buildings campus,” he adds.
S Gowri Nathan, G Vijitha and A Pradeepa, residents of the Puzhal camp are in charge here, assisted by a team of 15 women from the same camp. All of them have been in Tamil Nadu for over 30 years now and the recipes that feature on the extensive menu which offers breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, are from their homes.
A view of the restaurant | Photo Credit: S Poorvaja
The restaurant’s location, on the campus of the Ripon Buildings, a campus integral to the functioning of the city. means they can expect to see a range of diners; from those working there to visitors who want a quick lunch or a snack after meetings at the Corporation or explorers up for a meal after a tour of the newly-opened Victoria Public Hall nearby. When we settle in for lunch, a couple walks in, having spotted the board of the restaurant at Raja Muthiah Road, craving some authentic food from their hometown in Sri Lanka.
Mentored by restaurateur ‘Hot Breads’ M Mahadevan, the team has received guidance on pricing, menu development, hygiene, kitchen SOPs, and accounts, along with investment in kitchen equipment. A manager from his team is also on-site to support them during their first month.
While puttu, idiappam and aapams are available for breakfast, we get to sample the lunch offerings; there are vegetarian (₹130) and non-vegetarian meals (₹170) which include rice, sodhi, the sambol of the day, a poriyal and a vella curry both prepared Sri Lankan style with copious amounts of coconut, rasam, and a sweet. We also try the fragrant ghee rice and coconut rice, which can be had with a side of chicken or fish curry (₹150 and below for rice and curries), as well as with prawn fry (₹150) or squid fry (₹130) ordered on the side. The meal is hearty, and there is a selection of snacks below ₹50.
Gowri Nathan is eager to explain what makes their cuisine special. “We use a lot of fresh coconut in everything; from our poriyal to our vella curry. Even our rasam has coconut milk. While coconut or pol sambol goes best with breakfast, we make a different sambol for lunch everyday. For instance, a vallarai spinach sambol or even a bitter gourd one we make with shallots and lemon goes very well with coconut rice,” he says.
Ghee rice, coconut rice, prawn, fish and squid curry is also on the menu | Photo Credit: S Poorvaja
The team has divided responsibilities among themselves with each member taking charge of a part of the menu. S Sujatha and Chandra Bhavani head to the restaurant early in the morning to prepare puttu and idiappam for breakfast, while Kamala Vadhini says she focusses on ghee rice and the chicken dishes. Seafood comes under Bama, while Deivammal, a septuagenarian, takes charge of turning out hot, lacy appams.
They are especially excited about their fish cutlets, which they say make for the perfect evening snack alongside egg rotis, kothu, susiyam, and steamed tapioca also on the menu. But the team is also just as eager to talk about odiyal koozh, a traditional seasonal speciality which is a robust soup of seafood broth and palmyra tubers, typically savoured during the cooler, rainy months, though they hope to serve it year-round.
With very few restaurants serving authentic Sri Lankan Tamil food in Chennai, this purpose-driven initiative feels like a welcome addition to the city’s burgeoning foodscape. Adisil can be accessed both via the entrance to the Ripon Buildings and through an entrance on Raja Muthiah Road near the Central metro station (B5 entrance). While there is only indoor seating for now, there is work afoot on adding newer corners for the diners; an outdoor seating space, as well a space to sit on the terrace of the building.
In the short time since they have opened, the team has had to work together to quickly adapt to the demands of a large kitchen– from estimating how much to cook to picking up speed during lunch and dinner. As first time entrepreneurs, this might seem like a daunting task, but Pradeepa, Gowri Nathan and Vijitha move around their new space with quiet, efficient ease “This is the first time all of us, including the team of women in the kitchen, are working in a restaurant,” Pradeepa says. “We have only cooked in our homes before and now, we are happy to showcase our traditional recipes to many more people.”
Adisil Sri Lankan Restaurant is open from 7.30am to 7.30pm, Monday to Saturday
