Mann Manam Restaurant — Restaurant in Kodaikanal

I recently visited a traditional South Indian restaurant in Kodaikanal—unfortunately, I can’t recall the exact place but was near lake . It’s a hidden gem, especially if you’re craving authentic, masaledar biryani served the traditional way.

We ordered the mutton biryani, and it was full of flavor. One portion is quite generous and can easily serve two people. The biryani comes with onion raita and a sweet, all beautifully served on a banana leaf, which adds to the authenticity.

The mutton pieces were rich and flavorful, though do keep in mind that they don’t sort the cuts—you’ll find everything from proper mutton chunks to kidneys and intestines. This might be usual for South Indian cuisine, but could be a surprise for those unfamiliar.

I really appreciated the little touches like water served in mud glasses, which gave a homely, earthy feel. However, the buttermilk was a letdown—quite watery and not very pleasant. Even if they encourage you to try it, I’d say it’s skippable.

Overall, the experience was excellent—authentic food, clean ambience, and good service, which is quite rare in the area. Most other restaurants around were visibly unhygienic or untidy, so this one truly stood out.

Highly recommend it if you’re exploring Kodaikanal and want a real taste of South...

We went to restaurant with vey high hopes, after reading many reviews for its famous biryani. Once we reached the seats were full and we ended up waiting for about 45 minutes. That is fine because we just wanted to try the biryani. But when we got the seat they were out of biryani :( We ordered 2 thalis and some starters and nothing was good. The worst part for me was the service, I really don't know why but the lady serving us was deliberately ingoring us when we tried to order and it really made us feel like an inconvenience. On top of that we ended up getting food poisoning. The experience was so horrible that none of us have touched any chicken dishes since. So overall I didn't enjoy it but I can't say that you shouldn't go there as we weren't able to try the biryani which is what the place is famous for.

Reply to owner- We visited the restaurant in June. And the issue was never the waiting time but the quality of...

This is one of the best places in Kodaikanal to try out some authentic cuisine. We ordered their biryani meals and it was absolutely amazing. We also ordered pepper chicken.

They serve the food on the traditional leaf and their biryani is one of its kind, similar to Dindigul biryani. It was made of small grain rice, unlike the much-used long grain basmati rice. It tasted really good and their mutton was unbelievably soft and well-cooked. Do not forget to try out the pepper chicken. They have an amazing preparation of that, and I would definitely crave for a pepper chicken like that!😂

Overall, this restaurant has to be on your list if you want to try some local cuisine.

P.S. Vegetarian friends, you can skip this place, they literally do not have any decent options for vegetarian food. Also, if you are someone who finds it tough to watch people eating non-vegetarian food, then again, this place is definitely...