The National Lodge — Restaurant in Zone 5 Royapuram

On 01-06-2024, I had my midday meal at The National Lodge Restaurant. The staircase leading to the first floor was extremely narrow, with walls covered in dirt and floors stained with spit. Upon reaching the first floor, two men were issuing meal tokens. I requested tokens for four people - three adults and one child. The man provided three tokens for full meals and two additional tokens for the child, worth ₹100 each. The total amount he asked for was ₹680. Unfortunately, the restaurant only accepted cash payments, so I paid in cash. I handed him ₹700 and received ₹20 in return. Due to the rush, I was unable to verify the price of the full meals at that moment. However, upon later inspection, I discovered that the price for three full meals should have been ₹510, and the extra meal should have been ₹100, totaling ₹610. Therefore, he should have returned ₹90, but he only gave me ₹20. These individuals are nothing but scoundrels and thieves.

Afterward, we proceeded to the second floor to have our meals. On the left side, there was a small dining hall that could accommodate only 25 people at a time. On the right side, there were four or five bathrooms. I strongly advise against using these bathrooms in case of an emergency, as they were disgustingly dirty and unsanitary.

Now, let's discuss the food review, which I had previously conducted in February 2020. Unfortunately, my opinion remains the same, but with an even lower rating now. The ghee and pappu were the worst. If you want to experience authentic paruppu podi, I recommend visiting Kasi Vinayaga. The sambar was also terrible, followed by the karakuzhambu. The rasam was so unappetizing that I didn't allow the server to pour it on my leaf. The sabji potato fry was just average, and the server seemed hesitant to offer more considering the price of the full meal. There was one more pachadi, which was also okay. The kongura chutni was as usual.

For dessert, they served curd and sugar, along with pappad and a useless sweet pickle. The sweet kesari was a disappointment as well.

I can confidently say that I will never visit this restaurant again. The quality of the meals is simply unacceptable.

Furthermore, this restaurant is overrated on food review websites.

15-02-2020: The food quality was average, lacking exceptional taste. Despite the claims made by the owner and servers that mixing podi with chutney would enhance the flavor, the reality did not live up to the expectation. The podi at Triplicane Kasi Vinayaka Mess was indeed delicious, unlike the one served at National Lodge Andhra meals. The sambar was decent, while the curd was too watery. The potato curry, on the other hand, was quite good. I paid ₹140 for the AC hall with unlimited servings. The hype surrounding the taste seemed excessive. In my opinion, the owner should consider visiting Kasi Vinayaka Mess to learn how to prepare Paruppu podi. My visit took place...

I was surprised to see the price of lunch being INR 110, in-spite of being located in parry's corner known for its affordable pricing.

Had to get a token after paying and waited for 15 minutes before getting the allocated seat vacated by the previous customer. Lucky that i went on a Saturday, had it been a Sunday, i was told that they don't serve food as they provide only parcel for people standing in long ques stretching for some distance of 50 meters on the Govindappa Naickan street.

Podi with ghee was served along with the suggestion to mix it along with the tomato curry, being a strange idea, i tried it out to see if it really results in good taste, to my surprise, indeed it did taste good.

Pappu was served as a kootu rather than the typical mix offered usually for rice. Here again there is no let down in the typical Andhra style.

Usually, i avoid Sambar and Rasam in Andhra restaurants and meses but here something made me venture towards trying then out, Oh what a great intuition i have, both of them were prepared in typical Thanjavur style and was a yummy delicacy. One can go here mainly to taste them.

Mor kuzhambu turned out to be a Andhra style preparation which did not disappoint buurt not great. Curd was the final choice.

Apart from the Pappu, there was only one Potato curry which was sort of okay. There was a chutney prepared in Andhra style, pineapple kesari was prepared without the carcinogenic food color, need to thank the proprietors for such health conscious measures and an appalam were served.

One more worthy surprise was a Ginger and jaggery based watery chutney, which tasted nicely adding a twist.

Probably the north Indian proprietor who runs the shop had realised, since majority customers are from Tamilnadu, he had come up with a brilliant mix of Andhra and Thanjavur styles to satisfy both taste buds to be commercially successful.

To me this is not a place were i would crave to go again at the same time will go in of the situation demands. Not a bad choice and not a...

Having heard lot about this place, recently I visited The National Lodge on a summer afternoon for a lunch.

Food was tasty, no doubt about it; even the service.

But if you had spent your time in AP or Telangana and had Andhra meals there and if you expect something similar, you will be disappointed.

Except for the podi and tangy sambar, nothing fits into the Andhra meals category. Andhra meals isn’t complete without the thick curd or the vegetable veppudu - these are notable missing. They also overdo the podi (they smear multiple spoons of podi in the food)

Still though, the food is tasty. The day I dropped in, the sambar had masala vada in it. Kind of good; the thayir pachadi too was good. There was a dal curry, which tasted good, but again it’s not Andhra style.

Overall I will rate it as good lunch spot, even though it’s no way closer to Andhra meals - for which, for me, if it’s Chennai- it’s the New Andhra Meals...