THANJAI MESS (AUTHENTIC SOUTH INDIAN RESTAURANT) — Restaurant in North Brunswick Township

Finally got one place with some authentic south indianl style food. There are many here, but this one has the extra kick i look for everywhere ..

Just first time here, so have not tried all their dishes. But whatever is typical tamilnadu dishes here they have the right flavor.

Their indo- Chinese was not up to my satisfaction, good but there are much better restaurants for those ( at least the one I ordered was jist ok) .

I would also recommend some slight changes,

But first, the best parts,

Sambar - perfect reminded me of coimbatore gowrishankar ( in gadipuram) . Next time have to try their sambar vada, a delicacy that no one in my 50 years of eating out could beat gowrishankar's taste. I just have a feel this place will give me that .. fingers crossed till next time.

Chicken 65, the best ( and their version of kozjivepudu, with egg podimass and 65 just takes it few levels up.

King fish tawa fry - really great,

Kuthu parotta, - good

Tallapakuttu briyani, having lived most of my life in dindigul, would say a very good attempt to be close enough. Will surely give a thumbs up for this too.

Uppum, would have been happy if they had not made it crispy over the edges, that crispyness can look good and it gets the shape intact and looks great for serving, but it just throws the authenticity of the dish away. I would also prefer they have a option of coconut milk and a veg curry and not restrict it to only coconut milk. Or even have some non veg curry options here

Improvement, surely the chutney for dosa need to be rethought off, Somehow I feel chutney should be simple, shouldn't try to make it complicated and I think that is why the taste had a texture that it really did not feel good.

Over all another great place...

Honest review as someone who has ancestry from thanjavur. Just OK. I felt some items we ordered are items I've cooked better at home. Sambar was overcooked (way too thick) and not sour enough. It was spicy which was good, but sambar is so quintessential to any south indian restaurant, it should have been executed better than this. I made a similar sambar the first few times I learned to make it... so not a great start. The sambar vadai altogether wasn't great for the price. The vadai was in the sambar as we asked but you could tell it was soggy before being placed in the sambar and too doughy regardless. Gobi 65 was just OK. Biryani had good level of spices but not enough heat. Kal dosai was good, and glad to get 2 in one order but also quite steep of a price. Chutney was not really worth trying in my opinion. Vanjara meen kozhambu was decent but also not the quality the price boasts. One fillet in a small serving of kozhambu for almost 20 dollars? Altogether everything was almost 100 dollars total, and I just don't think we got the quality we paid for. Disappointed that a non veg chettinad restaurant didn't have the quality that matches the prices listed or the vision it promised. I think the team should focus on improving their cooking methods and then maybe make the restaurant look more...

The name of this restaurant certainly brings back fond memories of Southern Indian “mess” concept with seriously good food. Did the name do justice? Let’s see. We catered two dishes from here for a summer party: Kadai Paneer and Paneer Biriyani. This is how I’d rate: Quantity: 10/10 (Lot of paneer in Biriyani as well as the kadai paneer) Quality: 9/10 (paneer pieces were soft in both biryani as well as the kadai paneer) Flavor: 9/10 (The kadai paneer was a little on the spicy side for the weak hearted, but bursting with flavors of spices and browned onions. The paneer in biryani was fragrant with whole spices which shows they marinated it overnight. The Biriyani rice was also fragrant with real whole spices. Only thing, it would be even nicer if the rice was of slightly better basmati variety but that’s hard to achieve here in USA) Cost: 10/10 considering the quantity and quality, the price was on point.

Recently, I also tried their tri-color paneer which was very flavorful and their vadas and paniyaram were simply mind-blowing!! Keep in mind, they are a small business so like any other restaurant, if there are too many bulk orders they might be a little late in serving you…and that just shows they’re the real deal with authentic...