The World of South Indian Veg Restaurants

The world inside South Indian veg restaurants is a slow one. If you’re wondering what qualifies as a South Indian Veg Restaurant, anything with a “bhavan” or “vilas” suffix does. If the suffix is absent look for the words “Uyar thara saiva unavagam” in the subtitle. Those are the indicators.

If you’re walking into any ‘bhavan’ or ‘vilas’ restaurant today, you’ll see how active the place is. The service is fast and patrons are constantly flowing in and out of the restaurant. And every element of the restaurant is built for fast service — steel tables and chairs for faster cleaning, tiled walls, readily available menu, and plain interiors.

The food is great, but you feel like you’re about to be pushed out of the restaurant if you stay a second more after placing the empty dabara set on the table.

Today, it might look like most of these ‘bhavan’ restaurants are built for quick service. But, they weren’t like this before.

There was a time when people went to these restaurants to take a short break, have delicious food, and unwind. Back then, these restaurants were different. They were laid back. The interior had wooden tables and chairs, a uniformed fleet of waiting staff, walls filled with picture frames, private rooms for families, and the owner at the cash counter (dressed in white shirt and dhoti), constantly supervising the staff.

These restaurants were the South Indian equivalent of a diner, where people visited the restaurant at any time of the day to unwind and socialize over food and coffee.

Despite the change, these restaurants still play an active role in our lives. If you look back, you could see that a lot of good moments in our lives would’ve have happened in one of these restaurants. And, we don’t even realize it.

Examples? A cup of coffee with friends after a morning walk at the beach, a plate of hot Pongal-vadai after a temple visit. A small plate of sweet, kaaram, and coffee after two parties register a land or a made a deal, families of the to-be bride and groom eating lunch after buying the wedding saree, the occasional chola poori in the evenings with family. I can go on.

Even today, you can see regulars — people in their 60s and 70s walking into one of these restaurants to have their regular dose of sambar vadai and coffee. For them, coming to a bhavan or Vilas restaurant is part of their routine. These restaurants are a part of them.

It is fascinating to see how our lives are deeply intertwined with common spaces like these restaurants. That’s why a lot of these legacy restaurants are still part of our history and culture. They’ve seen a lot of pivotal moments in history — some remembered and some forgotten.