This is a series on food that we had at Madurai & Dindigul, March 2024. Read earlier posts here – Konar kadai, Murugan idli, Venu Dindigul Biriyani
In a nutshell:
Seriously anti ‘Queen’s language’’,(pun intended) this restaurant serves some really good, best in class Madurai special non-vegetarian dishes, quick service, good interiors, comfortable seating.
Address & other details:
Instagram – jankiram
Facebook – NA
Google – Sri Janakiram, Tamil Sangam Road
Phone : +9199652 17444
Meal for 2: ₹500 onwards
Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian
Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.
YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives a final overall rating, which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster
The backdrop:
Our trip to Madurai was organized by our travel curator Vana safaris. We have been travelling all across India on food & culture immersion tours since 2019 with them & have got addicted to their unique layered tours way beyond the obvious that no amount of Internet research could get us ever.
For the food immersion trip in Madurai, Vana Safaris roped in their business partners foodies Day out to organise the trips for us.
foodies Day out was started by Mukunthan (will refer to him as M in rest of the post) & Praveena who spent a large part of their Saturday with us & we made very good friends.
P & M have been running food walks in Madurai from the time when food walk was an almost unknown concept in India. If you are a foodie & are travelling to Madurai, I would recommend you not to miss a food walk with them.
Website – https://foodiesdayout.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/foodiesdayout.tht?igsh=Njh3bHVzYW9wdjZz
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/FoodiesDayOut?mibextid=uzlsIk
We paid Vana safaris thru UPI. They paid Foodies Day out. So we do not have any receipts of the food that we ate while dining with Foodies Day out.
Short description- in case u r in a hurry
When we got off the car with M, he walked into a building with a large facade & we followed him. There was only 6 letters & 2 words in Indian English – NON VEG. Rest everything was written in Tamil. The owners really disapprove the erstwhile colonialists it seems. The smaller boards around with I guess the menu, we’re also written only in Tamil.
We walked with M to the first floor. There were few dining halls & we walked into one of them. It was before 1 pm & one dining hall was already filled. We were the first guests at the second hall & it was full while we were midway to finishing our meal.
As expected, there were hardly any tourists. Without M we would never ever had been able to find this place even if we were to drive past this. All guests seemed to be from the locality.
M did all the choosing of the items that we ate, in addition to a specific request we had made.
The dining hall was nice, neat & clean. The furniture was traditional, made of heavy wood.
The serving staff were very busy but they managed to share a smile.
M knew the menu & his favourites. So we did not get to see the menu card.
Food was served to us in banana leaves. The custom is that guest re-cleans their leaf with water using fingers before food is served. Guests also fold the leaf in a certain way to indicate end of the meal.
Absolutely loved the food here.
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
One of the things we had requested M in the car was a tiny fish dish – Ayirameen kulambu (Spined loaches). We had got to know of these fishes from a post by chef Thomas Zacharias on Instagram. He had mentioned that these fishes are do small that can’t be cleaned by cutting. So the live fishes are put into a bowl of milk so that they drink the milk & their bowels get cleared, before they are cooked live!!!
M asked the waiter about Ayirameen & he confirmed that it was available. We got to know that this speciality fish of this region is available not on all days & even if it is available, it sells out within first 30 minutes of lunch time.
We were super excited. As we ate, we realized that this tasted familiar, yet different. It reminded of mourola fish that we have eaten in Bengal but was much smaller & different to taste. Really liked it.
Was it the tastiest fish that we have ever eaten? NO. Did it give a lot of joy? YES. Will we again order this when in Madurai? YES
Rate it 4.25/5
Mutton kola – mutton minced meatballs crumb fried. The mutton kola that we had here was the best among all 3 places that we had this dish, during the trip (The other two being Konar Kadai & Venu Biriyani Hotel).
The filling was moist & moderately juicy. The outer layer was crisp. Flavours of mutton & spices complimented each other.
Rate it 4.5/5
Moolai roast ( Bheja fry) was serious good. Perfectly cooked, just the right texture & just the right amount of spices in it. Outstanding balance of taste. Rate it 4.75/5
Viraalmeen fry-Snakehead Murrel fish fry was juicy & fleshy. The seasoning was just right. The deep fried outer layer was crisp & this contrast made the texture fun. Rate it 4.5/5
Overall rating of food at Janakiraman averages out to 4.5/5
These 4 dishes we had are just a tip of the iceberg. They have a long menu.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY YUMMRAJ