The temple city of Madurai is best known for its religious festivals, temples, and foods. We went on a small binge on one beautiful evening in Madurai, only to discover some supremely delicious dishes.
Our first stop was the Famous Jigarthanda. The drinks being served at this shop are a cool relief to the hot and humid environment of Madurai. The drink that everyone goes for - Jil Jil Jigarthanda, a combination of almond gum, sarasparilla syrup, ice cream, condensed milk, chilled milk, and a mystery ingredient. As the name suggests, the drink surely relaxes and cools down your mind, body, and heart!
We have a bit of a soft side for Halwa, so we made our way Prem Vilas for some amazing halwa. They also have a variety of freshly made savoury snacks. We got the opportunity to try a number of different halwas which include wheat halwa, almond halwa, carrot halwa, and milk halwa. Each had a unique flavour and was truly scrumptious.
Now for some more hogging, we landed at Sai Aiyyappan Dosai Kadai, a place that has stood for around 40 years and is known for serving 70 varieties of dosa. They have pizza dosa, garlic dosa, spicy mushroom, and for all you sweet-tooths out there, they have butterscotch, chocolate, and even a honey dosa. Even though flavour combinations seem a little outlandish, they are on point. We tried a variety of Dosas here and weren't disappointed at all.
Our last and final stop was at the Murugan Idli Shop. Here we tried the Nai Podi Idly which is idly dipped in podi/chilly chutney powder. The specialty of this place is that this marvelous idly is served with four kinds of chutney. The idly are super soft and fluffy. On the whole, the entire dish is just a whole plate of yumminess!