Food, Eat & Dine in Pondicherry

Pondicherry is the place to indulge your gastronomical cravings. It is truly a gourmet`s delight. Here is a place where you can savor diverse cuisines from French, continental, Thai, Vietnamese to the Indian fares of authentic South Indian, Gujarati, Bengali and typical North Indian Stuff. And yes prices are affordable too. So be it breakfast or lunch, and dinner gets ready for some tantalizing foods. Some of the typical Pondicherry stuffs to try are Assad and Podanlangkai. Another favorite is the smoked Aubergine crush, a mouth-watering preparation that is slowly rustled up on charcoal fire. 

On Mission Street, as you come out of the Cathedral, there is a smell of baking wafting in the air. You can watch out for the plum cake at Geeta Bakery it is really tasty. On the road to Ambour Salai, you can find Stanley and Natraj`s Daily Bread bakery-cum-restaurant. Here you can find an assortment of bread, rolls, pies, tarts, and doughnuts. The restaurant here serves piping hot soups, delicious Pizzas, fresh salads, burgers, etc. Paradise serves some very good Pizzas both veg and non-veg and is located near the entrance of Auroville. "Au Feu de Bois" serves mouth-watering wood-fired pizzas.

Inside Auroville, the Auroville Boulangerie, make some of the finest confectioneries in Pondicherry. You get 15 different kinds of bread, 100 different cakes, croissants with chocolate and apple centers, an assortment of biscuits. You can`t just ignore this joint. 

The Beachside restaurants are located on the fringes of Pondy town. Theses restaurants with French-sounding names also serve French sounding dishes on the menu along with local fare. You can get mouth-watering Seafood at affordable prices. A must-try is the Crab Malabar preparation. It is crab with corn kernels and poppy seeds. As for restaurants, you can try the Banyan Tree resort among others. 

For breakfast, there are quite a few good options in the city that try Rendezvous for continental breakfast. La Promenade is also a good choice. For typical South, Indian fare try the Surguru restaurant. Saravanabawan also offers South Indian food (Idly, Vada, Pongal)

Cafe Bistro part of the Le Club group is known to serve the best breakfast in town.

Krishna sweets

( Breakfast and Tiffin Rs 10-180) 

Pondicherry, as we all know, had a French past. Still, now it has a lot of tourists from Pondicherry. So no doubt you will find a lot of restaurants serving French Fare. Though the authenticity of the French food served at most restaurants is a bit doubtful. Rendezvous is one of the best in Pondicherry. Le Club though costly serves quality French cuisine. Satsanga a colorful restaurant at Labourdonnais Street also serves good French food with high points being luscious steaks and crispy French salads. Then there is Le Dupleix which also gets lots of patrons (more sophisticated kind). The food here is contemporary French with a strong emphasis on presentation. Try out the three lettuce salad that is served on a bed of bright lettuce and cherry tomatoes. Flambéed coffee is another item to look for. 

The ashram dining room, a few blocks away from the guest house north of Government place is unique. Around 2000 people can be served here (ofcourse not at the same time). It serves non-oily, non-spicy Satvik food at very affordable prices.

Come here if you are not a food aficionado 

There are a lot of very good South Indian and North Indian restaurants. A2B(Adyar Ananda Bhavan) restaurant on Jawaharlal Nehru Street opposite the Vak Bookshop serves good vegetarian North Indian dishes like Tandoori items and chat along with Chinese, Continental and South Indian varieties. Anugraha Restaurant at Hotel Surguru is known to serve authentic south Indian meals including lavish Thalis. The Park Guest House at the south end of Goubert Salai also offers good vegetarian food. You could also try out Selva Restaurant which is just diagonally opposite Gandhiji`s statue on Beach Road. It`s a vegetarian fast food restaurant. For lunch, South Indian dishes like idli, dosa and various rice dishes are really good. All in all vegetarian food is available on a platter in Pondy.  Surguru Restaurant.

(Buffet Meal Lunch and Dinner- Rs70- 140)

Hotel Jayaram

(Lunch and Dinner- Rs 70 -140) 

Chettinad

Hotel Annamalai International

Buffet Lunch and Dinner( Rs 180-400)

Hotel Aachiamma

Buffet Lunch and Dinner( Rs 100-250)

Hotel Appachi

Buffet Lunch and Dinner( Rs 95-200) 

Madam Santhes at 10 Lal Bahadhur Street offers rooftop dining and Mediterranean-inspired food. Look out for stuffed seasoned crab, garlic squid, hearty pastas and salads.

Ungal Agarwal Sweets on Mahatama Gandhi Road offers really delectable sweets. A special item of theirÂ?s is the Tirupati Balaji laddu. You can also try ghee laddu, cashew sweets and boondi paaku. Badaam kheer and chaats are also an attraction here. Amirtham sweets on the Anna Salai is another good sweet shop where you can try the typical south Indian Sweets.

For having a cup of leisurely coffee with sandwiches or just as it is Pondy offers several places. There is La Lune on Rue Romain Rolland Street. Picnic is located at Canteen Street. Both would take you back down memory lane. For some modern ambiance, you can visit Kasha Ki Aasha. It is located at the end of Surcouf west of the Canal. They are also known to serve mouthwatering nutritious breakfasts and lunches. Try Coffee.com on Mission Street for an altogether digital experience. It is air-conditioned and you get a computer with internet access, a huge collection of DVDs and a giant screen to view them. Here you can watch movies for money. Try out their Vietnamese coffee besides pastry, cake and nice ice-creams.

Blue Dragon at Rue Dumas and China Town, Rue Suffren is known for serving very good Chinese fare.

China Town( Dinner- Rs 200-600)

Kovai Pazhamudhir Nilayam(KPN) on Chetty Street is just the right place to be. Here you can have exotic as well as popular fruits and vegetables. Their specialty is fresh juices without water. Also on offer are fruit and vegetable salads.