At 11.45 pm, most restaurants normally shut shop and begin scrubbing the kitchen clean But it is a different scenario at the newly launched Junior Kuppanna at Urban Square, a newly created retailing space underneath Kathipara Flyover in Alandur. Here at this late hour, proprietor K Murthy and his wife Vidya Murthy are in the kitchen, checking every batch of idly, dosa and parotta being prepared and overseeing their team as it shuttles between kitchen and the dining area simultaneously with menu cards and food.
The place is so busy that it takes us 30 minutes to get a seat. We are handed the special midnight menu (12 am to 5 am). “We are known for our seeraga samba biryani, but we have consciously modified the midnight menu. We will of course we will be serving freshly made piping hot Kuppanna biriyani round the clock apart from items mentioned in the menu,” chuckles Murthy, the son of Kuppanna, who made the shift from accountant to restaurateur with the Kuppanan Hotel in Erode in 1960, 60 years ago. Kuppanna’s wife K Rukmini, who was a passionate cook, played a significant role in his venture. “It was her recipes and masalas that turned out to be a crowd-puller. Since then, the women of our household have played an important role in ensuring the quality and taste are not compromised,” says Murthy.
