Ok let's go!!

The 10 ppl who voted against: mute, unfollow, block - thevaikku erpa! https://twitter.com/iRatzzz/status/1278621417806819329
First, tea time. Find any of the million stalls peppered around Tirunelveli junction and get yourself a kattan chaya aka black tea. Growing up, I had only this topped with pottu kadalai or sevu.

Have it with paruppu vadai, biscuit sandwich or cake sandwich, your choice!
Tirunelveli is known for two things: Alwa and Aruval. Take a bus to tirunelveli town. Flow with the crowd and you'll reach Iruttukadai. Reach there by 5pm because by 6 they would have run out.

Recent times, they have enough stock for pp who prefer to pack. But nooooo
Please stand there and ask "anna, pathu ruvaaiku" (bro, for ten rupees)

You ll be given these teensy parcels of banana leaf with piping hot alwa. Take it between your fingers, towards your mouth and let it slip down your throat. Ill kick your ass if you try to bite.
While most know about Iruttukadai, ask any true blooded tirunelveli person for alwa and they ll take you to Santhi sweets.

You ll notice every other shop will be named santhi sweets. Look closely for names before or after Santhi in small letters. Beware of knockoffs.
Before we go for big guns, stop for Pepper milk. Ft. @Prince_Deepu.

Yes, he has bags of the ever epic Arasan Sweets. We will come to that later.
Milk is not your scene? Padhaneer is waiting! Drinking padhaneer is an art. When to buy padhaneer is even more complex art. Buy too early in morning, it will be just palm water. Too late in evening, it would have become kallu aka toddy. No complaints but đŸ€­ *hick*
Find yourself a cart around 4-5pm. Always order with nungu. Thatha will break some nungu into your panai olai and pour padhaneer onto it! Drink up without spilling down your chin.
Have a knackering for soft drinks? Don't even think about coke, pepsi or even bovonto. Walk into a shop and ask for color. You ll be handed over one of these. Available in cola, radioactive looking lemon and orange.
You would have seen pineapple on pizza and even banana. But no place does pizza like Arasan bakery. They top theirs with mutton and peas.

Better known for its ice-cream jelly concoctions. Best known for its cubicle seating favoured by the young ones of the city.
Walk down to Hotel Aryaas for their chicken pakoda and or mann chatti chicken. Warning: Spice level on the latter is super high.
Walk down all the way towards Ram-Muthuram theatre. Opposite to that is Sri Visaha bhavan. Relatively very new place. Order garlic masala dosai. Chunks of garlic cooked down with tomato-onion in the middle of the thosai. Epic is an understatement.
Meat lovers might have to walk in the opposite direction of Tirunelveli junction towards Vannarapettai. Vairamaligai is a very old hotel which has only one thing on the menu. Nattu kozhi fry. They serve it with either dosai or parotta.
Once a very vegetarian friend asked "edhachum veg irukka" (do you have anything in veg) The waiter replied "irukke"(we have) and brought Masala gravy used to cook the chicken(near the parotta in previous tweet) and two chutneys. So.... 😁😁😁
But I have saved the best for the last. Nellai express leaves around 740pm. Once it leaves the road leading to Tirunelveli junction will be deserted.

In another five mins, you ll find men setting up tables and idli kundans. And a looooong line of men waiting to eat.
You wait for your turn and find yourself a perch. One anna will lay out a banana leaf. By the time you wash your leaf, sambar chutney and two idlies will land on your leaf.

ONLY then will they ask for your order. You have many varieties of dosa, chapati and egg dishes to order.
Once about 4 of us went for dinner. Ate 10 dosais, 16 idlies, 6 omelets/aafboils, 3 chapatis and paid Rs140. We redid our math so many times and wr stunned. Light on pocket, tasty food and hence the crowd.
All food aside, when you are coming back from Iruttukadai find this small nook of a coffee shop with an octogenarian manning it. Royals kaapi. His family has been running it for 4 generations.

I had once sent coffee from here to @susritas and @mehulved. They ll attest!
This is not an exhaustive list. Ask any person from Tirunelveli each will have a different list. I haven't added sugar donuts from Sugi(place doesn't exist anymore) or small eats from Vijay snacks bar(dont have any pic) But the list is endless.

A last pic of alwa and me. Fin!
Small eats from Vijay snacks bar. Thenga poli, vegetable roll, panneer roll, veg cutlet and a pic of me mosukifying vegetable roll after convincing @Prince_Deepu that the shop had run out of it on a different day. 😂😂😂.

(Pics by @Prince_Deepu)
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