Konar MessMadurai
Kari dosai
A mess rather than a restaurant — one griddle, a short list, and a queue. Several outlets now carry the name; the original is the one near the collectorate.
Pandya Nadu · Eastern Coastal Plains
Shops and premises
Famous JigarthandaMadurai (near Simmakkal)since 1977
Jigarthanda
Grew out of a family pushcart and now sells around a thousand glasses a day. Ask for it without ice cream if you want to taste the nannari and the gum.
Murugan Idli ShopMaduraisince 1993
Idli, podi and a very large number of chutneys
Started as a single small shop in Madurai and now runs across several cities. Idlis are served on banana leaf and the chutney count is the point of the place.
Amma MessMadurai
Mutton chukka, kola urundai and paya
Open late, and best judged by the paya at six in the morning rather than by dinner.
Mattuthavani flower marketMadurai
Jasmine sold by weight at auction before dawn
Not a shop but the region's most important daily transaction. Prices swing from roughly a hundred rupees a kilo in the February–April flush to several thousand in the November–December lean.
Puthu Mandapam tailorsMadurai
Same-day shirts, blouses and alterations under a Nayak colonnade
A working bazaar inside a seventeenth-century monument, immediately east of the temple.
The Srivilliputhur palkova streetSrivilliputhur
Palkova, sold by weight from open pans
A single street of competing shops beside the Andal temple, all making the same thing.
Dindigul lock workshopsDindigul
Hand-filed iron and brass locks, including very large ones
Small units rather than a market; ask at the older shops on the main bazaar road.
Famous shops, markets and workshops in Pandya Nadu, and what each is known for. (8)