The Verdict
Southern Spice has been the definitive South Indian fine dining address at the Taj Coromandel for forty years. The restaurant preserves the classical four-regional-cuisine format — Tamil, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra-Telangana — in its original banquet-style presentation, and remains the city's most reliable institutional choice for business entertaining and major family occasions.
The dining room is a preserved piece of 1980s luxury-hotel design at its most ambitious. The ceiling is an elaborate carved-wood canopy that references Tamil temple architecture. The walls are hung with traditional Thanjavur paintings and Tanjore-style miniature works. The lighting is deliberately low and warm; the tables are large and widely-spaced; the effect is of dining in a restored palace rather than a hotel restaurant. The Taj Coromandel's 1974 vintage gives the space a heritage weight that newer restaurants cannot manufacture.
The menu is the reference-version South Indian canon. The Chettinad chicken is the dish to order — slow-cooked in the Chettinad masala, served with appam and a coconut chutney. The Kerala fish moilee is the second default. The Andhra gongura lamb curry, the Karnataka neer dosa, the Tamil sambar-and-rasam preparations — each dish is presented as the definitive version, and the kitchen's consistency over forty years has earned the presentation.
The vegetarian menu is equally serious. The dosa program includes fifteen variations, each worth ordering at least once. The banana-leaf lunch thali — served on an actual banana leaf, with rice in the centre and the classical South Indian sides arranged around — is among the most dignified vegetarian dining experiences in India. The meal is meant to be eaten with hands; the staff will guide international guests through the etiquette without condescension.
Service is old-school Taj — senior staff with decades at the property, English-fluent, institutionally polished. The wine list is serious but the stronger move is to pair the meal with the Taj's own-brand tender coconut water, which is served at every table. For business lunches and family birthdays, Southern Spice is the Chennai default — a restaurant that does not need to prove anything to the city's senior professional class, because it has been proving it for forty years.
Why It Works for Close a Deal
Chennai deal dining runs on institutional familiarity — a senior Tamil counterparty has been eating at Southern Spice for twenty years, and bringing them here signals that the host understands what matters to the region without requiring explanation. The menu is culturally serious, the service pace is calibrated for two-hour business lunches, the Taj Coromandel's reputation provides institutional reassurance, and the private-room options (two rooms seating six to ten) handle the higher-stakes meetings. For Chennai power dining that privileges cultural literacy over modernist ambition, this is the room.
Also in Chennai
For an alternative close a deal option in Chennai, Avartana offers modern south indian tasting in a different register. Visesham is the choice when you want birthday. Explore the full Chennai directory, browse every Close a Deal restaurant worldwide, or read our editorial journal for deeper guides to fine dining in Asia.