Why Nalam
Nalam means wellbeing. It’s the first thing anyone asks at a Tamil table — “nalamaa?”, are you well — before the food arrives.
Chef Revathi Iyer opened the first Nalam in 2014 with a single wood-fired hearth in a Chennai bungalow, to cook the kind of food that answers that question. Twelve years and five cities later, every kitchen is still built around one, and every menu still starts with what came off the boats and out of the markets that morning.
Cooked on wood and charcoal
Tamarind wood in Chennai, coconut husk in Kochi, binchotan-style charcoal for the dum kitchen in Hyderabad.
Bought within a day
Seafood comes from the nearest harbour each morning. If the boats didn’t go out, the dish comes off the menu.
Each branch cooks its region
A shared core menu, and a third of each card that you’ll only find in that city.
From the hearth
What people come back for
A few dishes that are on at every Nalam, every night.
Starters
Ghee-roast prawns
Tiger prawns tossed hard in the wok with Mangalorean ghee-roast masala of Byadgi chilli and tamarind, finished with crisp curry leaves.
₹845
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Main course
Chettinad mutton curry
Bone-in goat cooked slowly in a Chettinad masala of kalpasi, marathi mokku and black pepper, with a little coconut to round it out.
₹1,095
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Main course
Chicken dum biryani
Marinated chicken and aged basmati sealed in a handi and cooked over charcoal. Opened at the table, with mirchi ka salan and raita.
₹895
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Vegetarian
Ghee roast dosa
A long, crackling dosa roasted in ghee until golden, with sambar and five chutneys: coconut, tomato, coriander, peanut and onion.
₹395
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Our story
A grandmother’s kitchen, a Chennai bungalow, and a menu written on a slate
Revathi grew up in Thanjavur cooking alongside her grandmother on a wood-fired aduppu, grinding masalas by hand in a stone ammi. After a decade in hotel kitchens in Mumbai and London, she came home wanting to cook that way again — no shortcuts, the fire doing most of the work.
The first Nalam had eighteen covers and one dish of the day. It still has the same hearth, and we still grind our masalas fresh every morning.
Ways to eat with us
Three rooms in every Nalam
Each branch is laid out differently, but you’ll find some version of these three.
The chef’s counter
Twelve stools facing the pass. Watch the cooks finish each plate under the lamps, talk to them while you eat, and see every course leave the fire. Best for the tasting menu.
Book the counter
The dining room
Candlelit rooms with long tables made for passing plates. Order a few things each and share — that’s how this food is meant to be eaten.
Reserve a table
Private dining
Birthdays, anniversaries and three-generation family dinners: a private room for fourteen in Alwarpet, a garden for sixty in Jubilee Hills, menus planned with the chef.
Plan an eventSignature
Wood-fired mutton sukka
“Six hours in its own fat, then two minutes over the hottest part of the fire. That last two minutes is the whole dish.”
Revathi Iyer, chef and founder
Goat shoulder, roasted coconut, Tellicherry pepper, curry leaves, shallots, coriander
₹1,195
Where to find us
Five cities, five kitchens
Each one cooks the food of its own coast.
Chennai
Alwarpet · Tamil & Chettinad, cooked over tamarind wood
Lunch & dinner
Bengaluru
Indiranagar · Coastal Karnataka, with a charcoal grill
Lunch, brunch & dinner
Mumbai
Bandra West · Konkan coast seafood & a cocktail bar
Dinner, late on weekends
Hyderabad
Jubilee Hills · Deccan & Andhra, with a charcoal dum kitchen
Lunch & dinner, daily
Kochi
Fort Kochi · Malabar & Syrian Christian, with the day’s catch
Lunch & dinner
Guests
From people who ate here
“We sat at the counter and watched them grind the Chettinad masala for our mutton curry. My father, who has eaten Chettinad food every week of his life, asked to meet the cook.”
Priya Natarajan
Dined at Alwarpet, August 2026
“The fish fry meals came on a banana leaf with matta rice, exactly like my aunt’s house in Alappuzha. Service was unhurried in the best way — nobody rushed us out of the courtyard.”
Thomas Kurian
Dined at Fort Kochi, September 2026
“Ghee-roast prawns and a cold neer mor at the bar on a Tuesday. Small room, loud in a good way, and the bartender remembered us the second time.”
Leah Fernandes
Dined at Bandra, July 2026
Reservations
Book a table
Choose a branch, a day and how many of you are coming. We’ll confirm your table straight away.
Live availability, confirmed instantly
Free changes and cancellations up to two hours before
Nine or more? Call the branch and we’ll set up a long table
From our kitchens
@nalam.kitchen
Hear about new dishes and dinners first
One email a month: new menus, chef’s table dates and seasonal events. Nothing else.
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SOUTH INDIAN KITCHEN
A South Indian kitchen in five cities. Coastal and home-style cooking over charcoal, tamarind wood and coconut husk, since 2014.