No reels, no influencers: Why Kottayam’s Hotel Anand still has generations of regulars

Have you ever seen a restaurant where the kitchen is bigger and cleaner than the dining area?

Without help from reels, vlogs or food influencers, Hotel Anand has kept a steady stream of customers for 47 years. Much of that loyalty comes down to the taste of its masala dosa, ghee roast and strong coffee, along with the nostalgia attached to this old Kottayam favourite.

At the heart of the restaurant is a kitchen almost as large as the dining area. More than 60 staff work here, cooking, washing and cleaning from morning to night.

And after 47 years, the Anand kitchen is being filmed for the very first time.

In this episode of Served Since, Onmanorama Food & Travel steps inside Hotel Anand to look at the food, people and kitchen behind its enduring popularity.

From Tiruchendur to Kottayam
Hotel Anand was started by a family from Tiruchendur taluk in Tamil Nadu.

Owner S Subbayya says the restaurant opened on February 9, 1979. It now has another branch near Kottayam Medical College Hospital, but the original restaurant remains an established part of Kottayam’s food scene.

The story of Anand is also connected to the history of vegetarian restaurants run by the Reddiar community from the Tirunelveli region of Tamil Nadu.

Members of the community had taken their restaurant trade beyond India, establishing small eateries in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. As these businesses found success, more members entered the food trade and the tradition gradually spread.

By the late 1950s, Reddiar-run vegetarian restaurants began sprouting across Kerala. Over the years, restaurants such as Arya Bhavan in Kottayam and Brindhavan Vegetarian in Kochi became part of the state’s South Indian dining culture.

Hotel Anand became part of that tradition when it opened in Kottayam in 1979.

Dosa, vada and coffee that bring people back
Over the years, the restaurant has added several dishes to its menu, but its South Indian breakfast favourites remain a major draw.

Dosa, masala dosa, ghee roast, puri, idli and vada are among the staples. Customers also have their own favourites.

The restaurant’s chutney and sambar too have their loyal following. Regulars can ask for podi chutney, a spicy gunpowder-style accompaniment made with a freshly ground mix.

The menu changes as the day progresses. While breakfast brings in the dosa and idli crowd, lunch is a time for thali meals. Later, the restaurant serves dishes such as fried rice, vegetable biryani, mushroom biryani and Indo-Chinese preparations.

Where Sundays have become a ritual
For long-time customers, Anand is about more than a particular dish.

Tiny has been coming for more than 25 years, and Sunday breakfast at the restaurant has become a family routine.

She is not alone. According to regulars and staff, Sundays are among the busiest days at Anand, with many customers following their own long-standing routines.

K K Kuriakose, who has worked as a security staff member at the restaurant for 16 years, has watched these regulars return week after week.

He says the restaurant feels comfortable to him, even describing it as a place where he feels more at ease than at home.

The familiar faces are part of the attraction for customers, while the customers themselves have become part of the restaurant’s history.

Four decades behind the counter
Some of Anand’s employees have been there for a remarkably long time.

Murugan has worked at the restaurant for 40 years. He has never worked anywhere else.

He has watched generations of customers come through the doors and believes their attachment to the restaurant comes down to the relationship they have built with the people working there.

“It’s love,” he says, explaining why he thinks customers keep returning.

He says customers appreciate the food, but the service matters just as much.

The kitchen behind the food

The busiest part of Hotel Anand is hidden behind the dining area.

The kitchen is almost as large as the restaurant itself, with more than 60 staff working across the kitchen and restaurant. Preparations begin early in the morning and continue through breakfast, lunch, evening service and dinner.

Lunch preparations begin around 10.30 am, by which time the kitchen is already in full swing.

There is a constant cycle of cooking, serving, washing and cleaning. Used vessels return from the dining area throughout the day, while dishwashers handle the flow and clean vessels are sent back into service.

The scale of the operation is matched by the attention given to keeping the kitchen clean. Cleaning continues after the day’s cooking is over, with the restaurant cleaned from around 10 pm to 11 pm before the kitchen closes.

The kitchen also reflects how the restaurant has evolved.

When Anand opened in 1979, only a small section of the dining area was air-conditioned. The AC section was expanded during the 1997 renovation.

In 2023, the restaurant underwent another major renovation, including the kitchen. Dishwashers and other facilities were added as part of the upgrade.

A kitchen seen on camera for the first time
For a restaurant that has been open for 47 years, allowing cameras into its kitchen is a first.

The kitchen has remained largely out of sight for customers while generations of cooks and staff have worked behind the scenes to keep the restaurant running.

Now, the space can finally be seen: the large work areas, the constant preparation, the washing and cleaning, and the staff who keep the restaurant moving from morning to night.

Outside, customers continue to arrive for the food they have known for years.

Inside, the work continues much as it has for decades.

That combination of familiar food, long-serving staff and generations of customers is what has kept Hotel Anand going since 1979.