Friends Catering
A quaint wedding hall tucked inside Ramnagar has been playing host to golden mounds of ladoos and jangiri for the past 25 years. Stepping into its 26th year, city-based Friends Catering’s Deepavali sweets mela is as vibrant and varied. They offer over 120 varieties of sweets and 30 savoury options this season. Started by CV Radha Krishnan and a few friends, the popular wedding catering service is known for traditional vegetarian Tamil food. “Appa is an expert at making jangiri,” says Radha Krishnan’s daughter R Subhashree, who is overseeing preparations on the first day of the mela.
Started by CV Radha Krishnan and a few friends, the popular wedding catering service is known for traditional vegetarian Tamil food.
| Photo Credit:
S. Siva Saravanan
“When I was a little girl, he would offer me the first jangiri in the morning to taste,” recalls the 30-year-old. Today, while Radha Krishnan’s team does most of the cooking, making jangiri is close to his heart. Subhashree says that he can be seen squeezing orange batter into hot oil in the kitchen at the back for Deepavali. This year too, their cooks will make the sweet live, and customers can pack them while still hot.
Mysorepa in ghee, carrot, and badam options are among their best-sellers.
| Photo Credit:
S. Siva Saravanan
The wedding hall has long tables arranged along the three walls, on which stand trays of sweets in orange, pink, and gold. A row is dedicated to milk sweets, while on another, there are the flat, circular adhirasams is deep brown. This is one of Friends’ specialties, apart from ladoos that come is variations such as the classic, rava, Thirupathi, rose, maa, and the moti ladoo. Nearby, are trays stacked with Mysorepa in ghee, carrot, and badam options that are among their best-sellers. Badushas with a translucent coating of sugar syrup have just been brought in to be packed in boxes for customers.
There are over 100 varieties of sweets on display, apart from savouries for the festive season.
| Photo Credit:
S. Siva Saravanan
Subhashree explains that her father trained under Krishnan ‘vadiyar’, who used to be one of the most popular wedding caterers in the neighbourhood. “Appa perfected the techniques for making sweets that he learned from him,” she says, recalling how Krishnan was quite the taskmaster. “It was impossible to satisfy him,” she laughs, adding that eventually, her father started his own service in 1986. Friends opened a restaurant two years ago on Sarojini Street, with a corner for milk sweets that customers can take away.
Their sweets mela, a yearly affair, has thrived with nothing more than word of mouth. This year though, Subhashree has stepped in for marketing online, and they are also offering hampers for corporate gifting. This includes options such as Amudham (₹375), Iniya (₹555), Madhuram (₹825) and Anandham (₹1000), with a combination of sweets and savouries.
Another addition is a counter just for nut-based sweets that come in specialised packaging. Think pista roll, kaju cake, kaju katli, small kaju bites in rose, Oreo, mango, orange, strawberry flavours and the island choco delight, a ball of roasted coconut shreds with a chocolate centre. These are priced at ₹288 for 250 grams.
For the festive season, one can pick and choose from gift boxes.
| Photo Credit:
S. Siva Saravanan
Next to the sweets counter, is a hillock of savouries such as mixture, thattai, and murukku arranged in packets. Their team is quick to top up the heap even as customers choose from options such as kaarasev, omapodi, and roasted cashews to go with their sweets.
Nothing like the Deepavali legiyam, a thick paste of herbs to aid in digestion after the onslaught of sweets and food on the big day. Friends offers this in small boxes, the recipe for which came from Subhashree’s grandmother. “My uncle makes the legiyam every year,” she says.
Friends Catering’s Deepavali Sweets Mela 2025 is on at Vanishree Hall, Ramnagar, till October 19, 9am to 9pm. To order, call 9363939456. Order can also be placed on friendscatering.com
Anandas Sweets
On a grey Saturday afternoon, I enjoy the rains pour down in sheets along with a spoonful of warm, buttery, h elaneer halwa that makes me happy instantly. I am at the newly-opened Anandas Sweets outlet at Lakshmi Mills where an ongoing sweets thiruvizha showcases a line up of over 200 varieties of sweets and savouries.
N V Nammalwar, one of the directors of Ratnaa Shree Anandhaas Hotels group, greets me and says, “We always wanted our customers to explore variety, beyond the traditional jelabi and laddoo,” as I bite into crunchy and sweet rose gulkand biscuit and an indulgent kesar sandwich that offers a spongy, chewy, and fragrant treat with every bite. “We started offering samples of badam rose ladoo, pista mysurpa, kaju gulkand biscuit, and kaju biscuit to every customer who walked in at the store. It established an instant connect. Bringing a smile on our customer’s face has always been a priority,” he says reflecting upon the 27-year journey of Anandhas.
“Our family from Tirunelveli opened Anandhas Restaurant, our first outlet on May 8, 1998 in Gandhipuram. Sweets was a natural progression which we ventured into from 2017. Ever since, we have grown into 19 outlets in Coimbatore, four in Chennai and one in Palakkad at Kalyan Hypermarket. We are a family of five directors including Manikandan, Narayana Ram, Venkatesh, and Amudha Manikandan. Our aim is to add 100 more outlets across Tamil Nadu, Nellore, Tirupati, and Kochi in another three years time.”
For the festive season, one can pick and choose from Heritage gift boxes priced at 400 gms (₹293) and 800 gms at ₹586 that come with ghee mysorepa, badam burfi, Nagpur soan papdi, dates halwa and more, a total of 11 items. The Noble boxes priced at ₹586 for 400 gms and ₹1171 for 800gms, is filled with treats like kaju anjeer roll, kaju pista roll, American dry fruit barfi, special dates square and a range of premium kaju katli and kaju ladoo. There is also a festive moments box priced at ₹2525 with premium dry fruit sweets, and dry fruits. Besides corporate gifting orders, there will be earmarked spaces at the outlets for customers to buy bulk sweets and savouries.
“We have used premium packing material with liners to ensure that sweets say intact and a flyer on top lists the names of sweets in the box. Such attention to detail matters,” says Nammalwar as he recalls their travels across the country to understand sweets and traditions from 2013 onwards before venturing into sweets. “First, we studied sweet shop models from Mumbai and Kolkata, before picking and choosing specials from such places. We visited Kovilpatti to learn the art of making the region’s special kadalai mittai, and thaen mittai and perfected it in our kitchens. Every month, we introduce something new. We ensure that every customer is well taken care of, their grievances addressed immediately.”
Their customer base is spread across Palakkad, Tirppur, Avinashi, Pollachi, Erode, Nammakkal, Udhagamandalam, Palladam, Kangeyam and Madurai. Anandas, he says, have been pioneers in giving an image makeover to traditional sweet shops. “We made the interiors creative, introduced air conditioners and kept the fly menace at check. There are no pre-packed items on offer, everything is made fresh at our kitchens and delivered at the shops three times a day on rotation. We use no preservatives. We have an in-house lab for quality check of every single ingredient including sugar, cashewnuts, oil, and ghee. Savouries are made using groundnut oil and for sweets like kesar sandwich and malai sandwich, we source buffalo milk from Erode as early as 2.30am to get the best quality,” explains Nammalvar, adding that they have also invested in technology to keep track of stocks and monitor it 24/7 to avoid wastage.
Constant innovation is the key, he stresses. So, in comes items like karupatti halwa, kavuni arisi halwa, karupatti kaju halwa, and sugarless cakes and savouries range including ragi murkku, beetroot murkku and more. While there, you can also pick up Anandhas range of special idli podis that come with healthy additions like murungai keerai, flax seeds, amla and Kongu region specials like Kongu nadu venthaya kuzhambu, and manathakkali thokku.
Ongoing at Anandas Sweets outlets across the city.
Annapoorna Sweets
Choose from over 100 varieties of ghee sweets including tiruveni chakra, burfi chocolate, burfi kesar, malai burfi, anjeer milk cake, kiwi almond cashew delight and more at the ongoing Annapoorna Deepavali Sweet Mela. You can also choose from a wide range of savouries. There are special sweets gift voucher coupons ranging from ₹150 to ₹1000 at the mela.
Ongoing at Annapoorna’s branches in Ganapathy, Avinashi NH, Avinashi Road, R.S.Puram, Mettupalayam Road, Central Bus Stand Gandhipuram, Thudiyalur and People’s Park till October 19
