Green restaurant a big hit among Vellorites

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Vellore: While a section of people are running after Amma Unavagams to fill their stomachs with a variety of food at affordable rates, another section wishes to have healthy food with medicinal value. They head for ‘Our Green Village Restaurant’ in Gandhi Nagar here where the food is said to reduce cholesterol, sugar content and help cure many other ailments.

In this restaurant, boiled sprout, ragi balls, pearl millet, mudakkathan dosas, aappams made of several combinations of millets, saamai pongal, oats aappam, mushroom oothappam, thoodhuvalai dosa, pirandai chutney, thinai-rice kichadi, vaazhaipoo vadas, kozhukkattai and kuzhipaniyaram and several other items are sold. The restaurant also serves ordinary meals for just Rs45.

“The idea to start a hotel like this occurred to me after I completed M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical and Chemistry from VIT University, and intensified after I attended an entrepreneur course organised by the university,” says restaurant owner R. Thamizharasan. With an initial investment of Rs2 lakh, given by his father, he started the restaurant.

There was a simple logic behind starting the hotel, for Thamizharasan had read in his college textbook that natural sources like nithya kalyani have the power to cure cancer. The restaurant was started on March 18, 2012. Initially, they incurred heavy loss. But, they slowly began to breakeven as they got publicity by word of mouth in Vellore.

Of late, several doctors have become regular customers for they are fond of the ragi kali, kambu dosas and thinaikichadi we serve, he said. Dr Raichel Rebecca, a fitness specialist, says, “Our ancient food items made them lead a longer, healthier life. I would strongly recommend this restaurant to anyone who has crossed 40 years of age.” All items are manufactured by women from the villages and hilly areas who are well-versed in the preparation of different foods.

“I have visited several villages, hilly areas and met some tribes and done research about what made these people lead healthy lives,” explained Thamizharasan.
Business is even better after the door-delivery system was introduced. “ I hope one day it will become a super restaurant,” says Thamizharasan wistfully.