We started hosting Tamil coastal dinners for strangers in Bangalore and it turned into something unexpectedly beautiful
A few months ago, we started something called House of Saapadu.
It’s a small weekly Tamil coastal supper club where we host around 20 people at a time for dinner, conversations, board games, and sometimes even late-night PC games.
The idea came from my aachi (my mother’s mother).
Growing up, my summer holidays were always spent at her house. I still remember the smell of meen kuzhambu simmering in the kitchen, karuvadu roasting on the stove, everyone eating together on banana leaves, and afternoons that felt slow in the best possible way.
At some point, I realized I missed that feeling more than the food itself.
So we decided to recreate it.
Every week we cook a coastal Tamil menu inspired by her recipes:
- meen kuzhambu
- fish fry
- prawn fry
- Mutton fry
- nei meen karuvadu
- egg
- elaneer payasam
- homemade sweets
(and usually one rotating special)
What started as “let’s cook for a few friends” slowly became this really wholesome thing where strangers sit together for hours talking about life, careers, childhood memories, relationships, hometowns, and food.
Some people come alone and leave with new friends.
Some stay back after dinner playing board games.
Some just sit quietly and ask for a second serving of payasam.
And honestly, in a city where everything feels rushed and transactional, this has become something we deeply look forward to every week.
Didn’t expect people to resonate with it this much, but I’m really grateful they do :)
We’re hosting another one this weekend as well. Keeping it limited to around 20 people like always.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, feel free to DM me :)