Food Festivals, Food Walks & Pop-ups in Chennai

Chennai's food events run all year, and the listings below are refreshed daily. The most regular are hotel food festivals: the five-star hotels on Anna Salai, in Guindy and around Nungambakkam bring in guest chefs for one- or two-week festivals of regional Indian and international cuisines, usually as dinner buffets or set menus. Independent restaurants and home chefs host pop-up dinners and supper clubs, often built around Tamil regional cooking from Chettinad, Kongunadu or Thanjavur, and cafés in Alwarpet, Adyar and Anna Nagar run baking, coffee and cocktail workshops. Food walks are the best introduction for visitors. Mylapore's Mada streets are known for tiffin, filter coffee and sweets; Sowcarpet's Mint Street for chaat, lassi and North Indian sweets; and Triplicane and Royapettah for biryani. The December music season adds its own food circuit, when well-known caterers run canteens at the sabhas and people go for the lunch as much as the concert. Pongal brings traditional-food stalls at Chennai Sangamam venues, and Ramzan evenings fill the streets around the Triplicane and Mannady mosques with haleem and snack stalls. This page lists food festivals, tasting events, pop-ups and guided food walks across Chennai.