Idli and a tumbler of filter coffee

A tiffin room in Tamil Nadu, just after seven in the morning.

Nothing on the leaf is there for show.

What arrives on the leaf

Two idlis: round white cakes of rice and urad dal, a small black lentil, soaked, ground, left overnight to ferment and then steamed. Beside them, coconut chutney and a bowl of sambar, a lentil and vegetable stew sharpened with tamarind. Often a spoon of podi, a dry spiced powder, with a little sesame oil to mix it into a paste. It all comes on a banana leaf, or a steel plate lined with one. The idli should be soft enough to tear with one hand.

How it is eaten

With the right hand. Tear a piece of idli, drag it through the chutney and sambar, and eat. More sambar and chutney usually come without asking. Then the coffee: filter coffee, brewed strong through a metal filter, mixed with hot milk and sugar, and served in a steel tumbler set in a small bowl called a dabarah. The server pours it between the two from a height to cool it and raise a froth. You do the same at the table, more carefully.

Why it is worth the journey

Idli is eaten all over India now, but in Tamil Nadu it is the everyday morning, served in tiffin rooms and in places confusingly called hotels. Here that word often means a restaurant, not a place to sleep. Coffee reached South India in the seventeenth century, when, the story goes, seven beans were carried from Yemen to the hills of Karnataka. Now the south drinks coffee the way the north drinks tea. Kumbakonam, in the Kaveri delta, gave its name to a strong style called degree coffee, and Madurai serves idli late into the night.

Finding a good one

Look for a busy room with steel tables and a short menu on the wall. Go between seven and nine, when the idlis come out of the steamer in batches. In Chennai, the streets of Mylapore around its temple are a good start. In Madurai, try the stalls near the temple after dark. Most places are cheap, quick and vegetarian, and you pay at the counter on the way out.

At the table

• Eat with your right hand. A spoon is always there if you ask.
• A plate is usually two idlis. A second plate is normal.
• Ask for coffee after the meal, not with it.
• Wash your hands at the basin before and after. There is always one.

The coffee is the pause at the end. By the time it cools, the room has filled and emptied twice.