Ootacamund has plenty of tea estates that provide one with the most authentic of flavours. A steaming cup of tea with a delectable pastry from one of the quaint bakeries, is the perfect way to enjoy the picturesque view.

Even though kebabs are not particularly a South Indian speciality, thanks to a few brilliant food joints in the city, they are a very popular dish here. While in Ootacamund, head to any of the roadside kebab stalls or dhabas and indulge your palate with these oil-dipped yummies. Tear into grilled, succulent chunks of chicken meat or lamb, or the equally fantastic soya and paneer kebabs. A butter naan (Indian leavened flatbread drenched in butter) goes nicely with kebabs.

Literary translating to boiled, avial is a stewed vegetable preparation. Topped with grated coconut and curry leaves, it is a very popular breakfast dish in the town. Generally, seven to eight crisp vegetables like carrots, beans, pumpkin, cucumber, drum sticks, aubergine, avarai, etc., are used to prepare a stew. They are then mixed with curd to make a batter. Variations consisting of tamarind or raw mango as a substitute of curd are equally popular and tasty. Avial is eaten with rice and can either be taken as a gravy dish or as a semi-solid side dish.

The Indian version of a very thin pancake, dosas are extremely popular for their vast variety of batter, stuffing and huge sizes. Dosas are made of fermented batter and fenugreek on a pan greased with oil or ghee (clarified butter), and their texture and appearance are very crepe-like. They have to be eaten delicately. There are several types of dosas like rawa, rawa masala, onion rawa, etc. They are best accompanied with various types of chutney and sambhar (vegetable chowder).

Idlis are round cakes made from a batter of steamed rice and fermented black lentil. Sometimes, fenugreek is added to the batter to give it flavour. Idlis are a popular, sort-of-staple food in the South Indian states.