YOU cannot always have Creme Caramel, Apple Crumble and Crepes Suzette for dessert in Pondicherry, there are times when you will long for rich Indian sweetmeats dripping with pure ghee. When such a craving grabs you, there is only one place to feed your indulgence, the newly-opened Sri Krishna Sweets in Mission Street. It is famous for its Mysurpa. Not just in Pondicherry, but at every one of its 46 branches in India, including the three in Bombay. This is a 58-year-old Chennai-based business, started by an enterprising South Indian by the name of Mahadev Iyer and now continued by his sons Krishna and Murali. The sons have taken Sri Krishna Sweets beyond their father�s dreams. It is a popular name in South India and the Chennai Airport�s domestic arrival terminal and international departure terminals have Sri Krishna Sweet shops in them. There is also a Sri Krishna Sweets in California, and others opening in Muscat, Germany, France and London, that�s how popular the brand is.

G. R. Mahender Prasad, who is the manager of the Pondicherry shop, says Sri Krishna Sweets has a centralised kitchen in Chennai. Sweets and savouries from here go to all the branches. Unsold stock is returned the same evening. It is replaced by fresh maal the next morning. That is the secret of Sri Krishna Sweets� success. The Mysurpa is its trademark speciality. �The ingredients are mysur dal, sugar, ghee and besan, but the texture of the sweet is controlled by the heat of the ghee,� says Prasad. �Everything is made in pure ghee. Which means the shelf life of most of our sweets is 10-15 days. Keep it open, if you refrigerate them, the tastes change. The sweets are costly, but look at our quality!�

This Pondicherry branch has a restaurant on the first floor that serves different kinds of Polis, ice-creams, and all of Sri Krishna Sweets� products. Evenings, they have musicians performing classical music here, this is that kind of unusual place.
Sri Krishna Sweets
86, Mission Street, Pondicherry.
Tel: 0091413 5530446.