Kamat Lokaruchi, Ramanagara, Mysore Road.

While on a road trip to Mysore, one of the must-dos is to have a meal at Kamat Lokaruchi at Ramanagara, right next to Janapadaloka. There are three kinds of meals on offer wth an unlimited supply of buttermilk - absolute manna for the hot summer months. Jolada rotti oota is a typical North Karnataka style lunch with the main course comprising of hand-pressed jowar rottis, served with brinjal yaennagai and kaalu (lentils), soppu (greens), shenga pudi (spicy peanut powder), rice, rasam, sambhar, curd and the usual works. The Ragi mudde oota has on offer ragi mudde (finger millet dumplings) with soppina saaru as the main course, followed by two palyas, rice papad, rice, rasam, sambhar and curd . The Karavali oota is a very interesting variant. It includes Pathrode (though small in size and a little non-descript in taste), Heeraekai Pode, plain akki rotti (Malnad style)/Coorg otti with kurma and kootu, oththu shavige (stringhoppers) with kai haalu (jaggery sweetened coconut extract), horsegram papad with curd-flavoured fried chillies, rice, rasam sambhar and curd. All meal options include  a banana for fruit. You can even eat the regular favourites like Dosas, rottis, puris, holiges, etc based on the time of the day you go and availability. As a parting shot, don't forget to pack "one for the road" - some ragi nippattus (the best that I've had, sometimes even better then the more popular, age-old, rice version) and antinunde (Dink laddoos made of edible tree gum, jaggery, dry fruits, copra and other flavourings).