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).

Supper and theater!

The cafe at RangaShankara offers a good mix of ethnic and international cuisines for the hungry theater enthusiast. The cafe ambience is eco-friendly and casual. Weekday shows typically start at 7.30 pm, which leaves room for theater-goers to grab a light pre-show snack and drink. The Cocum juice and lassi are really good. Sabudana vadas and vada paavs are just right and fly off the shelves as soon as they arrive. There's light to heavy dinner fare too like Biryani, akki/ragi rotti, paav bhaaji , pasta and sandwiches. The akki/ragi rottis were probably the most authentic Mysore-style rottis I've ever eaten outside of people's homes. Bang on target with the taste! Overall, one can eat a satisfying supper (or dinner) at the cafe, within the convenience of the theater.

Suggi-o-suggi!

Restaurant: Suggi - A taste of Malnad, New BEL Road. (I believe that its pure veg. twin is in Basaveshwaranagar, opp. Panacea Hospital).
Cuisine - Karnataka - Coorg, Malnad, Mallandur (that's what the menu card said!!)
Ambience - one notch below fine dining, but definitely better than your average multi-cuisine melting pots.
Service - was a bit tardy for a new joint.
Meal for two - veg - a la carte around Rs.600, thalis around Rs.200, non-veg - combo meals around Rs.400, a la carte around Rs.800.

If you understand the Coorg Otti, Paaputtu, Kadumputtu, noolputtu or the Mangalorean Akki rotti, kai kadubu, neer dosae, ragi amblee or the coastal appam, idiyappam - this is the place to come to. This New BEL Road eatery seems like it goes all out to pamper the non-vegetarian palette, just as its counterpart is a pure veggie puritan. Maybe that explains the amazing combos of the above-mentioned foods with chicken/mutton/fish curries made in the local styles. But vegetarians fret not, the spread may not pamper you, but you definitely won't come back hungry. A fellow vegetarian that I am, I tried the Suggi basket (one each of Akki rotti, Appam, a very small idiyappam, kai kadubu and neer dosa) with the Badanaekai Gojju ( pricey for a humble badanaekai dish at Rs100+, tasted like a melange of eggplant with mushrooms, maybe the latter explains the price) and wasn't disappointed. Though IMHO, the neer dosaes and ottis could've been better. The Veg Thali was good, but not great at (I think) 90 bucks for akki rotti, yennae badanaekai, soppina saaru, rasam, rice, akki happala, majjigae menasinakai, run-of-the-mill characterless pickle, mosaranna, neeru majjigae, ragi amblee(absolutely without character!) and paayasa (very nice - semia with jaggery and coconut milk undertones) and a very tangy red mango-based chutney. I asked for the house specialty - "Wild jungle mango curry" and was gently reminded that it wasn't available in the current season.

Verdict - If you are a carnivore, then this place gives you a taste of cuisines that never before were available outside the Hindu Military hotel format - Kannadiga cuisine in a fairly neat ambience, though I don't quite know how much of an overlap there is here with its cousin, the Andhra cuisine. Vegetarians get a curtain-raiser on the local cuisine, though I wouldn't say that accounts for much. OK for a try or two, maybe it would be worth the while to try the pure veg twin at Basaveshwaranagar.

A taste of Amchi Maharashtra in Namma Bengalooru.

Maharashtrian cuisine is so very earthy but hardly ever features on the menus of High Street restaurants or even neighbourhood eateries. At best, you get glimpses of it through the shenga powders, bakris and shenga polis at the many neighbourhood North Karnataka Food Outlets (because of their shared culinary habits) or street food like vada pav.

Once, at the cafe at Ranga Shankara, I savoured the most amazing sabudana vadas. They were just melt-in-the-mouth and to die for. But for this, my quest for Maharashtrian food had come to a nought - until I heard of Rajvardhan Foods.

Rajvardhan Foods is a darshini-style, standing room only eatery in Jayanagar. Their menu boasts of typical Maharashtrian delicacies like vada pav, sabudana vada, sabudana khichdi, dabeli, misal pav, thalipeeth, upavas thalipeeth, poha, shrikhand puri, pav bhaji, bhakri bhaji(brinjal curry with peanut gravy), amras puri(seasonal) and chana puri. I don't claim to be a connoiseur of Maharashtrian food, but I loved the amras puri, sabudana khichdi and thalipeeth. Sabudana vadas were good, but definitely not great-I would have liked them less greasy, and so was the dabeli and vada pav. This place is highly recommended for the authentic spread on offer, though they could do well to make for comfortable seating and standing space. (When I last visited, the standing space was completely on the pavement.) This place also stocks some Maharashtrian snacks and condiments and provides take-aways.

Address : 1291, 9th Block, Jaya Nagar, Bangalore.
Near ICICI Bank, Opposite KC Das Sweets,
Ph: 080-26540132, 9886303088/89

South Canara food

Ever longed for an authentic Saraswat meal or a typical Mangalorean snack in Bangalore?

I have and I'm glad I've found SONA CATERERS a.k.a. Kodial (# 92, 'SHRUSTI', 1st TEMPLE ROAD, B/w 8th & 10th CROSS, MALLESHWARAM, BANGALORE - 560 003 Phone : +91 80 23441794 Mobile: +91 98440 71663 ).

Started by the Nayaks in 1991 as a sweet shop and then growing into a catering service, they now have a restaurant and take-away service too. They offer all the Mangalorean delicacies that you can think of - Kotte, Moode, Buns, Biscuit rotti, Golibajje, Patholi, Pathrode, different type of gashi’s, idlis, dosas and very unsual Payasas and sweets. There's a huge range of Mangalorean condiments available too. Their meals (unlimited) are absolute value for money. Weekdays are less crowded
Average splurge for two should be around Rs.150. Go try for yourself!