Bengaluru Eataries: 11. Iyengar's Inn

Date: 19th Dec 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and harsh

Cost for 2: 120 Approx

Timing: 12 Noon to 3 PM. Closed on Sunday.

Location: Jayanagar 7th block.

Wait time: None

Specialty: Puliyogere

Read about this new food place from a FB post and decided to check it out. The place opens at 12 so we reached there at 12 sharp but it was still closed. Saturdays are direct lunch day's so we were bit hungry. We thought of giving it some time and waited and the hotel opened at 12:15 PM. The food was prepared in malleshwaram at a home and brought here. The hotel was open 8 months back and it has few fans already. The menu changes everyday and is limited to 4 main dishes a day. There is something called double and triple mix. We can get two scoops of different rice items or 3 scoops of 3 items. Shilpi got her favorite puliyogere and i tried double mix (avalaki chitrana and curd rice). The food was good but all the items had become cold. There is no seating facility but 4 long tables gave enough place to stand and eat. The place was clean.

Some pics from the place.

Looking on both direction to see if someone will come to open the door.

No complaints about the taste of the puliyogere. It would have been better if it was hot.

Aam vade. The outer part was nice crispy.

Double mix. The curd rice was good. Did not find the avalaki rice that nice.

Sajappa a sweet. It has coconut filling inside just like the holige. The outer part was hard unlike holige which is very soft. I like this one among all other.

Directions to the hotel.

If they can find a way to keep the food hot this will be a good place to have a decent lunch.

Bengaluru Eataries: 10. Taaza Thindi

Date: 29th Nov 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Cost for 2: 120 Approx

Timing: 7 AM - 12 Noon and 4:30 PM to 9:30 PM.

Location: Jayanagar 4th T block.

Wait time: 10 min aprox

Specialty: Masala Dosa

Read about the restaurant in some post and wanted to try out the food here. Sunday morning we went there around 8 AM and was taken back by the queue. We even thought of going somewhere else but good that we did not do it. The queue kept moving fast as the menu is limited and the service was fast. More than food i was impressed by the cleanliness of the place. All the people who serve food was wearing head cap and mask on their mouth. They dont just dump all the cleaned spoons in a hot water bowl but instead a person wipes of all the cleaned spoons with a dry cloth and puts it in a tray. There was one counter for idly, vada, karabath and kesari bath and another for dosa (just masala and plain). A counter for coffee and another for chutney and a parcel section. One needs to get their own boxes for parcel as they dont give plastic covers. The menu is limited to just 8 or 9 items and the pricing was unbelievable. The cost of a masala and plain dosa is Rs20 yeah just 20. Chow chow bath (A scoop of karabath and kesaribath) is Rs25 and for that you get coffee free, unbelievable in Bengaluru.

Also see reviews of few other eateries.

Some pics from the visit.

That's how it was crowded when we left. Better go early. There is seating inside but most people prefer standing outside.

Chow chow bath. One scoop of karabath and one kesari bath. Karabath was ok ok, i liked kesari very much. Shilpi is not fond of sweets much but even she had couple of spoons.

Loved the idly, vada and chutney. The idly was very soft and the vada was crispy. Best was the chutney. There was a separate counter for chutney, i guess like me most people have chutney as main dish ;).

Yummy Masala dosa. Needless to say it lived up to the expectation of a specialty item.

The cleaning section with a huge glass window to peep in and take a look.

Fermentation chamber for batter preparation and parcel counter.

As usual a strong filter coffee to finish another filling breakfast.

The hotel is rated high on zomato and i will also do my part to improve the rating and review. One of the must try breakfast place in Bengaluru.

Direction.

Hyderabad Trip: Nimrah Cafe & Bakery

Date: 22nd Oct 2015

Visitors: Arun, Muthusamy and Harsh.

Nimrah Cafe & Bakery Timings: Not sure but surely open during the Charminar visiting hours.

Location: Between Charminar and Makkah Masjid.

Located between Charminar and Makkah masjid its not very hard to find this bakery.  After sending Shilpi and my Mom for shopping we three were roaming the streets for some time. Harsh was bit hungry so we decided to have some biscuits and tea. The surrounding was not so promising but this was the better place compared to others in this area. When we started having snacks we understood the surrounding doesn't matter. We were in for a treat. The cookies were fresh, hot, soft and tastes amazing. They had some 9 varieties of cookies and their signature one was the salted one. Take a bite and the biscuit just crumbles in the mouth. Then we got the tea and believe me this was one of the best tea i ever had. We had tea from few other cafes also in the 5 days and they were all super. I think Hyderabadi biriyani completely over shadowed the tea.  Fed harsh one full cup tea and he enjoyed it a lot. We met Mr. Aslam one of the nicest guy. He was so polite and converse with everyone who comes to the shop. Had a small talk with him and asked if they are planning to sell these biscuits in other cities just like Karachi Bakery biscuits. They are in the process of getting ISO certification and most probably in 2016 they will be having branches in Bengaluru. Sure going in there when they open in the city.

 Also See: Charminar and Makkah masjid

Smaller ones are the amazing coconut cookies.

Amazing Irani chai. Can's stop with one.

Few varieties of biscuits.

Sure they do not waste time. There is almost no wait time for tea, one person keeps making tea as there is always someone asking for it.

The Assorted cookie pack has 40 pieces and costs Rs 200 and the salt one costs Rs60. Finished the last 2 piece just yesterday.

Bengaluru Eataries: 9. Thindi Beedi (Food Street)

Date: 10th Oct 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Cost for 2: Eat what ever you want and it wont make a dent in the account.

Timing: Become lively after 7 PM.

Location: VV Puram (sajjan rao circle)

Whenever some one says VV puram the first thing comes to mind is the eat street. The famous thindi beedhi is a small narrow road with small hotels on both sides. These hotels open after sunset and goes on till mid night. There are no seating arrangement but who cares. It gets crowded a lot on weekends and you will not come out of the street without rubbing shoulder with someone. One piece of advice is avoid going in car. Its so difficult to find parking even for a two wheeler. You may have to park your vehicle far away and walk. There is always a cop roaming to still bill for illegal parking.

Start of from one end of the road and walk up the street tasting some of the delicacies of Bengaluru. We started from the famous VB Bakery.

The place is known for its apple cake, kara biscuit, honey cake but Kara Bun Congress is the signature item here. KBC is a masala bun with butter and peanuts stuffed inside.

Vasavi dosa camp is the biggest hotel in that street with variety of food item. Dosa's, idly, paddu, lemon rice, puliogare and many more.This gets the maximum crowd.

There are couple of hotels serving Chats and Chinese food.  The pav bhaji was good but i would suggest "be a Roman when in Rome" better stick to Bengaluru specialties in VV puram.

You can also find many selling toys. The ones with light sure attracts the kids. Harsh was happy seeing them but somehow did not ask for it this time :)

Ramu Tiffen center is one of the oldest in this street.

This is the lemon bath dosa. Have seen dosa with aloo, gobi, mushroom and many other stuff but lemon rice in dosa?? never.

Lemon bath dosa with coconut chutney was yummy but it was too filling.

Kodubale is one of the traditional snacks in Karnataka.

And this is how it looks in weekend.

I will be visiting here soon again to taste Holige, crispy jelebi, akki roti, bajji, maddur vada and many more delicious stuffs.

Bengaluru Eataries: 8. MLTR, No not them.. Its Mahalakshmi Tiffen Rooms

Date: 4th Oct 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Cost for 2: 140 Approx

Timing: 8 AM to 10 PM.

Location: Basavanagudi

Wait time: Almost None

Specialty: Kali dosa

After visiting Gavi Gangadhareshwar temple we hit Mahalakshmi tiffen rooms in Basavangudi for dinner. This again is one of the oldest restaurant in Bengaluru. It was raining so much and there was not much crowd in the hotel. The hotel has a small section for family seating with 4 tables. The restaurant is famous for its kali dosa and mosuru (curd) vada. When we went they did not have mosaru vada.

Sambar bonda. The sambar was bit watery and the bonda was hard. May be they were done earlier in the day. 

Kali dosa. The dosa was nice but not something like which melted in mouth. The chutney was very good. 

Masala dosa was very good. It was crispy and with the chutney it was tasting very nice. The masala too was good. Generally i don't prefer potato masala at night fearing they could be made in morning and might have turned bad but this was very nice.

The traditional filter coffee to finish of a nice dinner.

Nice place but not to the standards of Mylari or Brahmin coffee bar.

Bengaluru Eataries: 7. Brahmin's Coffee bar

Date: 2nd Oct 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Cost for 2: 140 Approx

Timing: 6 AM - 12 Noon and 3 PM to 7PM. Closed on Sunday's which is kind of weird.

Location: Basavanagudi

Wait time: Almost None

Specialty: Idly and Coconut Chutney

Since the hotel is closed on sunday's i could not visit this place and finally got a chance on Oct 2nd. We reached there around 8 AM and there was already a good crowd in the hotel. The menu is limited only to idly, vada, karabath, kesari bath and coffee. Since most of the people take only idly and vada there wont be much delay in getting food. The line (Yes a queue) keeps moving. The place is very famous for the chutney. In the first pic the only work of uncle sitting there is to keep pouring chutney for people. There is no seating arrangement inside or outside. Inside there is no table also to keep the plate and eat. There are couple of tables outside to keep plates but since it was raining that day it became bit inconvenient.

Serving idly and chutney since 1965.

The famous Idly and coconut chutney. The idly was really too soft and just melts inside. The chutney was so famous but somehow i did not find it great. It was sure good. The vada was also good.

The only other item Karabath. I liked this more than the idly and chutney. It tasted too good. Must try item.

Last as usual is the traditional coffee. The coffee was strong and gave a good finishing touch for a nice breakfast.

For sure a must try once.

Madurai Trip: What to eat, Where to eat.

Date: 18 - 19th Sep 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi, Harsh, Muthusamy, Vijayalakshmi and Selvi


Apart from the temples Madurai is also famous for its food. Second thing that comes to mind after Meenakshi Amman temple is the Madurai malligai Idly. Here are the few items to eat. Sorry Non-Vegetarians.. :). I read there are few places which are a must try for NV. Google should be able to help with that.

Murugan Idly shop started as a small outlet selling snacks and coffee is now spread is various locations. Idly stands out as their signature dish.

The soft idly served with 5 types of sides. Sambar and different type of chutney were outstanding. The idly as rightly said as maligai poo (Jasmine flower) idly is soft and just slides down inside :)

Other specialty is the mouth watering ghee podi dosa. The dosa is thin and crispy with nice spread of red podi.

Other item to try in Madurai is the Jil jigarthanda. There are plenty of shops where you can get this but one of the place to try out is famous jigarthanda near the meenakshi amman temple.

The next place to eat is the Modern restaurant. Established some 60+ years ago is this famous restaurant near south tower of Meenakshi amman temple. Idly and dosa were all ok but not something great. Only one item that stand out is the kesari.

Harsh certified Kersari. Harsh doesn't like sweets much (yes except for chocolates) but after taking one bite he certified that its too good and finished the cup :). So this is one of the muct try item in Madurai.

There are few more places to eat like janakiraman, chappathi park, konar kadai etc... One must try all south indian food types in these restaurants if there is time.

Bengaluru Eataries: 6. Gramina Thindi

Date: 12th Sep 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Cost for 2: 160 Approx

Timing: 7 AM - 9:30 PM

Location: 4th Block, Jayanagar

Wait time: None

Specialty: Benne (Butter) Dosa

Another place to eat delicious Dosa's. Its a small place with self service only. There are benches on the sides to sit but it will be occupied most of the time. The pricing of the items is very reasonable.

Must try item here is the Benne Dosa. The coconut chutney and the dosa was awesome. Like me sure one cant stop with one dosa :). There is aloo masala inside and one can get without that too.

Another item we tried in kali dosa and was not so impressive after eating benne dosa. May be i should have taken benne kali dosa.

Another specialty is paddu. Crispy and yummy. The coriander chutney did not go well with this so go for coconut one. They are generous so do not hesitate to ask more chutney.

Finish the light dinner ;) with another traditional filter coffee.