Team-BHP - A Guide: Eating out in Bangalore

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 4720782)

They have delicious Puri Bhaji - almost exact in taste, as compared with what I remember eating as a youngster on the train station platform in Kharagpur, Itarsi, Jhansi, Gwalior, Nizamuddin, Pune etc.

:OT

You took me back in time.

Those palm sized pooris served with aloo-matar sabzi seasoned in mustard oil was a revelation for us South Indian high school boys travelling to Delhi . At every other station, one of us would get down from the KK Express, grab a plate and share the contents. I remember paying just five rupees for four pooris. It took a while to get accustomed to the flavour of mustard oil; but once we got the hang of it, there was no looking back.

Speaking of north Indian food, I wonder if the streets of Delhi still offer sliced and spiced coconuts and long radishes. Seeing them as snacks was kind of shocking for us then.

The hardest thing to find in Bangalore is genuinely good South Indian food, and more so if you happen to live in the IT hub, closer to Whitefield I mean.

So I happen to visit two restaurants in the last 1 week, both vegetarian, but had pretty good South Indian food.

The first one is by the name Brilrams Balaji Bhavan at Whitefield, quite close to the hope farm Junction / Whitefield railway station.

The other one is very far way from where I stay, probably in one of the older locations of Bangalore, Jayanagar. It goes by the name Prems Graama Bhojanam, which is a very small place, but serves meals and other tiffin items like Dosa etc, but the big differentiation is that everything is made out of Millets and other such grains.

Interested folks can look up both of the above in Zomato and I believe there are pretty decent reviews across.

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Originally Posted by motorworks (Post 4721382)

Yes, you are right, there is an MTR in forum value mall, I used to visit this place when my office was closer to this mall a few years ago, but somehow the food always seemed a little too heavy and since I happen to be from Coimbatore, my taste buds are a little different!

Yes I do appreciate the impression of “heaviness” at that specific MTR. The food was pretty ghee loaded as far as I remember.

Saying that, the other MTR’s I ve eaten at, St Marks Road, Indira Nagar, the Original near Lalbagh etc, did not come across as being that heavy and the Forum one. One thing I’m not terribly fond of is the way they smear green chutney all over the insides of their Dosa.

Is there no A2B in those environs? To a TN Trained “Dosa + Sambar” palate, A2B is more attuned.

Off Topic A: :OT
However, A2B does not come with the greatest standards of hygiene (largely because of the way they position their “hand washing” areas and the wicked habit people have, of washing their hands and then shaking off the excess water from their hands within that washing area, causing irritating wet floors!

Off Topic B: :OT
I NEVER could understand for the life of me, why it is that the lovely lovely Annapoorna of Coimbatore, could not even stretch to encompass nearby places like Mettupalayam, Kotagiri, Ooty, Salem, Hosur, Madras, and Erode/ Tiruppur etc.

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 4720782)

There is this lovely little place in HSR called Mumbai Tiffin. The name belies the food type.
.....

So look no further, if you’re looking for a first class North Indian breakfast type.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have seen this place while driving on the ORR. I will definitely check it out.

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I wish, for example, Mast Kalandar had remained true to its original mission before it got diluted and burned by the greedy VC’s.

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Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 4720807)

Now that's a name I hadn't heard or remembered in a while. Great food and reasonably priced, until the whole thing went down the tube.:Frustrati

Oh... Mast Kalandar brings back memories of the numerous times I had eaten at their restaurants in BTM and Arakere gate. They used to have really good food, not so spicy or oily. Their Baingan bharta used to be delectable.
Why did they collapse?

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Originally Posted by motorworks (Post 4721257)

The first one is by the name Brilrams Balaji Bhavan at Whitefield, quite close to the hope farm Junction / Whitefield railway station.

I also have heard good words from a relative who lives across. Have to try it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 4721404)

Is there no A2B in those environs? To a TN Trained “Dosa + Sambar” palate, A2B is more attuned.

Off Topic A: :OT
However, A2B does not come with the greatest standards of hygiene (largely because of the way they position their “hand washing” areas and the wicked habit people have, of washing their hands and then shaking off the excess water from their hands within that washing area, causing irritating wet floors!

There is an A2B at Hope Farm junction. And that also suffers from the improper location of the hand-washing area. The service area on the first floor is congested, and gets super crowded on weekends.

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Tried this new Anand Sweets/Purani Dilli restaurant on the Varthur-Whitefield road, next to Herbs-and-Spices, opposite to South India Mall.
Good North-Indian food, loads of variety, reasonably priced, family friendly.

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Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao (Post 4721432)

From the looks of it, tried to move to delivery-only model to improve profitability, got lost in the crowd.

Delivery only model and then they stopped preparing food at the branches completely. Everything was like in flight meals. Prepared centrally and sent to all branches and heated up and served.

I used to frequent the Koramangla branches when they had a village thali on that dry leaf plate. Was very nice.

Whitefield had one awesome delivery service Kristy's Kitchen for continental and that too got bought by Eat.fit and now its all diluted.

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Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 4721437)

Delivery only model and then they stopped preparing food at the branches completely. Everything was like in flight meals. Prepared centrally and sent to all branches and heated up and served....

Don't know how bean counters recommending such 'efficiencies' never realize selling out your USP for profit ultimately leaves you with neither.

Can't blame them entirely either, I guess. Consumer demand for unreasonably cheap food and killer deals, fueled by delivery services takes a fair cut of the blame.

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan (Post 4721169)

Here is a wonderful little 'Darshini' style eatery in Malleshwaram.
Great food, high speed service, authentic taste, very well priced and super clean, I absolutely must say!

There is one on the CBI road in R.T.Nagar as well. Till now have tried only Thatte idly, kesari bhaath and coffee. Good quality food at reasonable price.

Yesterday went to Veena stores, Malleshwaram. Wife ordered Idly / Vada which she told was excellent as always. I went with kesari bhaath which I felt the one at Brahmin's Thatte Idly is better.

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Originally Posted by AltoLXI (Post 4721507)

Yesterday went to Veena stores, Malleshwaram. Wife ordered Idly / Vada which she told was excellent as always. I went with kesari bhaath which I felt the one at Brahmin's Thatte Idly is better.

Veena stores has been in operations for decades now. Only Chutney and no sambar. Originally they served just idly / Vada and kesari baath. I am now told that they have added some more to the menu. No chairs so no sitting. Even then the crowd just keeps growing. Janatha Hotel in 8th cross is another which has been at the same place since 50 odd years.

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Originally Posted by srini1785 (Post 4721517)

Now that the Tendersure work is going on, it is difficult even to stand and eat. But that doesn't deter people from enjoying the famed Idlis :D

Janata hotel and CTR still retain their old world charm. Love their masala dosas and coffee. :thumbs up

Planning to go to Raghvendra stores next week.