Where is the new Karnataka Chief Minister DK? Shivakumar like to eat? This question particularly struck me because he is a vegetarian like me, and his food choices play some role in his overall personality. People are aware that Shivakumar enjoys entertaining at his home, is a strict vegetarian and has a penchant for idli.
He’s also been known to visit humble restaurants around the city, including Indies365, which featured him on their Instagram page. Keeping all this in mind, here’s a vegan tour of Bengaluru for the new chief minister’s eye.
Walk down the road from Netakalappa Circle in Basavanagudi towards the famous Dwaraka Hotel and you will draw an edible map of Karnataka. Outsiders’ view of Bengaluru as India’s Silicon Valley sometimes deprives the city of some nuance. Yes, it is a migration magnet for people from Delhi, Bihar and Jaipur. However, it also attracts people from all over Karnataka, quietly or subtly managing to balance the unique culinary identities of the state’s diverse regions. It all depends on where you live or work.
I live in Ulsoor, a Tamil region, and work in Basavanagudi, which is still mostly Kannadiga – more specifically, the ancient heartland of Mysuru. For Kannadigas, Mysuru means culture. It is the soul of their state, entrenched in traditional Brahminical and Vokkaliga homes that depend on the bele-bella (lentils and jaggery) mixture for daily food and festival feasts respectively – lentils for daily food and jaggery for festivals. To get the atmosphere of these neighborhoods you need to visit Darshini joints That is why I am inviting the Prime Minister to a new place: the Basavanagudi Tiffin Room, down the road from my office in NR Colony. I would be happy to treat him to a batch of idli-vada. It just costs $30 after all.
Raji Maud It’s a soft ball that has no meaning unless you grow up with it. Local friends see it as a healthy comfort food that you can swallow with a Saru (thin broth). CM is known to try this often. We find ourselves back in Basavanagudi, in the Madappa Mudde Mess, where it is served with Pass Saru (lentil soup). I prefer to have a tiffin at Sri Guru Koteeshwara Davanagere Benne Dose (note the ‘e’ at the end, not the ‘a’ as North Indians say) where it is hot dose A layer of butter is served.
The main artery of this area, Subbarama Chetty Road is full of stuff Dosa Places that serve the types of food the Prime Minister loves. But if he’s in the mood it’s harder Bayalosemi Fare, then we head northwest of the city towards Rajajinagar and Vijayanagar. Bayalosemi It refers to the arid plains lying east of the dense, hilly, lush and green Malinadu region of the Western Ghats. These arid plains are wide, rolling and gently sloping towards the east. The food is rustic and hearty, and I’d say it’s among the healthiest cuisines in India, since it’s based on millets like ragi and jowar, and sprouted lentils that the locals call Kalo. Shivakumar may love soft, carbohydrate-rich idlis but the rigors of the job will require him to try a meal of… Gollada roti (unleavened sorghum bread), engayi badanekayi (stuffed spicy brinjal), Kalo Saro (a sambar-like broth made from sprouted lentils) and Shinga sauce (peanut powder) with a side of raw onions. This is endurance cuisine with bold, tart flavours, which she endures for the sake of her position. We will go to Kamat Bugle Rock or Nalapaka in Rajajinagar.
Gujarati and Marwari food is filled with delicious vegetarian options. Here too, Bangalore doesn’t falter. To try these foods, we go to the market in Chikpet where the commercial culture that attracted traders to Bengaluru still lives and eats. The area has many small restaurants serving Marwari traders and Gujarati textile traders, all of whom speak fluent Kannada, having lived here for generations.
But what is Karnataka without its coastal flavours? To experience this, we should head towards Nehru Circle in Seshadripuram, where there is an outlet for the PV Raman school of astrology, in case the Prime Minister wants to check his horoscope. Afterwards, we had lunch at Sanadige Restaurant in the Goldfinch Hotel. Sure, coastal food or… Caravalli The cuisine is known for its seafood, but we may have… Close to Dosa Made from watery dough with soup.
We will skip the mutton and biryani market and the night market in Shivaji Nagar that caters to every migrant who gets down at the bus stand to start a new life in this city. The Tamil population of Ulsoor and Cookstown is sufficiently native that they speak the Tamil language saapadu At home and enjoying international food in Bengaluru when they go out. If I want to eat Tamil food, my closest restaurant is Tanjore Tiffins in Domlur. But maybe we should go there for a proper sambar that is not loaded with sugar.
Bengaluru’s greatness as a culinary capital lies in this regional density. It is a city where a resident can get… Gollada roti For lunch in Rajajinagar Pork puff pastry For dinner in Cook Town. This internal diversity is what prevents the city’s taste from becoming a single globalized bloc. Cigar aficionados will relate to this but the city’s neighborhoods serve as culinary and cultural refreshments, preserving specific spice levels, grain preferences and meal timings of the various Karnatakas that meet at this elevated intersection. In Bengaluru, eating means traveling across the state, one ‘house’ at a time. The Prime Minister can do all this without leaving our capital.
(Shobha Narayan is an award-winning author based in Bengaluru. She is also a freelance contributor who writes about art, food, fashion and travel for a number of publications.)
