No, this review is not about RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days. Instead this is all about the restaurant Malgudi. Now who in his sanest of senses would name a restaurant as Malgudi. Don’t be turned off by the name, instead the name gives the place, a zara hatke, attraction & feel.
I guess, this is one of the very few thematic restaurants in Bangalore. Situated very close to Marthalli, you need to take a left onto the ring road when you come from Marthalli. From there its hardly a few hundred meters, visible to your left on the ring road.
Malgudi’s cuisine is complete South Indian. The menu is split in 4 parts, with dishes from all the four South Indian States. The dishes are not the daily run-of-the mill ones. They are surprisingly different and these are the dishes which one would not be eating often. I tasted the Karnataka Menu. Some specialities available are the Raagi Mudde, Neeru Dose, Mangalore Rotti, Bas Saaru etc. These dishes might not be very common to the city residents but these form the daily staple in many towns.
I started off with the Bondada Sharbath. The drink tastes as good as its name. It is sweet coconut water, mixed with honey and mint. Oh! and it surely tastes a blast and is thousand times better than some stupid cola with gas. It doesn’t cost a bomb too. Just 20 bucks. The different cuisine is Malgudi’s speciality. I had a portion of Neeru Dose. A portion is 3 pieces of the Dose. Accompanying it I had Brinjal curry and Vadai curry. Both were cooked differently and tasted quite good. The non-veggies will find a few more varities in the food (chicken, lamb & mutton are availabe too). The next time I would like to lay my hands on the Kerala cuisine. Lovers of spicy food, you should try out the Andhra Cuisine. Living upto its name, most of them are spicy.
I finished off with Qubani ka Meetha which was too much meetha. The sweetend Apricots are good for a few spoons. Overall, the food is different from what you get elsewhere. You may not like to come here often, but give your tastebuds a change of delight and visit this place. All dishes are priced reasonably. The Neeru Dose was priced at Rs.30. Other dishes are priced between Rs. 40 & Rs.70. Liquor is available too along with few Cocktails & Mocktails.
The ambience is quite good. The interiors are filled with brilliant pencil sketches of Malgudi (by RK Narayan) and Mysore style and Tanjore style paintings. The waiters are dressed in whites, white shirts and the traditional lungi’s called Kachche Panche. The seating & lighting are comfortable. Pleasant oldie Kannada Songs float in the background. Overall a very good place to visit with the family. The zara hatke cuisine would be liked by both the Bangaloreans and the outsiders. A word of caution though. Some appetizers aren’t mentioned in the menu at all. The waiter suggested us a Veg Platter. Though mouth watering it was, this alone cost a whooping Rs.250. Certainly not worth the obnoxious price.