An old Bangalore landmark, like Koshy’s and Airlines Hotel, Indian Coffee House shifted from it’s erstwhile M.G.Road Location to the adjoining Church Street around 4 years ago. And while some bemoaned the fact that it would no longer occupy its many decades old landmark, they’ll be happy to note that most other things have remained constant. Is that a good or bad thing? Let’s find out.
Location and Ambiance
Situated on a road which bristles with many modern and indeed, upscale joints like Starbucks, Krispy Kreme Donuts and Matteo, Indian Coffee House looks like a bit of an outsider. Among the young, hip joints, it is an old school, British Raj Era grandpa, happy to just be there, aloof and not caring a bit for modern fashions. You get a better idea of that as soon as you enter. They have tried to recreate the exact ambiance as was there in the old location, with blue walls, simple bench tables and chairs, and basically not much else. Utilitarian is the best way to describe it.
Thankfully, unlike Kohsy’s, at least there is no tattered table cloths to bother about.
The waiters are also from an old school time. Indeed, many of them are in their 50s or older, having served in the Indian Coffee House for almost all their lives. Their uniform also seems to be stuck in time.
Do not expect any frills here. Wifi? Forget about it. You get a place to sit, and that’s it. The wash basin seems to be the only concession to modern day necessity, and it is not really that clean. Indeed, located behind a dirty curtain, it is surrounded by bags of god only knows what.
Menu & Taste
Unlike some places which profess to serve 100s of items, Indian Coffee House keeps it simple. There are just around 30+ items on the menu, and some of them are just variations of the other. The obvious thing to get here is the hot coffee, which costs a reasonably Rs. 16. It is served in crockery which seems as ancient as the place. Some cups unfortunately are a bit chipped, and I wonder why they don’t replace them. Regarding taste, it is a good, not too strong filter coffee, but not the best that you can find in the city. Still, it’s pretty good.
Cold coffee is also available, served in a Yera glass (also ancient). It tastes good, sort of a homemade feel to it. Rs. 33 per glass. What I normally have as food when I come here varies between the bread toast with omlette, or the plain and simple masala dosa. Bread toast or bread butter with an omlette or scrambled eggs are one of the popular combinations to have here. However, they never seem to have the tomato omlette. So Plain it is then. Nothing remarkable, but you can never go wrong with a simple bread and egg. Together, they cost around Rs. 50.
Or you can try the south indian items of idli, vada and dosa (plain or masala). The idli and vada is nondescript and not always available. You get much better versions of them in the city. The dosa is pretty okay, and for Rs. 32 for the masala version, good value as a quick, light meal on its own.
Sandwiches are also available as Tomato, Cucumber or Boiled Egg. The mashed boiled egg sandwich is my favorite, light, fluffy with yummy egg goodness. Rs. 33.
A strange item is the Mutton Cutlet. For Rs. 45 you get two large cutlets and sauce. How can it be so cheap? Well, cos from experience, it is mostly an aloo cutlet, with some mutton hidden in it, I guess. Still, okay to have between two pieces of bread.
Service
Like all good, old school places, service is pretty poor, perhaps average on a good day. If you are a regular, you can expect to receive much better service, as I have seen certain elderly gentleman receiving. Still, the crowd these days harks more to a younger demographic than the old school set and the waiters dont seem to like this too much. If you come dressed in formals, you seem to get better service. Weird. Bust mostly, Service is brusque and to the point. Many a time, the bill comes way before you have finished your meal.
Prices
As listed in the Menu section above, no item costs above Rs. 50, with most being in the range of Rs. 20 - 35. At those prices, Indian Coffee House makes fantastic sense. After all, where else in the heart of MG-Brigade Road would you get a place to sit and have a few light snacks for less than Rs.100 for two. Nowhere. Of course, the menu has no fancy items, and eggs plus bread would obviously not cost much to make. Still, if you’re on a tight budget and want to have so comforting snacks, Indian Coffee House makes sense.
Conclusion
Indian Coffee House is an anomaly. On the one hand, it does not seem to offer much in terms of decor or indeed food. But its USP is that it provides affordable simple sustenance in the heart of Bangalore. And for that, I think it deserves a recommendation.