Broadly speaking, life on earth can be divided into 2 - Animal and plants!!
If you are a plant, no problem, you make your own food by photosynthesis.
If you are an animal, hmmm…. We can again divide you into 2 broad categories… one- Man, the other - remaining animals…
If you are one among the remaining animals, wow, no problem at all…. Either you eat the plants or you eat other animals raw…. No cooking required….. bless your taste buds!!
If you are “MAN”, hmmmm… there are again 2 kinds of them. One - who love to cook and the other - who don’t.
If you love to cook, well, blessed is your spouse :)
If you don’t like to cook, there are again 2 options. One - you get some quickie ready-to-eat packs and have ’em at home. Two - you go out and eat.
If you get some fast to cook stuff at home, you don’t need to get dressed or take the trouble to drive down, you can enjoy the food while watching your favourite soap ;)
If you go out and eat, again, there are 2 options…. One - you go to some formal restaurant. Two - you go to some informal joint.
If you go to a formal restaurant, you get that special effect, the special ambience and you are specially dressed for the occasion. There are people waiting upon you as if you ruled the earth!!! Food may or may not be good but the bill is pretty good :)
If you go to an informal joint, there are again 2 types of them. One - the western, two - the Indian kind.
In the western types like McDonalds, Subway, etc you serve yourself and you get to eat something “different” from you normal day-today routine (atleast for staunch Southies like me)..
In the Indian kind, you have tastiest of tastiest foods in a typical indian environment... like charpois as in dhabha…. or the benches as in MTR.
MTR
What does this word remind you of? Probably, bottles of pickle. Or, readymade, “add water and stir” Indian food stuffs.
Well there is more to it than that. MTR stands for Mavalli Tiffin Room.
History
The MTR tradition of food and hospitality began in 1924 with the establishment of the Mavalli Tiffin Room by the Maiyya family in Bangalore, India. This eatery had been started by the present owner Sadanand Mayya’s father, a cook turned hotelier. Sadanand was an engineering student when his father died, and he took over the restaurant and ran it, while simultaneously working. It was not making big profits, but Sadanand wanted to keep it going as a landmark showpiece. During the Emergency in the mid seventies, when the hotel found it impossible to maintain its very high food standards at the low prices enforced by the Food Control Act, Sadanand got into the instant food business, and now has a successful range of sambar and rasam powders, instant mixes that we are all aware of and that we must have used at some point in our life :)
Now moving on to my experience…
The 75-year-old restaurant, is situated in a small, old building bang in the middle of Lalbagh road, adjacent to Lalbagh garden. If you don’t watch out properly, you might miss it!!! Better not to drive your own vehicle there since parking would be a problem..
As you walk through the old painted door, you can see the cashier sitting within an old-fashioned grill enclosure. The menu for the dinner is written on a board next to him. If you are not for a full meal, you can always walk into the ’tiffin and snacks’ room just beyond.We had opted for the meal, hence we paid the advance (Rs 80 per head). We walked up the dark, old fashioned staircase which opened up into a small waiting area which reminded me of the waiting rooms in the stations :) There were long benches fixed to the floor. Although, we had landed there 15 minutes prior to the time, we found a lot of people already waiting there.
Before I forget, there is a fixed timing for meals and there are only 2 rounds. Hence, you need to be there on time or you miss it!!You may also reserve in advance.
While waiting, you can go through a number of old framed photographs adorning the walls that showcases many celebrities eating away to glory a long time ago…
The look of the place is not formal. The emphasis is more on food in this place rather than the ambiance or the décor. So, you wont find dull lights, red carpets or fancy paintings!!!
Just to add some information on the meal, this kind of food has its origins in the Udipi Brahmin cuisine of Dakshina Kannada, the coastal area of Karnataka. Hence, anyone who doesnt enjoy veg might not enjoy this place.
At dot 8, we were led to our sitting place via rooms and rooms… the whole restaurant is split into a number of rooms. The seating may not impress you much as it consists of a long black stone topped table and plastic chairs.
Soon, the steel plates were laid and the water was served. (Please do not expect porcelain cutleries!!!). Fresh, sweet grape juice, served in heavy, old SILVER TUMBLERS, came first, brought not on trays, but in clusters by waiters.
The first serving was badam halwa. And even before the waiter finished serving, I had gulped it down forcing the guy to give me a second serving :). This was followed by fresh, spicy green chutney, aloo masala and softest of the softest pooris. While the servers waited patiently for us to finish the soft pooris, we asked for 2-3 more of the same :)
We were then served with “a-kind-of-tattai” - a flatter, crispier form of vada followed by salad ( a mix of carrot, cucumber, pineapple and moong dal) and cabbage-beans curry. Puliyogare or the tamarind rice followed next with yummy raita as the side dish. Also, served were the papad.
At some point in time, I also noticed a bowl of kheer… I wonder how engrossed I was in eating not to have noticed that!!! The savouries and sweets were alternated well enough to ensure that we always had a sweet on hand to nibble if any of the food proved to be too spicy, as sometimes happened
Then came the main course of rice with “methi-brinjal-sambar”, followed by rice with “spicy rasam”. By this time, I had stopped counting the number of items being served… I was stuffing myself sans the time to breathe!!! Incase you love to drink rasam, the waiters oblige you by bringing a katori of the same..
As the grand finale of all South Indian meals, we were served seasoned dahi-rice with pickle… What a heaven!!! I thought this was it.. but no there came assortment of fruits with a scoop of obviously home-made ice-cream, decorated with a small cherry perched right on top
Finally, when I couldn’t move and thought how the hell would I digest the kilos I had consumed…. pop!!! came someone with a paan !!! .
When I could finally move, we went to wash our hands in the small basins situated at strategic places….That reminds me … this kind of food is best eaten with hand rather than spoon.
When we walked off from the place, “tummy satisfaction” was the key word and there we were.. with a heavier stomach but appx same weighing wallet as when we had walked in...
So, burrrrrrrrrp (sorry ;)... a must-visit for people who believe that "alls well that tastes well" :)