Watering At the Mouth - Writing about eateries of Bangalore.

I was born in Chamarajapet, probably the very first suburb of Bangalore of the yore. We shifted to Basavanagudi when I was three or four and after another two years, to our own house in Shantinagar, near Wilson Garden. The year 1962. Cost of the site of size 40*60 was Rs 800 and cost of construction Rs 12,000. My father took a loan and repaid it over the next eighteen years. This is just to give an indication of the economy of that period. My primary education was in Maruti Vidyalaya in Wilson garden.  None of my relatives who heard the name of my school could ever resist commenting “I think they have named the school, looking at the way you behave!”. Then I joined National High School and later GDC. Most of our friends and relatives were also around these places and hence the Bangalore that I am very familiar with is the one within a radius of say, five to six kilometers from GDC. Well, in fact that was almost the whole of Bangalore five decades back, if you excluded Malleshwaram and Ulsoor. Malleshwaram was not actually Bangalore. It was the first railway station after Bangalore city, towards Tumkur. And Ulsoor was cantonement area. Again not actually Bangalore. So were the present day hotspots MG road, Brigade road etc etc.  See, I am already on a tangent. I was supposed to write about hotels. Not history of Bangalore.

There were quite a few famous eateries in the Bangalore outlined above, but some of them have been legendary. Here I plan to restrict myself to the very famous MTR, Vidyarthi Bhavan, Udupi Krishna Bhavan, Raghavendra Bhavana and Rama Vilas Hotel. I will give a very short account of each before going over to MTR the king. 

Vidyarthi Bhavan, located in the center of Gandhi bazaar is supposed to have been named so because it catered mainly to students. That must have been before the sixties.  Because at the time I was in National High school/college  (which is the closest educational institution to VB) hardly any students went to VB. Their popular haunts were the Bakery at the corner where Vanivilas Road joins DVG road and “Bhattana Hotlu” (meaning Bhatta’s hotel) on DVG road.

Coming back to VB, the hotel used to be (and still is) a very congested one and there was no scope for leisurely sitting, chatting and eating. You got in, stood next to a table eagerly waiting for the occupant to finish his coffee and slid into his chair even before he was fully out of it. Then the cleaner would clean the table and in his zeal would push a stray onion bit or a piece of idli on to your shirt.You ignored that and waited patiently for your dosa to arrive. You ate your dosa, ordered another one if so inclined or asked for your coffee. Even before you imbibed the last drop the person standing next to you would be pushing you out and you obediently obliged, paid your bill at the counter and walked out. Since there was only one wash basin located next to the entrance, usually a piece of news paper was served along with your Dosa to save a trip to the tap and more importantly save table time! You just wiped your hand with the paper and hence you enjoyed the flavor of dosa for a long time on your hands! Till you got an opportunity to wash with soap and water. Many a  times the dosa smell remained even after that!  

I do not know If Dr Kumaraswamy of Oral surgery was a patron of VB.  I am sure most of us of the “Pre Gloves” era have experienced  the smell of clotted blood remaining on the hands for a very long time after doing a particularly difficult open method. When some one mentioned that the smell remained even after washing the hands with soap, Dr Kumaraswamy said “It is like the smell of Masala dosa I say, remains on your hand till evening!”. 

VB is pretty much the same even now though the seating has somewhat been modified and efforts are made to make the interiors more appealing. But the ‘Benne masale’ remains the same and that’s what pulls people in.

I have eaten quite a few dosas at the Janata Hotel which was Located next to United Dental building in  Sajjana Rao circle and many a times I have felt that their dosa was as good as Vidyarthi Bhavan and sometimes even better. But the diehard VB fans may not agree with me.

Since my father used to work with an electrical supplies dealer in Chickpet, we used to visit Chickpet for all our purchases be it groceries, books, clothes or footwear. And at the end we invariably ended up in Udupi Krishna Bhavan in Balepet or Bombay Ananda Bhavan in Chickpet. While UKB was a halt for Masala dosa or Uddina wada, BAB was for ice cream. I am talking about the era when the Joy and Kwality ice creams (The very first packed ice cream brands to enter the city) were yet to enter Bangalore.  My father could ill afford this extravaganza but our visits to Chickpet never ended without a dosa and gulab Jamun or ice cream. 

I understand UKB, apart from its Masala dosa was very famous for its cleanliness  and has won the 'cleanest hotel' title from the Bangalore city corporation, many times.

Very close to UKB is the Venkateshwara Sweet Meats, most famous for their Mysore Pak. It is unique and is worth ignoring the cholesterol levels, calorie count and doctor’s orders to enjoy it once in a way!

Raghavendra Bhavan was located in one of the dustiest and dirtiest places of Bangalore - behind K R Market in Gundopant street.  It was reasonably clean inside and the ritual of a server standing next to you and reciting the menu was never there. You occupied a chair and within minutes a steaming plate of Idli smbhar arrived in front of you. If you did not get up or ask for Coffee after finishing it, a plate of Puri saagu followed. If you remained seated even after Puri saagu, you got one of the most divine Badam halwas in a small plate. And then the bill. I have not visited RB as much as the others but I do have some first hand experience. This is not just hearsay.

Rama vilas hotel is in Nagartpet on what is known as Old Taluk Cutchery (OTC) road. The road which connects corporation office to Chickpet. There was a small concrete dome in the center of the junction of OTC road and Avenue road and it was known as Saraf Katte, probably because of the presence of jewellers around the place. Rama vilas hotel is somewhere in between Saraf katte and Corporation office. Not many may recognise the name  Rama vilas hotel but I am sure any Bangalorean of my age or nearby, who has drank the water from the Tippagondana halli reservoir (that was the first public water supply to Bangalore) would start watering in the mouth if you mention  Gundappana Hotlu.  I was under the impression that it is extinct but to my surprise wikipedia says that it is still operating. I should make it a point to go there during my next visit to Bengaluru even if it means driving through JC road inhaling a life time supply of Carbon monoxide. 

We did not usually go to Gundappana Hotlu to eat but its products reached our home often. I said that my father worked in Chickpet. To reach our home in Shantinagar, he had to walk up to NR road Via avenue road, (Narasimha Raja Road, the road in front of GDC) wait for the bus near Jamia Masjid, get down near KH road ( double road) and walk another kilometer to reach home. Many a times he simply walked all the way home via OTC road and mission road and if he walked home, he had to pass in front of Rama Vilas Hotel. If he had a packet of Kharasev, Pakodas, Jilebi or Dumroot in his hand when he reached home, we knew that he walked home. Since we were not mature enough to feel bad about his walking home in the hot sun, we just enjoyed the delicacies and wished he walked home more frequently!

Dumroot by the way is a sweet made of grated pumpkin (Ash gourd) cooked slowly in ghee along with khova and sugar and garnished with dry fruits! It is divine. The khara sev liberally filled with cashew nuts and Jilebi with real kesar had their own special flavor and every bite was a treat. If I make it there in my next trip I will let you know if it is still the same.

-->

At last, I come to MTR. This post is turning out to be longer than what I anticipated. I think I will make another post entirely of MTR. It deserves it. If you have read till here, liked this and still have patience, just say so and wait for another day or two. I promise not to disappoint you. 

NB: None of the pictures in the post are mine. They are lifted from the net.  The words are entirely mine and the experience, first hand!