Hungry in Bangalore: Quaint little Kammanahalli Part1

"Where for lunch man". "I don't know, how about Andhra? or Mexican or Darshini (Dosa, Idli South Indian Fare etc) or Subway or North Indian (separate list) or Mac or KFC or Chinese or Empire (mostly non veg fare and Malabari cuisine) or Momos or Arabian or Continental or Pizza....". All this within a Kilometre. Typical eating out conversation within us room mates, its a glorious problem of plenty close to our Humble abode.

I moved into this area about 6 months ago and have been loving this quaint, well now recently popular place. About a Kilometre around the Kamannahalli main road lands you smack in the middle of youthful energy and foodie delights. I am gonna write about this place in parts, cause there is so much to go around. There is a huge foreign student population here, mostly from Middle East and North Africa and a upper middle class population which creates an interesting food situation.

I will start with Breakfast. So recently I was in Delhi, the options - Paratha, Idli, Uttapa. Repeat. In Pune - Poha, Idli, Vada. In Mumbai - Poha, Idli, Dosa. Typical Indian restaurant in the US also served  Idli, Vada and Dosa for breakfast. Get the drift. So after an entire week of eating Idli Vada in office I cant wait to have the superb combo of Idli Vada and Coffee at A2B (whose Vadas are wonderfully fluffy and spiced) or at Adigas whose Dosas are superb or at Filter Coffee (another Darshini style restaurant) for its unique Tamil fare. Any trip outside Bangalore, I cant wait to come back and have the proper breakfast. I am more inclined to Adigas cause they always seem to have a newspaper lying around to read.

My Favorite

Best Coffees to be had

Now not everyone is a fan of South Indian food (or developed such a strong taste for it like me) so there are other great options. If you say Cafe, this place has a lot of them.

Au Bon Pain is one such, the proper Bagel Cream cheese is really good and the Cappuccino was surprisingly wonderful.

Au Bon Pain

The Middle Eastern and (lemme qualify)  North African Students particularly enjoy their coffee so you will find a lot of them enjoying cafes in the relaxed way they are used to, none of the hustle of Darshinis. 

And yes Donuts!

So pretty much every franchise owner wants to open a shop in this area. Not much from the 'local' aspect or street varieties like other areas. As expected the prices are on the higher side. But its pretty good that things are sanitary (yep nothing wrong..so far) and standardized and a lot of options to be had. 

Come a long way from having a solitary Darshini ( small South Indian joint with very limited options and some times sketchy hygiene) to international stuff available at a stones throw away.

Its lunch time, thats another blog...

Viva la Vile Parle Again! Gajalee

Four years and six months ago I had written of this place, it was the same dinner with Brother while on a vacation from Bangalore. No difference this time around - which is a good thing. Meaning the food was as again really awesome.

This place cant go wrong with anything that thrives underwater. Don't know much about the ones living above. Gajalee does crustaceans really well. They get a whole plate of live ones you can choose for your meal and after just a few minutes it arrives steaming and delicious on your plate.
Plus a brief cameo by the actress Raveena Tandon, who is stunningly tall and still pretty(not included as part of the package).

Always a joy to be back home for Diwali. With such separate lives, its great to connect over some great food.

Whew! Blog after a good 10 months. Great to be past this writers block. Plus I hope it helps put down doubts that I am vegetarian. 

Hungry in Hyderabad: Rayalaseema Ruchulu Jubilee Hills

Rayalaseema Ruchulu (RR from now) is a chain of Local Cuisine focused restaurant serving food from the Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. A good break from the usual fare of tried and tested. Generally restaurants cater to a 'generic' taste. Their food is designed to appeal to palates with strict attributes of sweet, spice and so on. It comes a good relief to find a place which takes you to the edge, some may find it good like we did, or utterly bad. The fun is in trying it out.

RR specializes in the super spicy domain. The cuisine is extremely spicy (I mean pungent in a good way) with some dynamite chilies to make your nose run rivers. The other accompanying spices are also on the very higher side. Still its damn tasty.

Since unluckily they didnt serve their famous Thali on Sundays we ordered ala carte. We had the Jolle Roti (millet roti), Bhindi kaya curry (Okra curry), Palak Pappu ( palak daal), the RR Kodi and to save our stomach linings a glass of Majage (buttermilk). The waiter thankfully asks how much heat would we like in the meal. We mentioned medium since we wanted to go authentic. The dishes were hot as in temperature and very hot on the scoville scale. But the taste was amazingly unique and the combination of heat and spices were enjoyable.

Definitely not for a daily fare, but for a change from the usual, this place is a must visit. There is a Dadu's downstairs in case desert is due which is unmissable after a meal at RR. Another reason to come back.