Malabar Restaurant, Bangalore

Some of the traditional eateries in heart of Bangalore still continue to satiate the needs of those long standing clients who grew up in areas like Akkipet, Nagarthapet, Chickpet, Balepet and Cottonpet. As you approach Upparapet Police Station from Majestic Circle(Kempegowda Circle), you will come to a junction where two roads join and lead to a small lane. This lane is well known as Balepet.

On entering  Balepet, you will come across three major landmarks as far as eating out is concerned. First one is Venkateshwara Sweets where you get the world's best Special Mysore Pak. Second is Malabar Restaurant and the third is Udupi Sri Krishna Bhavan. All these three places are well reputed ones and you can see hundreds and thousands swarming around here for the tasty treats that have remained consistent since many decades.

When I worked for a Bank in Chickpet back in the Eighties, for breakfast and lunch I used to eat mostly snacks and I used to visit Sri Malabar Lodge where steaming hot idlis,vadas, tavala vadas, mohantaal, kesari bhaat, uppumav, dosas, pongal and many other dishes were available at reasonable prices. Traditionally they served them on a plate lined with plantain leaf. Those days they had only self service system with coupons.

The tradition continues today in a well furbished new setup in the same place with both self service and service sections. They have also opened a Sweets Stall outside. The name has been shortened to Malabar Restaurant.

I was in Bangalore earlier this year and I religiously visited Balepet to have my quota of goodies at Malabar Restaurant. The service room upstairs was not as crowded as the self service section. The colourful menu showed many new items. I decided to stick to my old favourites Uppumavu and Masala Dosa.

Uppumavu is  uppittu in Kannada and is served with chutney and tomato gojju here. The tangy gojju and the spicy chutney go well with the bland uppumavu. Next the Masala dosa which is way much thicker than other restaurants is softer but the stuffing is different with some red masala within the bhaji. Chutney and sambar are served along with the dosa which is quite filling. Coffee is as good as any restaurant in Bangalore with the strong aroma of freshly ground coffee beans invigorating one's mood in the morning!

Malabar Restaurant is open on all week days except on Wednesday.