Indira Versus Namma Appaji: Who Deserves Our {Ahem!} Vote In The Canteen Wars?

With elections fast approaching, political parties are upping the game and have launched canteens where meals come at a mere INR 10 or less. The ruling Congress has launched Indira Canteens, one for each ward. And JD{S} MLC TA Saravana has launched Namma Appaji. We visited both and here’s our verdict.

Even though 198 Indira Canteens have been announced, news reports indicate that only about 70 are able to cater to the masses. We visited the Indira Canteen at HBR Layout. Constructed by the BBMP, the canteens are compact spaces featuring bare walls and concrete slabs for you to plonk your food on. Service too is kept at the bare minimum and we recommend you carry a bottle of water though cause there are long lines at water cooler.

There’s only one Namma Appaji canteen as of now. Local politician, MLC TA Saravana has taken up the initiative and dedicated the canteen to party supremo – H.D. Deve Gowda. The canteen is located at Hanumanthnagar {easily trackable on Google}. This one is way spiffier when compared to the average Indira Canteen and the service is stellar.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Indira Canteen has a daily-rotating menu. On the day we went, there was supposed to be Chitranna {lemon rice} and rice and sambhar for lunch. However, there was only flavoured rice available. It was lightly spiced and had a few speckles of sweet corn {three to be exact}. While it wasn’t the most impressive dish, it catered to the masses {lot of old people eating here}. The coconut chutney had enough of heat to lift the dish a bit. The cooling curd rice too had slivers of chilly and a tadka. We would gladly pay around INR 50 – 75 bucks for this meal.

The menu at Namma Appaji  is set and has a couple of options. There’s breakfast, tea, and lunch {open only till 3pm}. There were two items on Namma Appaji’s menu for the day. We started off with the Mudde Oota {Ragi Ball Meal}. It was served with Bas Saaru – a curry made with greens and lentils. They also served a heap of plain rice. The ragi ball was perfection but the curry was under-salted and the rice undercooked. The Pongal, on the other hand, was creamy and sprinkled with peppercorns and chillies.

While in terms of cleanliness and service, Namma Appaji is way ahead, Indira Canteen is a just a notch above for the quality of food. However, if you decide to give either of the canteens a try, do not waste food. We encountered many people {especially at the Indira Canteen} who were genuinely in need of a decent meal.