This vegetarian restaurant, located on Mysore Road, dishes out piping hot idlis, dosas and filter coffee in a gorgeous ambience complete with antique furniture and green lawns. Time for that weekend road trip with your pals.
Your first impression of Malgudi Vattika will be of a sprawling bungalow spread across lush green lawns. The restaurant offers both seating in its spacious verandah as well as its garden areas, with quaint lanterns hanging and wooden picnic tables and chairs. As you must have guessed, the restaurant is dedicated to author RK Narayan and the fictitious town of his creation — Malgudi (based on our dear old Bangalore of course). So inside the red tiled roof and white washed bungalow, you can spot various displays of antique phones, gramophones, vintage cameras trussed up on sturdy tripods and ancient typewriters. Plus, many quotes from the author himself framed on the walls. Outdoors, there are wooden garden benches with colourful tiled decor where you can lounge around and just take in the fresh air.
While the restaurant does idlis, dosas, and khara bath (upma), you must try the North Karnataka specials such as the Jollada Roti (a millet unleavened bread or roti made out of jowar) served with curry. Evening snacks include spicy mirchi bhajji, onion pakodas and even French fries among many options. If nothing less than rice will suffice for you, then try their weekend special thali especially if you are trooping in during lunchtime or for portion controlled eating, try their selection of South Indian bowls with everything from puliyogare (tamarind rice) to Karnataka special bisibele bath, tomato rice or the simple pongal (a version of khichdi) . Finish your meal with a selection of ice cream or desi sweets such as Gajar Ka Halwa Or Gulab Jamun.
North Indians fret not! There is an entire section of the menu dedicated to your need for dal, roti, butter masalas and more. They even do Indian Chinese and a tiny section of Maharashtrian snacks such as Misal Pav, Kanda Poha, and Sabudana Vada.