A Battle Of The Ages: Do You Prefer Meals At Bheema’s Or Nagarjuna?

When it comes to Andhra meals, there can be only two choices: Bheema’s on Church Street, or Nagarjuna across the city. We had a battle in-house to find which meals are better. But which side do you pick?

Luckily for Team LBB, Bangalore, we worked opposite this leaf-meal hotspot for a year. So naturally, one or two lunches each week, were at Bheema’s. If you’re a familiar face, then you may be able to wangle a table quickly, if not, get to the back of the line, y’all. When you do get a spot, a flurry of wait staff will arrive at your table, plonking one thing after the other, onto your banana leaf. We love pappu {dal cooked with greens} here, and it really makes the whole meal more flavourful. The sambar is a tad sweet, and the rasam too — so if you like a hint of sweetness, then it’s great, if not then this could make Bheema’s drop points. The rice here is slightly fluffy, and we love it. Dollops of ghee are added to this mountain of food, plus papad, and you are free to dig in and eat like no one is watching!

Verdict On Bheema’s: The menu never changes and apart from the pappu, more often than not, the meals are very bland. You could add Chicken 65 to spice it all up, and we happily do, but maybe it’s a bit too inconsistent.

Nagarjuna is an old-school Andhra restaurant, and there’s no denying its fame {and fortune!}. Be it their branch on Double Road in Indiranagar or the original on Residency Road, finding a table here during lunch hours is a task. It’s also a testament to their popularity! Don’t think of looking beyond the Bhojanam here though. Yes, we mean both because it’s worth the extra calories! The meals come with rice, papad, two subzis, sambar, rasam, dahi, buttermilk {to soothe the tummy} and of course, payasam to end with. If that is not gluttony enough, we urge you to order their Vanjaram Fish Fry that is like a tandoori fish or the Sholay kebab, which we just can’t get enough of.

Verdict On Nagarjuna: The rice has too much soda in it and the curries taste oddly synthetic. But the fact that they have great payasam, sambar and rasam, wins them points. Plus, on the nostalgia scale, they are unbeatable.

Nagarjuna is our current pick, and according to our poll on Instagram, we’re all on the same side. Well, for the most part at least as Bheema’s scored 15 per cent of your votes, and Nagarjuna scored a whopping 88 per cent of it, after 24 hours of voting. Don’t get us wrong, we do love Bheema’s tremendously, but maybe we just love Nagarjuna a bit more. We’ll review this in a year, and maybe the verdict will be different!