Yaakay Bar & Canteen: Old School Vibes Meet Wallet-Friendly Prices & Hit Local Bar Nibbles

In a rather unassuming, white building on Kodigahalli Main Road, the 500-seater Yaakay Bar & Canteen sits at the top, which will make you appreciate the old-school local bar scene vibes it has going on. Yaakay (which means 'why' in Kannada, but here it’s more like 'why not'), part of the same Byg Ventures family as Bob’s, Jollygunj, and Byg Brewski Brewing Company, attempts and does a good job of recreating those canteen-style bars that existed before pubs became a thing in Bangalore.

As you enter the expansive space, you’ll find a massive waiting area and a central canteen-style seating, where we, on our visit on a weekday afternoon, saw people “belting” items off steel plates. Tipples were being consumed too at 12:30 PM, which might have been way too early for us working journalists. As we meandered through the space, the restaurant manager walked us through how each seating section was named after localities that not just Bangaloreans, but the cosmopolitan crowd can relate to. There’s a Kuvempunagar, Sahakar Nagar, and outdoor seating called Brindavan, filled with foliage all around. And just like back in those days, how there were bars that had family seating, here, it’s Jubilee Hills, where there’s a sharp contrast from the canteen-style vibes to a more uppity vibe.

Our host for the day was Saurabha Gowda, the culinary director at Byg Ventures, who designed the entire menu as a nod to her heritage, bringing a mix of things that are mostly found in homes. She tells us, in between her placing the order for us, that this is pure play South Indian menu with recipes from families of Malnad, Mysore, and even Chikmagalur, where she’s from. Back in 2005, she ran Rasa, a place that exclusively did Malnad food, and some of those dishes found their way on the menu here.

We started with bar nibbles in the form of Yaakay Rice Papad Masala and Mosaru Kodbale, perfect finger food options to get things started. Some of the other dishes we spotted include a Disco Shanti Mix and Manju’s Motte Chilli (egg chilli). Since we weren’t drinking, we ordered a Kokum Masala Coke to pair with our afternoon binge eating. Rebel Star Mutton Fry, Banana Leaf Chicken, Star Mutton Liver, and Yakaay Special were the next to arrive. Some vegetarian options came too, but we were a bit too focused on the Mutton Fry and Banana Leaf Chicken — spiced and cooked perfectly. We can see ourselves ordering many plates of these. For mains, we were served a Chicken Biryani along with the Alleppy Fish Curry and a side of Parotta. Truly well fed, we were thanking Saurabha for her generosity when we brought in Special Ginnu and Ragi Mani — the former being a dessert made with colustrum and the latter a ragi custard. Nothing too extra or sweet, it might give you that extra high when you’re a few pints down. 

Obviously, we are coming back for more. We’ve found our newest adda on that side of the town, and we have plenty of friends who live in the Hebbal area, so Yaakay full scene.

Timings: 11:30 AM to 11:45 PM

Cost For Two: INR 1,000

Rating: 4.4/5 on Google

Instagram Handle: @yaakay.bar