Speciality: Sakkat (kannada slang for awesome) South-Indian (tamilian) Meals
So here goes, this is the scene there at around 1 PM:
Tables are all setup beforehand for the first round of lunch with empty banana leafs and a glass of water. People (many of them techies) occupy their places and clean their banana leafs with water in typical south indian style.
After most tables are occupied, the “SUPPLY CHAIN” begins.
First comes side-dish guy and serves 3 to 4 side-dishes. Then the big pappad and the spicy fried chilli is served (any idea wat is called ?). The next guy serves (plain) rice. Then follows the hot pure ghee for the rice. Then follows the curry guy. First round of rice with sambar, next round of rice with mor kollamb (a yellow curd based curry) or rasam, final round of rice with curd. It ends with your belly full and one last sweet.
In between the meal, like a typical south indian marriage feast, there is one guy who is generally overlooking all the tables and tracking which items are needed and directs the rice guy/curry guy/side dish guy/pappad guy/water guy towards you. Sometimes, he comes to you and asks “How do you like the lunch today ?“. Remember its unlimited, so have a light breakfast in the morning to completely enjoy the feast.
If you observe the crowd on a typical weekday. You can hear a lot of discussions on projects, technologies, office politics, job openings, business discussions etc.. Its bangalore’s equivalent of silicon valley’s pubs were VCs and techies hangout.
Address: 1st Floor, 143, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala (close to Anand Sweets & GK Vale)
Map:
- Go to URL: http://www.koramangala.com/gokora/default.asp
- Select Restaurants from the drop-down menu.
- You will find Sri Krishna Kafe’ in the list.
- Click “Locate” to get its location in koramangala’s map.
Price:
Lunch Unlimited Meal = Rs.58
Weekend Unlimited “Special” Meal = Rs.68
NOTE: This post is renewed from my earlier post at our other blog Swalpa Adjust Maadi
BangaloreGuy
4 years ago
Oh wow. Crowd in Kora enjoying Southie meal? Wouldnt have thought it do be doing so.
Great site. Esply the Map feature!
Is the restaraunt a new place btw?
The spicy chilli is to be enjoyed with Mosaranna(Curd’s Rice). Mor Kollamb would perhaps be, in Kannada MajigeHuli.
piqxxx
4 years ago
Drooling all over just imagining the scene – haven’t had good Tamilian veg meal in close to two years and nowhere near to have it
Aaman
4 years ago
Dude,
As a Bangalorean hanging out in Ohio, you’ve made my mouth water, and long for home
Good stuff!
sathish
4 years ago
hey guys, am quite a regular over there since the time this Kafe was opened.
i’ve seen them increase prices to learnt how they manage quality. in the initial days even the manager was a server!!
Today they have another branch at Bannerghata road near IIMB campus & Honeywell.
sathish
4 years ago
@bangaloreguy
what makes u think crowd in Koramangala do not enjoy southie meal??
its new for past 2yrs+…
The Marauder's Map
4 years ago
Wow, sounds awesome. I love the vegetarian thali (intriguingly called ‘meals’) at Bhima’s on church street and Nandhini on St Mark’s Road, and though these are supposedly Andhra restaurants, the food you’ve described and the way it’s served seems pretty similar. Any idea how a Tamil meals is different from an Andhra meals? I’m a Bong foodie fairly new to Bangalore, therefore ignorant about these subtle differences.
Jagadish
4 years ago
Sumne, were you there on Saturday afternoon [Jan 7]? I was
I’ve been there 2-3 times now and the quality is pretty good.
It is a lovely place to have Tamil veg food. Yelai pottu saapadu. The other place where you get fairly good Tamil tiffin is Cafe So Sweet (or something like that) on CMH Rd near the hospital.
sathish: Where is the other ‘branch’ near IIM?
SUMNE
4 years ago
Glad to hear from so many foodies..
Jagadish: Yup, I was there on Jan 7 (saturday).
Actually I was sitting next to a couple of tamizhian guys who were working at Sun Microsystems. They had come over all the way to Koro only for this lunch. Realised then, this place must be really famous among south-indian foodies specially tamizhians.
Shruthi
4 years ago
Just a doubt… Why do you call it a Tamil meal? (Coz the restaurant claims to be a Tam restaurant, or something like that??) Coz the food you described sounds like a Kannada meal to me
) Come to think of it, what is the difference between those meals? Just an ingredient extra or less in the side-dishes…. and some extra spice or sweet in the main dishes…. and that’s it!
Whatever it is, I am glad I read this post-lunch…
BangaloreGuy
4 years ago
Sathish,
Ah well, dont/dint really expect the hep crowd of Kora to be enjoying Indian food. More so South Indian.
its been around for the past 2 years? wow, and I hadnt heard of it until now!
aNTi
4 years ago
the spicy fried chilli is served (any idea wat is called ?).
It’s called “mor molaga” (mor = Buttermilk, molaga = Chilli). A particular variety of green chilli is marinated in buttermilk with lots of salt. Once the chilli soaks the buttermilk, the chillis are then sun-dried (the traditional way) and they turn brown. They are fried and eaten usually with curd rice. Depending on the chilli used, the spice levels vary!
sathish
4 years ago
This post has been removed by the author.
sathish
4 years ago
check my short write up long back..
http://krisathish.blogspot.com/2005/07/restaurants-i-visit-breif-review.html
Rajagopal
4 years ago
@The Marauder’s Map: Tamilians (Tam Brams in particular) prefer not to have garlic in their rasam. That might be one difference.
Any meal without paruppu podi (powder made of grams and assorted spices), Mango pickle or Gongurra pickle is definitely not an andhra meal.
In general, an Andhra meal is much hotter than a Tamilian style vegetarian meal, but just as tasty.
sathish
4 years ago
Another suggestion –
you should try out the mouli’s annapurni restaurant in Cambridge layout.
Their food is as good as Krishna Kafe, if not better.
BangaloreGuy
4 years ago
rajagopal,
Most brahmins south of the Vindhyas, by tradition, do not use onion/garlic in their cooking. The Veerashaiva/Lingayats of Karnataka dont prefer it either.
And the food was okay, IMO, except for the plantain leaf that accompanies it, not a patch on what MTR provides.
Libran Lover
4 years ago
How much do these “unlimited meals” cost at the Sri Krishna Kafe?
sukhi
4 years ago
I think it was 55 Rs.
Hiren
3 years ago
I stay in Delhi and have south indian food in only Sagar Ratna. Nice to be aware of it though.
Bhanu
3 years ago
Hi “The Marauder’s Map” , “rajagopal”
I am an andhraite who had been in chennai for quite some time. Apart from some diff that rajagopal has pointed out, The diff between the andhra and tamil food is that you begin with sidedishes in andhra meals. In tamil meals you start with sambar. paruppu(not the plain paruppu) is the main course in andra meals and sambar is an additional item in andhra food.
Sundar
3 years ago
I happened to be at Krishna Kafe on its inagural day. At that time it used to cost me Rs 40/- per meal and their partner (who is now in the USA) made sure that I put on weight (and I did). They hired cooks (or rather chefs) from Mylapore, Chennai. I am glad that KK still serves same quality food till date though the prices have increased with inflation and I stopped frequenting due to work pressures. I am sure it should be worth it.
Yamini
1 year ago
if you like this cuisine you must try annapoorani on cambridge road in ulsoor. its not as cheap as krishna cafe but the quality and authenticity is out of this world. weekday lunches are popular and evening tiffin is yummy with the pongal, adais, akki rotis and ghee roasts. mondays a holiday though so be aware
Koushik
1 year ago
Guys Krishna is the best for a weekend lunch. I have been having it for the last 5 Yrs.. I have had lunch wen it was Rs.45/- and now a meal cost Rs.85/- over the weekend and Rs.65/- on week days.
Enjoy..