Cubbonpet Chikkanna Tiffen Room

Hello readers,

It's been a while since I posted on the blog. But I guess it was worth the wait. We ventured out to this small, not-so-visible hub called the Chikkanna Tiffen Room in cubbonpet. The place was camouflaged and trust me the chance of you accidentally discovering this place is as bleak as the chance of Virender Sehwag coming back into the Indian Cricket Team. This place is hardly big enough to fit in about 25 people at any given time inside (excluding employees) with limited seating on the side as seen in the pic on your left. This amazingly busy joint is open only between 7am to 10am or max 10:30am. So all you lazy bums, you need to really pull yourselves out of bed to be here.

The hot steaming mouth watering rice bath is best tasted between 7am to 7:45am else it will get cold and will loose its charm. Well moreover it is all sold out by 9:00 or 9:30am. They serve Idlys too but definitely not the best I've tasted. (so far..) Self served chutney container but the best part is that it is safely placed on the gas cylinder. A statutory warning to all those perfectionist mentality people: If you wanna taste something you have never tasted so far... You've to let go of such simple imperfections that you never thought would exist. :D. Next comes the irresistible and the best Dosa ever tasted so far. After a lot of build up and hype over the dosa in this Chikkanna Tiffen Room, it surely did not disappoint. The dosa even though filled with moist potato palya inside, (unlike the dry versions in most of the places), the dosa stays so crispy and the generous amount of pure desi ghee in the dosa keeps lingering in your mouth till the end of the day!!. By far the best dosa I've ever tasted thus far in my tasty days. So there you have it guys, a must visit place in the wee hours of the day in Bangalore. Oh!! before I forget the route to get there :). It's on the way to Majestic bus stand and just after the town hall signal, take a sharp left at the next signal. Keep proceeding straight till you come to a karnataka flag pole with flower vendors. Take the next left after that pole and you will see the board.  Chikkanna Tiffen Room.

Namma SLN

Since 1965

Alright folks,  time for another review of a mouth watering delicacy of early morning Bangalore. This time I reached a place called Namma SLN (of Cubbonpet Muddanna Fame) near Lalbagh. Its a nice and small cozy place located right on the RV Main road.  Apparently this place also started in 1965 and is as old as Brahmins Coffee Bar.  We reached there as early as 7:15 am when they were still preparing to open up the place for public on a chilly sunday morning. Got to chat up with a person there and got this info. The place operates from 7:30am to 3 pm on weekdays and 7:30am to 11am on Sundays. "It's pretty early closing for a sunday" I said, to which he said,  "we are bombarded on the weekend and we will all be dead tired by then. " It's a pure veg hotel which gives you the look and feel of a military hotel. 

Rice Bath

 The specialities here are the rice bath which is more or less like Ghee rice but with much higher spice levels. The rice bath is plain without any veggies or pulav leaves or green chillies or curry leaves that you would usually spit out.  Its pure mouthful of hot  sinful bliss except for an occasional avare kaalu (seasonal), clove or cinnamon bits. The chutney that is served with it makes it a little more spicy, but on a cold morning you wouldn't mind it at all. 

Masala Idly

Plain Idly

Masala Idly which looks like rava Idly but tastes a lot different. This is something not to miss and I bet it is one of a kind. Plain Idly is served with aloo sagu (I would avoid it) and chutney. Both the versions of Idlies are really soft as sponge and they dont even trouble your mouth a tini wini bit.

Masala Dose

Next is the dosa varieties: You can choose and pick from Masala Dosa, Khali (Plain) Dosa, Sabbakki (sabudaana) Dosa, Open Masala Dosa and Bath Dosa (the famous rice bath stuffed in the dosa fold). The dosas are really crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. Its job well done for the dosa department.

Here comes the best part, all you "not so big time eaters", you get mini versons of most of the above mentioned dishes. Half rice, Mini Masala dose, Mini Plain dose, mini sabakki dosa. They still deliver the same power packed acrobatic performance on your taste buds but just dont last that long.

Chutney Counter

There is a self-served chutney container placed aside for whom, this spice is just not spicy enough. Overall a very delightful experience being in this place. I hope all you guys visit this place atleast once to second my review as well.

Pricing:
Rice - Rs. (Full)40/(Half) 30
Dosa - Rs. 40 or 30 / (Mini) 20 or 30
Idly - Rs. 20 per plate.

No seating, food is served in Banana leaves and you might want to carry your own water bottle. Never forget your hand kerchief or nose wipes if you are not accustomed to handle some spice. 

I hope this info comes in handy and please do let me know what you think about it. Until then, as I always say, "Sunday is not too far away." I will come back with another interesting place with another Bangalore Beauty.

Brahmin's Coffee Bar

Here goes the first blog about reviewing the eateries in and around Bangalore of all different tastes, prices, class, mass appeal, cuisines [Mostly Veg and sometimes Egg dishes] which I try to present before you on a weekly basis. 

Since 1965

I have to start off with one of the oldest yet prominent places of Bangalore - Basavanagudi / Shankarapuram. [A road opposite to Shankarapuram Police Station]. This joint is called "Brahmin's Coffee Bar". I have heard of this name even from my dad and his memories of visiting this place during his college days. If you are a Bangalorean, you must and should visit this place to relive the (g)olden days of Bangalore where everything was so simple yet mesmerizing and enchanting.

With very limited menu [Idly / Vada / Khara bath / Kesri bath / Coffee], I wouldn't be lying if I said that this place offers one of the best Idly / Vada / Chutney combinations in Bangalore. The service is quick and the staff are friendly amidst all the chaos of the crowd. The Idly here is so soft that it just melts away in your mouth and the Vada leaves a crispy and delightful sense on your tongue that just keeps asking for more.  The Kharabath [Spicy dish also called as Uppittu / Upma] and Kesribath [Sweet dish] do full justice to your taste buds by soaking you in the flavour of tiny bits of capsicum in kharabath and tiny bits of pineapple in the Kesribath.

The crowd is huge on weekends / public holidays and one may find difficulty in parking four wheelers but two wheelers some how manage to squeeze-in in the vicinity. It's the oldest fast food joint with no seating and you have to manage by holding on to your plates while you eat or use the limited tables placed outside. You will find a crowd of all ages lined up here right from 8 years to 80 years who don't go by the name 'Bar' :D 

The chutney here is so famous that there is always a person seated in the right side corner of the hotel only to serve you unlimited coconut chutney. I was surprised to see people filling up water tumblers full of chutney to go along with their plates of Idly / Vada or Kharabath.

The aromatic filter coffee is served here in glass tumblers which retains the coffee hot for a comparatively longer durations than their steel counter parts without burning your fingers. Although, I have tasted better coffee [only my opinion and according to my taste], this is nothing to complain about either. 

This place is best suited for breakfast with a minimal costing of about 100 bucks for 2 people. But I request you to carry extra money as you just wouldn't stop at that.

Stay tuned for another mouth watering adventure over the weekend as Sunday is never too far away!!. I would also request all the readers/followers of this blog to suggest good breakfast places to visit in their areas so that I can keep this blog alive for as long as possible.