because visitors to Bengaluru will not just go seeing palaces and parks, but also would love to eat the food available here. So....
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Pics: 1,3,4,5,6.
This is one hotel you must have seen or heard on TV or read in papers. It's the famous 'Vidyarthi Bhavan' Hotel in Basavangudi.
This old hotel is very famous for its Masala Dose. The Masala Dose here is one of best. Its thick and crispy with a golden brown hue. Ghee just oozes out of the Dose.
There is mashed potato palya inside the Dose. The side dish is the coconut chutney with more fried grams than coconut.
The hotel also has some other items, but everyone orders this Dose only. You can see on YT videos how they stack the doses one above another and serve it.
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It is located in Central Old Bengaluru and the wait to get a seat is quite long.
But is it worth it?
Well yes, one - you can say that you have eaten at this hotel :)
Two - it is one of the best Dose you will ever taste. So the wait is worth it.
On the flip side - it's costly - 46 Rs. The wait and the crowd is also off-putting too.
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Here is the location - nearest Metro is 'National College Metro' on Green Line.
click hereSome YT videos:
click here...............................
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When one visits Bengaluru, you will see "Darshini" style of restaurant in every locality.
What is it? Well, to beat the space crunch and offer cheap food to the working class, this type of hotels was started in Bengaluru by one man. It was first started in Basavangudi - just half a Km - from VB. Its called Upahara Darshini UD. It's mentioned here too
click hereThe man who started it :
click here Its given Jayanagar, but Basavangudi was the first.
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In this type of hotel the sevice is fast and the food is tasty and cheap too.
Pay the money and buy a token and hand it over to the person behind the counter. Most of the food items would be ready and you will get served immediately. Some like Dose will take few minutes. Then bring the food to your table - Standing table - and eat and move on.
These hotels are seen in almost every locality here.
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The first one was UD - Pic 9 - near Netkallapa Circle in Basavangudi.
Location:
click hereHere the Dose is as good as VB. Just a bit thinner, lesser ghee. But you get Sambhar too. And the service is fast. After giving the token, you can watch "magic" happen on the Dose cooking stone in front of you :) Cost - Rs. 38.
Other items are Button Idly - Rs. 22 - Pic 2 and 8. This is served with thili saaru (something b/w a sambhar and rasam). You can ask for the Sambhar or chutney, if you don't like thili saaru.
Sambhar is darshini hotels are reddish in colour, thick and a bit sweet. It's called Mangaluru sambhar. Used exclusively for tiffin items.
There is the Shavige Bath - Pic 7. This is a vermicelli dish accompanied with green chilli chutney. Rs. 28.
But the best is the "Oothu Shavige" - Pic 10 - this is same as shavige bath but the vermicelli is short strands and lots of grated coconut, hint of lemon, coriander, green chilli, groundnut accompanied with red chilli chutney. Rs. 30.
Is it worth going there? Yes, you can certainly try, just for the sake of history of the place and the taste. The crowd is heavy, but since it is darshini type, the crowd keeps moving fast.
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If you are unable to go to any of these places. Dont worry. Nowadays, the development of darshini hotels is so much that every locality has one. There is competition in prices too. Masala Dose is available at Rs. 25 too. Other items like Uddina Vade (big crispy ones - you can see in this post as I have no pics
/blog/post/2171718 Idly, Kesari Bath you can try.
Or the item only available in KA - Bisi Bele Bath topped with hot ghee and sprinkled with crispy hot khara boondi (Hot Dal Rice) is a delight too available at these hotels.
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Hope this post gave you some info on the famous Bengaluru masala doses, sambhar and other items. Do try out these tiffin items when you visit the city :)
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Hope one day Moderator implements this suggestion
/blog/post/2811634Until then for further reading, if you are interested :
/blog/post/2809298/blog/post/2640274/blog/post/2813790/blog/post/2561567/blog/post/2640273.
Trivia: Basavangudi is an old locality of Bengaluru. The last 4 letters - GUDI is used for the name "Malgudi" - a name used for an ICE -
/blog/post/2801842.
