The Well-Fed Bong

I landed in Bangalore starved from the early morning flight and a lack of breakfast, and was greeted straightaway with something I thought was uniquely Bangalore – a branded variant of filter coffee. Hatti Kaapi even did the whole meter coffee ritual, and handed me a perfectly acceptable filter kaapi; only the double steel containers were missing. Of course, Bangalore also invented Cafe Coffee Day; that stared reproachfully at my fickleness from the other side of the parking. Kaapi done, I discovered myself on the loose end after a friend ditched me for lunch. Given that it was going to be my sole lunch in Bangalore in a long while, I needed a touch of special. A bit of research dug up modern Indian at the Pink Poppadom, but it was dinner only. Caperberry and its molecular tapas beckoned, but I figured, do I really expect Ferran Adria to hang about Dickenson Road? I needed something Bangalore and  bit of thought later I narrowed the choice to the biriyani at Nagarjuna Residency...

After Koshy’s retro cool breakfast, I found myself in Koramangla at lunch. Of all the food choices available in Bangalore, the one thing you cannot get in Mumbai is Andhra, so I figured that would be a good bet. Someone told me there was a Nagarjuna in Koramangla, but that proved a fruitless exercise. Burrp came to the rescue, identifying a Naati Manae for me. Karnataka rather than Andhra, but promising enough, and so we set off in search. Koramangla with its warren of isn’t the easiest of places to navigate, but google maps , two loops and a few u-turns later, we turned into one smallish lane. A deliberately rustic thatch-house with blue walls and warli paintings greeted us ( warli is firmly Maharashtrian, not clear about the connection here). I’m told Naati Manae means country house, and that’s clearly the look these guys were clearly going after. The rural theme continued inside, with wooden panels and terracotta tiles everywhere. It was a small place place inside, maybe 20 cover...

Early in the morning today, I stepped out of the swank Bangalore Airport. Rubbing wakedness into my bleary eyes and speculating on breakfast choices, I narrowed down to a Bangalore institution - Koshy's . Everyone (including many who have never been there) will confirm that Koshy's is an institution - it has been in existence for long enough and been popular for long enough. Koshy's is the place that Bangalore insiders take Bangalore outsiders to introduce them to the "real" Bangalore – before, that is, those money-grubbing software yuppies started insisting on cappucinos and malls. Koshy’s is, in other words, an institution (or did I already say that). It should be mentioned here that Koshy's comes in three flavours within the same premises - an ice-cream parlour cum bakery , a restautant and a cafe - of which only the cafe (technically Koshy's Parade Cafe) is worth all this fuss. Luckily for those of us not interested in insides and outsides, Koshy...

In the last few days, I had two very nice meals at fancy restaurants, and they were both ethnic with twists. The first was Punjab Grill in the new Palladium Mall in Mumbai, where I was at the opening (and therefore sampled more of the starters than any of the main courses) and the other was South Indies in Bangalore, which I’ve been to before but never till recently had a full meal. Punjab Grill ’s driving force is Zorawar Kalra, a powerhouse of a man outstandingly passionate about his food (which is always a good sign – never believe the glob about the best halwais not eating their own sweets). Among the punjabi dishes he fed me was an incredible bhutte-ki-kabab (yes, in the middle of chickens and lambs, I’m praising a veg kabab) and a wonderfully unusual seekh, reminiscent more of Lucknow than tandoori, but distinctly punjabi nevertheless. Of course there were fusion flourishes – who in Punjab ever heard of scallop? The best innovation of the day, of course, were the paan shot...

Ask anyone who's lived in Kolkata in his or her youth, and the one food they hanker for is the Kolkata Roll. Mustard fish, rossogolla. puchka, jhalmuri, all have undoubted appeal, but the most universal of the lot is the kati roll. Everyone except a dietician loves it. I don't visit Kolkata that much anymore, but its been my fortune to find the Kolkata roll becoming Bengal's biggest food export. New York, in particular, developed rather nicely as a roll destination; there were none when I moved there, now there are at least six. The most famous one - Kati Roll Company - is so popular it employs bouncers to keep the queues orderly. Other good choices, in order of preference are Indian Bread Company and Roomali , but nowadays Yelp lists over a dozen !! Mumbai had its own pretender - the Frankie invented by Tibb (whose son was briefly in college with me). However, the frankie is rolled in a naan rather than a paratha and filled with all manners of gooey curries (no barbecu...