Sunday, April 11, was when I finished 27 years of existence on this pale, blue dot in the universe that we call Earth. That's right, it was my 27th birthday, and I decided to take the gang (P, VP, BakeACake, WeightConscious) out for lunch to Kudla, a Mangalorean restaurant that is part of the Ramanashree Comforts Hotel on Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, just after Hotel Woodlands. Kudla is the Tulu word for Mangalore, and Tulu happens to be the language spoken by the majority of the folks in the South Canara (Dakshina Kannada, or D.K) district (Konkani and Kannada being the other two languages).
So we got there and immediately ordered a kokum kadi. Kokum, or brinda, is a fruit found in the Western Ghats region of western coastal India. It's used in the cooking in Goa and coastal Karnataka as a substitute for tamarind. The drink consists of coconut milk along with the kokum fruit, garlic, chili, and sometime a little coriander.
Kokum kadi
For starters, we had the prawn masala, which was superb. VP wanted to have only this and didn't want any other main course dish (he has a thing against coconut and can't eat things with coconut in it). The marinade was red chili paste, along with some garlic I guess. Simple, yet effective, and tasty as hell.
Prawn Masala
Another starter we had was the seer fish fry, which was again very nice. And of course, the famous chicken ghee roast. Since P is a vegan (lacto-ovo vegan to be specific), we also ordered a mushroom ghee roast, which turned out to be superb. The only non-Mangalorean dish that we ordered was a paneer satay with peanut sauce, but the peanut sauce (and the masala used) quite clearly had a coastal touch to it.
Seer Fish Fry
We were pretty stuffed by this time, so for the main course, we had appams and stew for P, while the rest of us had neer dosa along with prawn curry.
Appam + stew
P liked the stew and the appam combo, and even I liked the stew, since in a lot of other places, they fill potatoes in the stew, but this one had more veggies in it. The neer dosa with the prawn curry was also very good, although I'll never like the neer dosas made outside home.
Neer dosa + prawn curry
Neer dosa and prawn on my plate
For dessert, VP wasn't going to be adventurous and so had a carrot halwa.
Carrot halwa
The rest of us had a raagi manni, which is made form raagi and is kinda like a custard when it comes to consistency. I liked this, although it would have been better had they tossed in a couple of cashew nuts into it.
Raagi manni
The final dessert we had was a wheat payasa, which again, turned out to be great. It wasn't the usual milk-based on, and so had more texture to it, but then again, it didn't play spoilsport on the palate, and neither did it spoil the taste.
Wheat payasa
Along with the bill, usually you have some saunf that is served. Well, here we had saunf as well as betel leaves and the pink paste and the areca nut. I moved the saunf away to take a picture of only the betel leaves and the areca and paste, something that our waiter insisted that I take a picture of.
Betel leaves
The decor of the restaurant is very reminiscent of the houses built in the countryside around Mangalore and South Canara. Wooden beams go across the roof (usually a high ceiling to allow cooling). The waiters also dress in the traditional mundu, which is a white lungi and have a cap made of the areca palm leaves. Suffice to say everyone enjoyed the food and we had a good time.
Food: Superb
$$$: Moderately expensive, but value for money if you ask me. Our bill, with 13.5% VAT (yes, from now VAT is 13.5, not 12) came to around Rs.2600 (for 5 people).
Service: Good
Verdict: Must visit for traditional Mangalorean food.
Kudla, Hotel Ramanashree Comforts, 16, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, Bangalore. Phone: 66995970, 66684050
So we got there and immediately ordered a kokum kadi. Kokum, or brinda, is a fruit found in the Western Ghats region of western coastal India. It's used in the cooking in Goa and coastal Karnataka as a substitute for tamarind. The drink consists of coconut milk along with the kokum fruit, garlic, chili, and sometime a little coriander.
Kokum kadiFor starters, we had the prawn masala, which was superb. VP wanted to have only this and didn't want any other main course dish (he has a thing against coconut and can't eat things with coconut in it). The marinade was red chili paste, along with some garlic I guess. Simple, yet effective, and tasty as hell.
Prawn MasalaAnother starter we had was the seer fish fry, which was again very nice. And of course, the famous chicken ghee roast. Since P is a vegan (lacto-ovo vegan to be specific), we also ordered a mushroom ghee roast, which turned out to be superb. The only non-Mangalorean dish that we ordered was a paneer satay with peanut sauce, but the peanut sauce (and the masala used) quite clearly had a coastal touch to it.
Seer Fish FryWe were pretty stuffed by this time, so for the main course, we had appams and stew for P, while the rest of us had neer dosa along with prawn curry.
Appam + stewP liked the stew and the appam combo, and even I liked the stew, since in a lot of other places, they fill potatoes in the stew, but this one had more veggies in it. The neer dosa with the prawn curry was also very good, although I'll never like the neer dosas made outside home.
Neer dosa + prawn curry
Neer dosa and prawn on my plateFor dessert, VP wasn't going to be adventurous and so had a carrot halwa.
Carrot halwaThe rest of us had a raagi manni, which is made form raagi and is kinda like a custard when it comes to consistency. I liked this, although it would have been better had they tossed in a couple of cashew nuts into it.
Raagi manniThe final dessert we had was a wheat payasa, which again, turned out to be great. It wasn't the usual milk-based on, and so had more texture to it, but then again, it didn't play spoilsport on the palate, and neither did it spoil the taste.
Wheat payasaAlong with the bill, usually you have some saunf that is served. Well, here we had saunf as well as betel leaves and the pink paste and the areca nut. I moved the saunf away to take a picture of only the betel leaves and the areca and paste, something that our waiter insisted that I take a picture of.
Betel leavesThe decor of the restaurant is very reminiscent of the houses built in the countryside around Mangalore and South Canara. Wooden beams go across the roof (usually a high ceiling to allow cooling). The waiters also dress in the traditional mundu, which is a white lungi and have a cap made of the areca palm leaves. Suffice to say everyone enjoyed the food and we had a good time.
Food: Superb
$$$: Moderately expensive, but value for money if you ask me. Our bill, with 13.5% VAT (yes, from now VAT is 13.5, not 12) came to around Rs.2600 (for 5 people).
Service: Good
Verdict: Must visit for traditional Mangalorean food.
Kudla, Hotel Ramanashree Comforts, 16, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, Bangalore. Phone: 66995970, 66684050
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6 comments:
Saar, jeera = cumin and fennel = saunf = badesoppu
Oops, thanks. I guess this is a side effect of trying to update the blog in between work @ office. Will make the change.
Karthik, next time you decide to visit the place try out their chicken preparations as well especially the kori rotti, neer dosa and kori gassi combo and the chicken sukka. Any mangi pining for home will vouch by these dishes...
I would have, but I had kori rotti for breakfast on that day, and plus my friends wanted to have neer dosa + prawn gassi. Also, they'd heard of ghee roast and wanted to try that, and so I thought why disappoint them. I wasn't pining for it coz mom makes it regularly :) ... this was more for my friends.
Belated b'day wishes dude. After this endorsement will definitely think of heading to kudla when we next feel like a seafood place.
Thanks, and yes, for Mangalorean, this is the place to be. Another restaurant by the same owner is Sanadige, part of hotel Gold Finch, near Shivananda circle. That's another place that serves kick-ass Mangalorean food (including seafood).
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