The Mavalli Tiffin Room

The Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR) is synonymous to Bangalore. Early morning breakfasts, filter coffee, lunch thalis, bisi bele bhaat, kesri bhaat, sweet boondis - an entire range of food that represents the Karnataka cuisine is served here. I was in Bangalore quite a bit last month and in between my crazy schedule begged my driver to take me to the original MTR located near the Lalbagh Botanical gardens. This place has been around since 1924.

I asked my friend Gopal of the Mumbai Paused fame for suggestions and he said order a rawa idli, a masala dosa and the sweet of the day. And so it was.The idli was soft and speckled with dal and whole peppers. The sambhar along with it was thick and not watery like elsewhere in this country. There was a generous helping of ghee on the side just in case. The masala dosa was a surprise. It was much thicker than dosas I've eaten in Chennai or Mumbai. It had the most comforting sour dough taste ever. My fingers were slick with ghee and ofcourse there was more ghee on the side. The Kesari bhaat was surprisingly not too sweet but again rich with ghee. The filter coffee hit the early morning spot. My server very sweetly allowed me to step into the kitchen where dosas, boondis, idlis, large buckets of sambhar, chutneys were being mass produced by a few smiling men who let me photograph there process.


Post MTR a very full and satisfied me had to go for a walk around the Lalbagh Botanical gardens to see the lovely glass house which was built in the likeliness of the Crystal Palace in London. The weather was perfect for a post breakfast exploration walk under the shade of the massive rain trees.


The beautiful Lalbagh Botanical Garden
  After Lalbagh I headed to see the famous temple of the giant Nandi bull. This was not the last giant bull I saw in my trip. 

The whole MTR experience had this playing in my head as the soundtrack for the meal.