Enjoy flavours of rustic North on a banana leaf

Enjoy flavours of rustic North on a banana leaf
Roof-top restaurant Kamat Yatri Nivas is legendary
Sharmishta Koushik | TNN


If you’ve had it with pasta luxuriating in cream sauce, chicken entangled in noodles, or naan slathered in butter, it’s perhaps time you discovered the simple pleasures of India’s myriad local cuisines. Like the delectable delicacies of North Karnataka, for instance. This cuisine is notable for its jolada rotti (jowar rotis), served with a host of vegetarian dishes and sambhar rice. A good place to savour this fare in Bangalore are the Kamat restaurants.
The Kamat Lokaruchi near Ramanagaram is legendary among fans of this cuisine, but in the city, you can head to Kamat Minerva (JC Road), Kamat Bugle Rock (Basavanagudi) or the roof-top restaurant at Kamat Yatri Nivas in Gandhinagar. The latter is one of the chain’s oldest hotels in the city and teems with hungry patrons. Waiters dressed in the traditional dhoti, kurta and a white cap set the mood for a fascinating regional experience.
A word of warning. Ensure there’s enough space in your stomach to accommodate what the bustling waiters smoothly serve with a flourish on the banana leaf. Don’t be fooled by the sprigs of spring onion and methi leaves — those are but nano appetizers. The menu is broadly simple — regular and special. The special extras are a chilli bajji and a sweet for starters and a fruit salad ice-cream for dessert. If you settle for the regular, don’t lose heart, for you’re assured of a hearty meal.
The brisk waiters flit from kitchen to table, serving a steady stream of different palyas and unlimited tava-fresh rotis and rice. Even as you help yourself to different chutneys, powders and the pickle placed on the table, a scoop of soppu palya (spinach) and kalu palya will line your banana leaf. And then come the famed rotis, served with ennegai curry (brinjal curry). If they’re too dry for you, swipe a cube of glistening butter.
A tip. Don’t eat too many rotis if you want to do justice to the sambhar and rice. Every tangy morsel delights with its simplicity. And, you can wash it all down with a small glass of buttermilk seasoned with spices. The creamy curd in the small matki, the elakki banana and gently flavoured paan leave you stuffed and sated.
When the restaurant started out 17 years ago, these meals were priced at Rs 40. Now, the regular meal costs Rs 100 and the special, Rs 130. But the one thing which hasn’t changed is its popularity. As Sanjiv Singh, general manager, business promotion, Kamat Group of Hotels puts it, “It’s traditional food, which is healthy. Even North Indians like it.”
It’s hard to pinpoint that x-factor which elevates this simple cuisine to a gastronomic experience. But, some things needn’t be understood, just relished.
KAMAT YATRI NIVAS (ROOF-TOP RESTAURANT)
1st Cross, Gandhinagar Bangalore - 560009 Phone: 26703813 Open all days, 12 noon to 4 pm, 7 pm to 11 pm