MTR is not just for bachelors . Review on MTR Readymade Dishes

While Maddy100 is enjoying his MTR ready to cook food, I am tempted to throw some light on this wonderful organisation for the benefit of your members.

MTR, short form for Mavalli Tiffin Room, is a south Indian vegetarian restaurant located on Lalbagh Main Road at Bangalore. It gets its name from the locality, Mavalli. Many of its contemporaries as well as those who entered restaurant business later have tried their level best to match its status but in vain. Built on a concept of hygiene and pure ingredients, it acquired a reputation that is intact as of date. In the days of “NO ADMISSION” into the cooking area, MTR used to allow the customers to inspect its kitchen without any fuss. The owners themselves handpicked all the ingredients that went into the delicious dishes. In the pre-software era, it was said that if you had not eaten at MTR, you had not visited Bangalore. Even to this day, one has to wait for a considerable time to get a table at MTR.

During late seventies, government of the day forced every restaurant to sell all dishes at JANATHA PRICES that were low and unfeasible. Most of the restaurants survived by compromising on service and quality. MTR stuck to its quality and tried to make up the losses by converting its ground floor into a departmental store. MTR brand of spices made up the major range of items sold in this store. The experience gained in procuring high quality ingredients for its restaurant helped in attracting customers for the spices. As an extension of the business, MTR introduced Ready Mixes for Sambar, Rassam, Puliyogare, Rava Idly etc. in its store. It met with runaway success. Typical Bangaloreans got used to the convenience and started to carry the MTR spices and Ready Mix Foods whenever they travelled away from home. Encouraged by the response, MTR established a full-fledged processing facility to pack and market these goods.

Today, the wide spread availability of the MTR’s Ready Mix Food items will put the best of the marketing brains to shame. Whether it is the US, Europe, Middle East, Australia, Russia or Far East, there is hardly an Indian Store that does not carry MTR Ready Mixes and Spices. I am sure those of you who have travelled to these countries will vouch for this. Some times the stock is a little stale though. I only hope that MTR does something to fast to overcome this shortfall. Carry some MTR stuff next time you travel, you will not regret. The author is not connected with MTR, commercially or otherwise.