Apr 05, 2002 11:37 PM
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(Updated Apr 05, 2002 11:37 PM)
The hype about MTR (or Mavelli Tiffin Room) forced me to make a beeline to their restaurant on 4th April 2002. MTR, for those of you who are not aware is a south indian 'haldiram' - the old family-run show which has donned a new image and is marketing a lot of ready-to-eat stuff, snacks, pickles, mouthwatering easy-to-make rasams etc.They have a restaurant in LalBagh Road in Bangalore which I checked out and .......
It was about half past one when I walked in. It is an old building with a guy sitting behind a wire-mesh protected counter (reminds you of the SBI Teller Counters eh!).
''Only meals'' he proclaimed tersely. I nodded in submission.
I exchanged 75 bucks for a token and walked up the flight of stairs where I was ushered into a waiting room. Yes, you wait in the room till one batch is through and then the next gets in!
The waiting room was small and was fast filling with people, all kinds - old, urban, not-so-urban, village belles in half-sarees and bright yellow ribbons holding two plaits of hair, guys in Louis Phillippes and Givenchy ties (software city - mind you) all sweated it out, waiting to get in.
Then the call came.
We trooped in and sat down as a team of servers (waiters) sized us up. The waiters were attired in Allen Solly's 'Friday Dressing' - dhoti and as-you-like-it shirts, t-shirts and whatever!
We sat down as the waiters started in clinical precision - the big stainless steel plates came first, then a glass of grape juice, four or five small bowls for the curry followed, a glass of water, a spoon (for the softies??!!)
the sabjis came, then a couple of puris - soft and fluffy, korma, then a sweet,.......
the list is impressive and taste is superb.
Some of the typical kannadiga recipes are really mouthwatering - bisibelabath ( a kind of sambar and rice - premixed and cooked with a lot of nuts), served hot with ghee.
Ambience, well, wassat? an old gloomy building, no candle-lit stuff here to whisper sweet-nothings in pretty pink ears, definitely not the place where I'd take Ian Robinson or Kate Smith and the waiters are certainly snobbish.
Music was good, Dire Straits - Walk of Life ( I luv the guitar interlude). Hey! Wait a minute! I had my walkman on!! In MTR, the only music is the clanging of plates and tumblers and loud slurps of fingers being licked and the impatient jostling of people waiting in the waiting room to get in next!
If you are a true connoisseur of food and will endure anything for a good meal, this is the place. Otherwise, give it a skip - it simply isnt worth the 2 hours time it takes.
