Indulge yourself in a Pure Ghee Fest : Chikkanna Tiffin Room, Cubbonpet, Bengaluru

Have you ever tasted anything which seems to be fallen from Heaven? No??? Then head towards Chikkanna Tiffin Room in Cubbonpet to have their amazing Masala Dosa made with generous portion of pure ghee.

Though this place exist from more than six decades, I came to know about this restaurant very recently through my foodie friends. The reason behind this place not being so popular is simple, people don’t want to share precious gem like Chikkanna Tiffin Room with others. 

LOCATION: This place is located in an isolated street of Cubbon Pete just behind Ulsoor Gate Police Station. Google Maps can help you out. If not you can seek guidance from the local. The road which leads to this restaurant is very narrow and often gets jammed. My advice is to drive to this place in a two wheeler.

AMBIENCE

It’s very very basic, small and squeezy… Yes! It feels uncomfortable to dine in such small space bumping into other customers. But this is one of a kind of experience which makes to fall in comfortable zone with fellow guests by admiring the taste of Dosa. Everything is fair for Love and Dosa!

The cash counter is at the door itself and the serving counter is just two steps away from the cash counter. They have managed to keep a hand wash area and a dustbin in such small space. They do have limited seats which can accommodate 6-8 guests. Most of the people prefer stand-eat option and some people like me prefer eating outside the restaurant. Whichever place you choose the soothing taste of Dosa will make you comfortable.

EPIC DOSA

The aroma of the Masala Dosa will surely please you by reaching to your soul. We just stood near the serving counter for more than 15 mins just to treat our nostrils with that incredible aroma of ghee blending with Dosa. The preparation of Dosa looks tempting and as other guests are handed dosa your mouth literally waters without your knowledge.

After such exotic session of whiffing and mouthwatering… When the dosa arrives to your hand on a Banana Leaf it feels like the whole world bowed down before you! And the first bite of the Dosa will feel like pure divine. Why Not, The crispy Masala Dosa which is just out of the Ghee bath gives out an extreme pleasing experience to all your five senses.

The taste of this dosa can not be described in words but each bite will have rich essence of ghee. The outer layer of the dosa will be crispy and the inner part will be soft. The combination of these layers with well grinded spicy chutney and thoroughly mashed potato palya will just enlight your morning by opening your mind. One Full Masala Dosa is enough to overwhelmingly fill your morning calories.

Khaali Dosa at Chikkanna Tiffin Room

They serve two types of Dosas; Masala Dosa and Khaali Dosa

Though both Masala Dosa and Khaali Dosa are born from the same pan, they are completely different and belongs to their own league. Yes! Khaali Dosa will be too soft and the golden colour of the outer circle will definitely tempts you. The presentation of this dosa is even more exotic… it involves;

Layer 1 : Banana Leaf

Layer 2 : Khaali Dosa

Layer 3 : Vegetable Sagu

Layer 4 : Spicy Chutney

Layer 5 : Lots and Lots and Lots of Ghee

You just can’t avoid yourself by drooling over it, The Taste!?? It’s  beyond this universe. The combination of Dosa, Sagu, Chutney and Ghee is so so good and once you finish this dish unknowingly you will be licking your fingers. Banana Leaf has a special quality to enhance the taste of ghee and it can be perfectly experienced in here. 

Idli: First Bite! And I fell in confusion!!! Whether this is Idli or bit hardened Butter! Yes it was so soft and delicate. This dish also follows the same pattern of Layers just like Khaali Dosa but it has an entirely different approach towards your tastebuds. Rarely I have tasted Idli with the combination of Sagu and I actually disliked it before. But after tasting Idli with Sagu in Chikkanna Tiffin Room, I just become the fan of it. Lovely!

Except Dosa and Idli they also serve Rice Bath, Pulav and Thatte Idli. Will soon update my blog after tasting everything. 

SERVICE: This restaurant is maintained by a family and you can easily make that out by seeing the co-ordination between them. They usually serve the dishes faster even when it is too crowded and best part is they assign the priority very well. Generally, they don’t mind pouring ghee on to your dishes but if you seek ghee repeatedly they will politely tell that Ghee is chargeable. I wish they had an unlimited ghee package so that I could pour the ghee for every bite.

EVERYTHING ELSE: Since it is located in a narrow road (or “Galli” to be precise) parking would be huge problem for four wheelers. But two wheelers can find space in any streets around this restaurant. Hygiene Factor is satisfactory as they serve food on disposable Banana Leaves. Lack of ventilation inside the restaurant might suffocate you. If you wish you can stand outside and have their delicacies peacefully. Pricing is moderate.

TIMINGS

Sunday: 7.00 AM - 11.30AM (Closed for Evening)

Monday: 5.00 PM - 8.00 PM (Closed for Morning)

Tuesday to Saturday : 7.00 AM - 11.30AM and 5.00 PM - 8.00 PM

Payment: Cash Only

FINAL VERDICT: This is one of the top dosa serving place in Bengaluru. If the taste means everything to you then this is the place you must visit. I would say, you must visit this restaurant at least once before you die.

BAKASURA RATING

!! 5 / 5 !!
--BAKASURA KHUSH--

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Special Thanks to:

• Naveen Suresh (Food Blogger, www.BangaloreEpicure.com)
  -for Referring this Restaurant to Bakasura
• Praveen, Sudhakar, Rakesh, Sukrutha, Dharani
  -for accompanying Bakasura in Restaurant Visit
• All FBAB Members
  -for fueling my crave to have tastiest Dosa

KEYWORDS: Restaurants in Bangalore, Bangalore Restaurants, City Market restaurants, Best City Market restaurants, West Bangalore restaurants, South Indian Restaurants in Bangalore, South Indian near me, South Indian Restaurants in West Bangalore, South Indian Restaurants in City Market, Quick Bites in Bangalore, Quick Bites near me, Quick Bites in West Bangalore, Quick Bites in City Market, Chikkanna Tiffin Room, Cubbonpet, Restaurant in cubbonpet, legendary dosa place is bangalore, being bakasura, tastiest dosa place in bangalore

Breakfast Ride to Explore the Taste of Masala Dosa at Vasu Hotel, Kanakapura

Whenever I discuss my plan to ride hundreds of Kilometers just to taste food, usually people react with phrases like “Are you Mad!??” , “This is insane dude” , “You gone crazy Man” , etc etc… But all these years, nothing has ever stopped me by adding adventure to my foodie tales. But this time it was little different as I planned a short road trip with like minded people who love food as much as I do! And getting into an adventure for the primary passion has excited many…

PC: Vinay Nagaraju

So… Here is how we planned; Creating an exclusive WhatsApp group for this plan was the first step, creating curiosity and temptation by posting pics and delicious discussions has backed up our plan very well and out of 25 Members 10 people turned up to the plan.

THE PLAN

PC : Naveen Suresh

Simple, just drive to Kanakapura - a small town situated just 6o KMs away from Bengaluru and visit the legendary Vasu Hotel to taste their famous Masala Dosa. This was our first ‘official’ plan with fellow foodies. And when we fixed the assembling time to early morning 7 AM on a cold Saturday, automatically some people choose comfy beds instead of riding with us. Without bothering much, we continued with our plan as 10 members assured about their attendance.

JOURNEY TOWARDS KANAKAPURA: We assembled at Metro - Cash and Carry near Banashankari between 7 to 8.30 AM. After a short introduction we started towards Kanakapura. When it’s a single lane road, bikers will always have advantage to save time by reaching the destination faster. Same thing happened with us, we bikers reached Kanakapura 30 Mins before and waited to welcome the luxury riders by sipping hot coffee.

VASU HOTEL

It's a legendary restaurant which is currently celebrating 75 Years of serving excellent Masala Dosa for the commuters of the infamous State Highway - 948 which use to connect Bangalore - Mysore - Coimbatore. This restaurant has served many generations and reserved the same charm till date. 

I have been on this route so many times during my road trips and solo bike trips. But I came to know about this restaurant very recently by my foodie friends. Since then I was planning to visit this. And finally when we visited this restaurant on last Saturday I felt that I have accomplished my goal.

AMBIENCE

A very small entrance will surely mislead you and this is how people miss this restaurant. Once you enter the restaurant you can feel the nostalgia of this place by its raw ambience. Way the serving bay has been designed with wood arches, long dining tables, cement sheet roofing and of course the gray kitchen, it all takes you back in time. It can easily accommodate 70 people at once with its huge dining area. Kitchen occupies 30% of the whole restaurant.

SERVICE

Straight and  forward. Many people who work here has more than a decade full of experience and it can be easily recognized by their organised working style. This restaurant offers only self service and the men at the service counter serve the dishes according the first come first serve priority. The amount of order each individual handles is a real amazing factor. They are quick and precise.

FOOD

To be honest, this place is good only for Masala Dosa. Rest of the things are just average or above average. We ordered Masala Dosa at first and when it arrived the size of the Dosa really surprised us. It was too big and the dark brown texture tempted us to attack and finish it in minutes. Taste!?? I won’t say it was extraordinary or out of the world… I can just say that it was perfect. Perfect in taste, crispiness and size. The chutney supplied with it blended well with the dosa. Palya (Subji) was too good. Potatoes were smashed well and cooked very precisely. It was overall a delicious package.

Chow-Chow Bath: Another south Indian delicacy which tasted good other than Masala Dosa. Khara Bath (Upma) was warm, moderately spicy and had perfect texture. Kesari Bath on the other hand had right amount of sweetness with few dry fruits being less oily at the same time.

Bisibelebath : It was more like a sambar rice. But a tasty sambar with a sweet twist. Though it was completely opposite to Bisibele taste, I liked it!

Menthya (Fenugreek) Rice: It was average as the flavour of Methi was too heavy which resulted in pungent kind of taste. 

Poori Sagu: This was above average. They won’t fry poori freshly which results in over crispiness. However, the taste is manageable with chutney but Saagu was poor.

Rava Idli: Not at all impressed. Firstly the sagu supplied with it disappointed me then the idli itself was hard and rubbery. Couldn’t able to eat more than two chunks.

Idli: It was kind of okay and you can get such Idlis in any normal restaurants. Yes, it was soft but there was no ‘wow’ factor in it.

Muruku: Our final trail of the day and this too failed to impress as it was too salty. We were not able to munch even half of its portion. 

AMAZING FACTS: 

• Hard work and consistency always pays. It’s absolutely holds true when we look at the history of Vasu Hotel. The man who joined this restaurant as a normal server 50 years has bought this place and continues the legend of serving Masala Dosa. It’s an inspiring story and tells us the moral that no service / work such as small or low. If you work hard you will come up in life eventually. 
• The pricing of the food is damn cheap and makes you think that you have entered the era of 90’s. They still follow the manual token system and the highest denomination token they have is of Rs.25 only. It costed just Rs.56 per head for such a lavish breakfast experience.
• They haven’t renovated the building for decades to preserve the old charm of this restaurant.

EVERYTHING ELSE: There are two Vasu Hotels in Kanakpura and both are claimed to be of single owner. However, the Vasu Hotel which is in the middle of Kanakapura is the oldest. You can depend on Google Maps to reach this place or you can seek local guidance once you enter Kanakapura.

Hygiene factor is quite low and parking would be a real problem as it is located on the narrow highway. 

FINAL VERDICT: In my experience riding all the way to Kanakapura just for the sake of this restaurant is not worthy. But if you are travelling in the same road it’s a must pit stop for breakfast.

I can guarantee that Masala Dosa won’t disappoint you but I’m not sure about other dishes. 

BAKASURA RATING

3.5 / 5

FOODIES JOINED OUR JOURNEY:

Sujay Krishna - Yamaha Fazer (Food Blogger, www.BeingBakasura.com)
Vinay Nagaraju - RE Bullet (Food Blogger, www.wompblr.wordpress.com)
      Navneeth Thimappa (Food Blogger, www.LifeOnPlates.com)

Harshavardhan Reddy (Foodie)
      Hari Camla (Food Photographer)
      Naveen Suresh (Food Blogger, www.BangaloreEpicure.com)
      Kiran Munipalle (Food Reviewer)

Jaideep Gaandhie (Food Blogger, www.thehungryjedi.com)
      Vinay Setty (Food Blogger, www.voiceofmytastebuds.wordpress.com)
      Manoj Kumar K (Food Reviewer, www.zomato.com/manojkumark)

In Action

Look at the reaction of people behind

       

GALLERY

NEARBY PLACES TO EXPLORE:

1. Shivanasamudra :

2. Talakadu:

3. Biligiri Rangana Betta (BR Hills):

4. Male Mahadeshwara Betta (MM Hills):

KEYWORDS: Restaurant in Kanakapura, Legendary Dosa in Kanakapura, Masala Dosa in Kanakapura, Famous Dosa place in Kanakapura, Famous Restaurant in Kanakapura, Kanakapura Restaurant, Breakfast place in Kanakapura, Vasu Hotel in Kanakapura, Tasty Masala Dosa in Kanakapura, Journey Kanakapura, Being Bakasura in Kanakapura, Being Bakasura, Ride to Kanakapura, Vasu Hotel, Masala Dosa, Bike Ride, Breakfast Ride

Bubble Tea Festival at Tea Trails, HSR Layout

Tea - a drink which is a tradition in some part of the world, it is considered as national drink in some western region and it has been a part of healthy diet for millions of people in day to day life.

“Tea Trails” is an unique chain of cafes which solely concentrates on bringing up different kinds of popular teas from different regions of the globe under one roof. Whether it is Regional Tea like Uttar Pradesh’s Kullad Chai, Ooty’s famous Nilgiri Tea or Internationally popular Japanese Sencha, Russian Caravan… It has it all.

Not just Tea, they have a decent collection of multi-cuisine breakfast and snacks in their menu to pair with their awesome Tea selections.

Recently I was invited to try their newly introduced Bubble Tea as they were celebrating Bubble Tea Fest. It was a rainy evening but the biker in me thought of giving it a try by riding all the way from Hebbal to HSR Layout in heavy down pour. Was the risk and adventure worth it? Absolutely yes! 

BUBBLE TEA

It is a popular drink in China & Taiwan which is generally blend of fruit flavors with milk or aerated water. Traditionally, Tapioca Balls which is made by the starch extracted from the Cassava Root is dropped inside the drink to give that bubbly twist. But, fruit & chocolate jelly balls are also used for the same purpose.

Tea Trails have collection of 6-8 bubble tea and also they have curated pairing menu for the every bubble tea. 

Fruit Pearl Bubble Tea: As per the suggestion of Manager, I opted for Fruit Pearl Bubble Tea. It had the traces of Lychee and tasted brilliant as it was moderately sweet. The thickness of the drink was really decent. Best part was gulping the chocolaty bubbles in between through the straw. Felt like I’m living my childhood days back. 

Mediterranean Veg Sandwich: The Fruit Pearl Bubble Tea was paired with this sandwich and believe me! It was the best sandwich I had in recent times. The bread used was nice and of superior quality. The bread was embedded with slices of assorted veggies like capsicum, red paprika and it was grilled well. Vegetable filling was decent with fresh cheese. It was served with potato wedges and raw vegetable salad. A totally tummy filling package.

Detox Latte Bubble Tea: It was an awesome combination of flavors which I had never tasted before. The flavor of Latte was twisted with a little sour and sweet taste. On top of that joy of gulping bubbles. Seemed like my evening couldn’t get any better beyond this drink. Just lovely...

Tea Pancake: When I ordered this dish I had greater expectations as I tasted Tea Pancakes before in Delhi & Mumbai. But when it was served I realized that my expectation was too much. Because, the pancakes were normal without any infusion of Tea flavor. They served it with honey, fruits and Tea Jelly. For an extent Tea Jello compensated the flavor of tea but I didn’t get that natural tea infused flavor. However, if I just ignore that infused pancake factor, it was nice. Honey syrup supplied with it was nice and totally this dish was worth ordering.

AMBIANCE

In the era of Coffee Oriented cafes, this Tea promoting cafe has left no stone unturned in creating a perfect ambiance for tea lovers to have a long conversation and to indulge in their activity just like any other cafe. A beautiful green wall welcomes you into the cafe and upon entering, this cafe opens up a cool gallery of Tea Culture on its wall. They serve on both ground floor and first floor. First floor has more seating capacity than ground floor and it also offers good view from its balcony kind of portico. Upholstery are elegant and comfortable for spending long time.  

SERVICE

Since it is a new cafe, stewards and managers seems inexperienced. But they are trying hard to keep their guests happy. In my case they served every dishes on time and precisely. They are quite friendly and offer you complete privacy. Little bit more training about handling cutleries and addressing customers can do wonder.

EVERYTHING ELSE: This outlet is located on the 27th Main of HSR Layout. Google Maps has exact co-ordinates to this place. It is bit difficult to locate this place from fast moving vehicles as it is above the road level. There is a decent parking space available near the cafe. Hygiene has been maintained well all over the place. Just mind your steps while entering the cafe as the floor is bit rough & uneven.
It also offers free Wi-Fi

FINAL VERDICT: I would like to call this cafe as a tribute to the Tea. If you are a tea lover, then this place definitely made for you. Enjoy your Tea sip by sip while glancing the Tea Gallery on the wall!

BAKASURA RATING

4.0 / 5

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GALLERY