Bengaluru South Indian Restaurant: Bengaluru Oota Company, Ulsoor

Indian Travel Places September 9, 2017 Food Review 2,666 Views

Phone: +91 9448302628
Address: 5, Cambridge Cross Rd, Cambridge Layout, Jogupalya, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008
Time: 12 Noon to 2:30 PM, 7 PM to 10:30 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 2,000
Cuisines: Mangalorean, South Indian
Facilities: Home Delivery, Vegetarian Only, Table booking not available
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DECOR

It’s a small house with yellow walls in Cambridge Layout. Beyond the red door with an antique knocker lies one of Bengaluru’s best meal experiences. The Bengaluru Oota Company occupies an unpretentious space made charming with thoughtful little touches. The fragrance of sambrani was in the air. The tables are re-purposed doors, polished to a sheen, and our places were laid with folded banana leaves and pretty printed napkins.

FOOD

You have to call 24 hours ahead and book your meal. There’s a reason: the main ingredients, such as vegetables, fish and meat, are bought fresh on the day and cooked for you. Based on your preferences, the Bengaluru Oota Company team will customize a meal that is authentic, delicious and served with genuine warmth and unmistakable passion.

Divya Prabhakar and Vishal Shetty opened this unconventional restaurant to showcase their respective culinary inheritances. Also to fill the vacuum that existed for good local cuisine in Bengaluru where you can otherwise eat everything from Tamale to Togarashi-dusted snacks. Divya has brought to this enterprise a wealth of Gowda recipes from three generations of her family, and Vishal, coming from a family of restaurateurs, has contributed his repertoire of Mangalurean recipes.

A small, cold, spiced glass of Majjige was served first. Then came a bowl of Kosambari and another of Sandige. Divya recommends scooping up the crunchy salad of cucumber, soaked moong dal and coconut with the crisp fries. It’s something she does during the meal, encouraging you to eat with your hands, suggesting combinations, bringing an array of homemade pickles to taste, playing hostess as if you were dining in her home.

There were small Mutton Cutlets, made according to her grandmother’s recipe, Divya told me. Goli Bajji and a perfect coconut chutney followed. Coastal-style Kane Fry, with a hint of masala and a dusting of rava, benefitting from being fried in coconut oil, came next.

Then, on to the superlative main dishes. First, light-as-air Neer Dosa with Prawn Gassi -the prawns sweet and fresh, in a silken gravy. Also on the menu was Mamsa Saru -mutton chops cooked in an intense, dark gravy, served with rustic Ragi Mudde. The Bannur Mamsa Pulao is one of the stars of the Gowda kitchen. Tuck into the Bengaluru Oota Company’s version and you will be smitten, too. It’s made of small-grain rice that absorbs all the flavour of the mutton and the multitude of spices. While this menu might appear meat-centric, this tasting room does excellent customized meals for vegetarians.

Plain rice with Rasam, ghee and palyas of the day -beetroot, pumpkin and ivy gourd cooked with cashewnuts -signalled the end of the meal was near. There was Curd Rice to go with a delightfully sweet-and-sour Ananas Mensakai, a pineapple relish. For dessert, it was Hal Obbattu, small semolina puris soaked in Gasagase Payasa, made of poppy seeds. A glass of filter coffee wraps up this spectacular feast.

Every dish was delicious, deeply satisfying. But the Bengaluru Oota Company does more than just please the palate. It makes you salute the passion with which two women have set out to share their culinary traditions and admire their commitment to freshness and quality and to using local produce. When it comes to honest, authentic, from-the-heart food, it doesn’t get better than this.

SERVICE

To dine at the Bengaluru Oota Company is, as I said, before, to feel you are eating in the home of a friend. Even with a long menu and many dishes, the food comes beautifully paced, so you are never overwhelmed. The hosts are attentive and do everything to make the meal one that will compel you to return here.