Why Bangalore always needs one darshini more

By chance, dad and I took a new road on our walk and were headed toward a tried and tested place for breakfast. Lo and behold, a new, very appealing darshini that went by the moniker ‘South Thindis’ beckoned. A very appealing mural greets you and the fare is good. Dosas, idli etc. and they make akki roti and ragi roti after 11 or something. This chance discovery led me to wonder – how many ever darshinis are there and how many ever you visit, we could always do with one more.

The darshini phenomenon isn’t present in any other city. If you are starving in Mumbai, you can always stop for chat. Alas, Bangalore is not blessed in this regard but the humble darshini more than makes up for this lack. Try finding a reasonable place for grub in an area like Indiranagar or some such other posh locality. At their worse, they serve bad coffee.How do you judge a darshini? In my opinion, by the quality of their masala dosa and coffee. If the dosa is crap, the darshini is fit to drown itself in scalding sambhar.

A great start to a day would be some crispy masala dosa, topped with some butter (doused in ghee if you are in MTR or Maiyas), followed by some kesari bath and Chandra hara (an authentic Karnataka sweet on my must try list), followed by some strong coffee. And the next time you are famished and in search for some reasonable fare, just locate the nearest darshini and step in. Don’t get too adventurous and order some Chinese noodles (most of their Chinese food reflects how they spell it, all wrong). Order a plate of idli vada. And feel the love as the dish soothes your famished stomach.

Here are my picks of darshinis to visit:

1. Central tiffin room (opp. Malleshwaram grounds)
2. Veena stores (Malleshwaram, not exactly a darshini, but the best idlis in town)
3. SLV, Ragiguda
4. Dosa camp, 4th block Jayanagar (they make good Mangalore buns and amazing coffee)
5. Adayar anand bhavans all over (They don’t fall into darshini category, but dish out decent south Indian fare)
6. South thindis (It is fairly new, hence the josh is still there. Def worth a try. On Kanakapura Rd (near Krishna Rao Park))
7. Vidyarthi Bhavan (Gandhi Bazar)
8. Brahmins cafe, basavangudi
9. 1924, Maiyas and MTR - all part of the MTR group

Feel free to add suggestions. Would love to hear of some more places to gorge in.

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