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For a slice of Madurai

Don't miss those fluffy idlis and innovative dosas at Om Murugan Idly Shop

SOUTHERN DELIGHT Dosas come in many variants here Photo: MURALI KUMAR K.

While a Bangalorean is willing to experiment quite a bit with food, the regular idli, dosa, bisi bele bath will never ever go out of style. Case in point is the runaway success of Om Murugan Idli shop in Koramangala. Buoyed by the triumph, proprietors Vasudevan and Prema Jayakumar have started another branch on the Krishna Temple Road at Indiranagar.

Interesting variety

Though you could an interesting variety of dosas at the restaurant, the USP of the spic and span eatery is the Madurai style snowy white, fluffy idlis. Vasudevan says the secret of the soft idlis is the rice that is brought all the way from Salem. More than 800 plates are served with three kinds of chutney — coconut, mint and tomato — everyday. Other kind of idlis include mini idlis (10 of which float in sambar topped with ghee) and podi idlis (plain idlis smeared with chutney podi made of urad dal and curry leaves and mixed with gingili oil). These can be eaten with crisp udin vadas. The idlis are served from 7 a.m. to noon and from 3 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.

Lunch (Rs. 50) is served on plantain leaves and includesrice, sambar, rasam, papad, puli kolumbu (tamarind), mooru kolumbu (curd), poriyal, kootu and payasam. The dessert is different everyday. The menu also includes pongal, topped with cashew nuts, whole pepper and ghee, Sakkare Pongal — made out of rice, jaggery, milk, ghee and cashew nuts.

Rava kichidi is another popular dish with rava, beans, carrots and tomatoes. The dosa platter offers 50 varieties. Every day, there is a special like malli masala, pudina or mushroom masala.

Must-haves in this section include the ulli uttapam (with small onions), the village uttapam (with onions, tomatoes and idli podi) or the bread masala dosa — where the dosa is stuffed with bread pieces, onions and tomatoes.

For children there is the choco dosa. Priced at Rs. 25 the plain dosa comes smeared with chocolate paste! Along with these you can also savour the kothu paratha or the veechu paratha. Then there is the kuli paniyaram, which comes in sweet as well as savoury options.

The special dishes include the palak cheese dosa and the Murugan Special, where you get three dosas — palak, onion and podi.

The authentic flavour is courtesy Vasudevan's mother who prepares the masalas back in their village in Tamil Nadu. The restaurant with its 150 item-strong menu undertakes catering orders too.

Om Murugan Idly shop is at 421/2, Krishna Temple Road, Indiranagar, 1st Stage and can be contacted on 080-55349941.

Ambience: Simple

Service: Fast

Specialty: Idlis, of course

Wallet factor: Rs. 60 for a meal for two

M. V. CHANDRASHEKAR

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