Karnataka - Bangalore

Food from the coastal belt

BANGALORE: If there is one thing that you miss most when you are away from home, it is home-cooked food. It is but natural that an unfamiliar cuisine can make acclimatising oneself to a new place all the more difficult. But what if home food is available even when you are out of your homeland?

For the past eight years, Mangalore Mess in Gandhinagar has been dishing out home food to people from coastal Karnataka who work or visit the city often. Kudla ganji (thin gruel of rice), boiled red rice, Pundi (rice ball), Patthir, Neer dosa, Bangude (mackerel) curry and Boothai (sardine) curry are some common and traditional dishes of the Coastal belt that find a place in the Mangalore Mess menu.

Abubacker Deralakatte, owner of Mangalore Mess, says, “We find that our customers instantly feel at home here. Even those who stay and work far away from Gandhinagar make it a point to visit the mess at least twice a week.” He says that Kudla ganji is the most popular dish among the customers, while Pundi, Patthir and Neer dosa are lapped up for breakfast and dinner.

For T. Zubair, a driver from Sajipa village in Bantwal taluk, who visits Bangalore often, the mess is the answer to all his food requirements.

“The food is close to what I eat at home, and is available at a reasonable price,” he says.

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