Mangalore as a city and Mangalorean cuisine has grown up to accommodate various cultures and ethnicity ranging from Muslims, Mangalorean Catholics and Saraswat Brahmins to name a few. Being a coastal city, it is easy to recognize that the staple diet here happens to be fish. Moreover, almost like all coastal cuisines it is spicy and rice based.
With, Karishma we explored the Hotel Maharaja which is situated on bunts hostel road in Mangalore, Karnataka. The restaurant is well- known for its ghee roast! We tasted some flavoursome Mangalorean delicacies To begin with, we tried shell fish (marvai) sukka. Sukka means dry in their local language and it is a sea fish prepared in Mangalorean style. This was followed by Neer dosa or what is also known as water dosa along with chicken curry. Neer dosa is prepared using the same usual batter that is used to prepare the basic dosas, except that a lot of water is added to the batter. Hence, the dosas are much thinner in their texture. With different dishes being brought to us we also tried the chicken ghee roast. It is a spicy dish cooked heavily in ghee with red chilli paste. Later, we tried the kori roti. An absolute favourite of the Mangalorean’s, these are crisp dry wafers made from boiled brown rice served alongside chicken curry. Kori means chicken in tulu. Kori rotis are also, readily available at grocery stores so if you want to take them back to your home, it won’t be much of a task! One ingredient that is taken into account while preparing almost major Mangalorean dishes is curry leaves. They are heavily used in almost all preparations.
Next, we head to one of Mangalore’s the most popular go-to spots is Giri Manja’s. This little eatery is tucked away in the car street. Highly recommended by the locals, it is a must try out here! Well-known for their sea-food we try their fish thali which consists of boiled rice served with kokam saar, fish curry and veg curry. The thali is served with bonda juice also known as tender coconut juice. Along with this, we tried the prawn fry locally known as yetti fry and squid fry which is known as bondas fry. We were then served with, anjal fry. A seer fish fried in Manjas style. This, happens to be their special dish, which is certainly a must-try! The flavours are tangy and the fish is marinated for the longest time thus, bound to capture your taste pallets.
At hotel Karthik, we try the Mangalore snacks. Here we ordered the very-famous Kalladka tea also known as KT, a three layer tea with the bottom layer consisting of condensed milk, foam and then served with decoction. This was served with banana podi locally known as parndh podi. These are banana fritters. The bananas used to cook these are known as Etha pazham banana. Then comes the Mangalore buns, sweet, soft and fluffy puris from Udupi, a well-known region in Mangalore. Not to forget, the goli bajje, a famous evening snack. These are soft and spongy fritters made with all-purpose flour, spices and herbs.
We were later introduced to, a local mobile shop known as Halli Mane rotties situated in Gandhinagar. The food joint offers three types of rotis made up of ragi, jowar and rice. These are really good for health and gluten-free! The rotis are served with a mixed vegetable curry and punarpalli juice also called as Kokam juice. The juice is sweet and good for digestion.
Right opposite to Kaddri park, is a lane which has quaint little food joints for everyone to try. We head to Dinky dine where we tried the grape juice. It is juice joint really famous in Mangalore. The day came to an end on a sweet note as we headed towards the ice-cream parlour. Here we tried the Marzi pan ice-cream, a sweet pan-flavoured ice-cream and gudbud, a multi-layer ice-cream consisting of three flavours, butterscotch, strawberry and vanilla served with cherries and fruits.
Places visited:
Maharaja Restaurant
1st Floor, Trade Centre, Near Jyothi Circle, Bunts Hostel Road, Balmatta, Mangalore
Giri Manja’s
Kalikamba Temple Cross Road, Mangaluru, Karnataka 575001
Hotel Karthik
Kulur Ferry Rd, Urwa Store, Kottara, Mangaluru, Karnataka 575006
Halli Mane
Pentland Pet Rd, Gandhinagar, Mangaluru, Karnataka 575003
Dinky Dine
Opp. Kadri Park, Mangaluru, Karnataka 5
