Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sri Krishna Kafe - Koramangla


Sree Krishna Kafe, popularly known as SKK among it's loyalists is in Koramangla 5th block. It is on the one way where other pouplar restaurants such as "Filling Station", "Nandana Grand", "Kairali (Kerala specialty)" and others are located. It is right next to Anand Sweets adjacent to GK Vale (above Kairali). Very narrow steps lead you to the top and the service is available in the first and second floors.


The meals are available only during lunch time alongside some tiffin items like dosas (all varieties), chapati kurma, parotha kurma, curd rice and some mixed rice depending on the day of the week. Meals are priced at Rs 68 on weekdays and 75 on weekends. If you are looking for traditional Tamil types south Indian with Brahminsh flavour with a tinge of Palaghat then this is the place. Authentic I must say and people who are sick of the Sagar kind of sambhar, then this is the place. Yes, you'll find coconut mixed in everywhere but probably that's what makes it so tasty. You need to go the second floor where they serve both tiffin and meal items during lunch as the first floor serves only meals during this time. Otherwise during breakfast and dinner both the floors are teeming with people.



Service is quick and prompt and you needn't tip them (at least during the lunch time). They have a tip box hidden somewhere near the bill counter. Don't expect finger bowls, just head to the wash basin and wash. The tiffin items during the evening keep changing depending on the day of the week. See the above menu card to know what it has to offer. "Adai" is one of my favourites here, though "onion rava masala" is the best. Chutneys and Sambar keep pouring as you keep summoning the chap who is very busy.


For lunch, it is mostly carbo-loading to me. Fridays are our favourite as "brinjal" curry and "Avial" is served here with the meal. If you are late (say post 2.30PM) the brinjal curry might just be over and they compensate with a quickly made "Aloo" curry. Three types of "Koimbu" or gravy items you get here apart from the Sambar: "Rasam", "Moru Koimbu" (made of buttermilk), "Karra Koimbu" (with "parpu urandai" - balls made out of dal). Then you get curd, one sweet dish and little "more" (buttermilk). Apalam (fried plain papad) and "more molega" (fried chilli) and pickle as additional accompaniments. Weekend lunch is more grand and you might end up eating more in temptation.


As I keep reviewing this place I catch up with Mr. Pandian who now heads this current place. There is (was) one more SKK on Bannerghatta road but looks like both the managements are different now. I cannot vouch for it, but the one at Koramangla road is the one you must go for if you haven't already been. They've been here for a long time now and have made each and every guest who comes to SKK feel home. Even sometimes the owners lend a helping hand in serving. Usually you'll find the place fully occupied but sometimes you might have to wait for 10-15 minutes, which just passes in a jiffy.


Coffee here is equally tasty, Madras degree coffee types. A trivia on how the word "degree" coffee came about. Looks like during those days they used to measure the hotness of milk with some degree-scale and from there the word degree crept in, and hence the term degree coffee. Got to know about it recently when I was in Chennai and talking to a fellow friend. Try their different varieties of Idlies that they have to offer. "Kheema Idly" is my favourite and also "Kheema Parotha" is my kind of snack and answer to the Chaat. There are many other standard delicacies available apart from the special ones.

So if you wanted to try a meal or looking forward for a heavy or light snack or tiffin then just crash in here. A tiffin for two will be around 80 bucks. Give it a shot and you'll feel sumptuous for sure. It is Sri Krisna "K"afe. "Adi wandi Yanai Balam" (the last gulp gives you strength equal to that of an elephant).

Majja Maadi !

5 comments:

Digithought said...

Truly a good place...i can vouch for this....this place was one of my first taste to typical south indian food...thanks to my food guide balu...

Anonymous said...

Donga munda. You no your not helping with the sumptuous pics annayya.

Reema said...

I love tamil food. Too bad that there are no many good tamil south indian restaurants in east Bangalore (Whitefield). Btw, would you know what kind of cooking oil do the restaurants in Bangalore use? I am a bit paranoid over the kind of fats my family consumes when eating out (which we do quite frequently). I asked at Bhagini (Marathalli) and a few other places, and they all have said that they use Sunflower. I am not sure if they are being truthful about this though. I am afraid that they might be using cheap fats such as Vanaspati somewhere in there...

Balu said...

thanks folks for the comments. The Dosa that you are seeing in the pic is oilless (or without oil). I typically customize my dosaas:-)

@Reema: Thanks for dropping by. It will be a real nightmare to go into the kitchen of any restaurant for that matter. Its really hot inside and the cooks are terribly sweating. The scenes inside are unimaginable, but all that one can hope is to survive.

The oil they use may be of local quality and sometimes they keep re-using the oil. One should never reuse oil. In fact my mom keeps changing the oil type. Like one week she uses Sunflower, the next week she uses Rice Bran, Soya and so on. These days we've shifted to Canola oil (which down in Canada and US are of the lower range) but it is little prohibitive in terms of costs.

I'm sure you know that Olive oil is used more as a salad dressing and one mustn't using it for regular cooking that produces flames. Microwave must be okay.

Another thing that many suggest is to mix all different types of edible oil but I haven't tried that yet.

Sometimes we overdose ourselves with caution and the body looses immunity. The best way is to keep working out and I run :-)

Do visit again !

RK said...

I miss Krishna Kafe. Great food.

I miss the restaurent scene in Bangalore. Good food and good prices.

Restaurent in Hyd suck really really bad :-(