The Buzz of Bengaluru

The Jyoti Nivas College Road is just a little above a kilometer in length, not including the by lanes, and the actual lane where the college stands. On that one stretch of lane are scores of restaurants and eateries. In fact, if one was to walk down from Sukh Sagar on Koramangala 100 Feet Road to 80 Feet Road where a left turn takes you to the Forum Mall Signal, the one question that would boggle us is how on earth they managed to fit in so many commercial outlets on that road. On a good day, it would take one more than 10 minutes to complete the distance in a car, given that people are spilling onto the streets, either walking in or out of places. That road gives food lovers a special buzz, a buzz that we rarely find elsewhere.

For momos without the frills, there’s Momo Hut - a tiny hole in the wall joint, Khawa Karpo, Hotel Tibet inside Tibet Mall and Peace Restaurant.  Yes, these are the four Tibetan places on the same street. Incidentally, there are more momo joints too.

In fact, Asian food plays a big role on this street. The Ninja competes with Hunan, and for those days when we’re broke, there’s good old Popsies for our local Chinese fix.

A casual ambience and uncomplicated café menu makes ‘A Hole Lotta Love Café’ another popular joint among college goers and young Bangaloreans. In fact, there are quite a few cafés to choose from on this road. There’s My Tea House with its European and fast food menu, Om Made Café with its lovely décor and delicious hot chocolate, Dice n Dine for its board games and coffee, among others.

Sufi, a good restaurant to find Persian food cannot be missed for sure. It’s quite sad though that they had to introduce Indian food too in their menu, probably giving into demand.

Did we mention The Politician – the North Indian and Chinese restaurant that also has a small street facing shop where you can even eat jam and bread, and cutlets?

For guilty pleasures, there are quite a few pubs too - from The Boozy Griffin, to Purple Haze, to Gilly’s Restobar and the upmarket Indigo Live.

From Chaat Wala for hygienic street food, to Aangan’s Punjabi food and Lazeez’s kathi rolls and biryani – a lot of north India is covered here as well. And for South Indian, you can jump from Empire to Mani’s Dum Biryani to Kritunga Restaurant to Meghana Food – with gelato in hand!

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