By Priyan R Naik
Sunday breakfasts and brunches hold a special place in the week, many a time making it the most anticipated meal. While some advocate the traditional English breakfast, many place their confidence in the good old Dosa. Shillong has its fair share of restaurants serving masala dosas, a very common South Indian dish, comprising a savory mix of rice and lentils stuffed with potatoes, mustard seeds, garnished with grated coconut and coriander, served with chutney and sambar. The Madras Cafe in Khyndailad is symbolic of the intermingling of cultural values through food. The joint surely serves sumptuous dosas though the sambhar and chutney seem a lot less authentic.
The dosa lovers of Bengaluru are, however, a privileged lot. With the dosa ubiquitous in every nook and corner of the city, it is possible for a Bengalurean to pick and choose. I chose one Sunday morning to visit one of the most iconic dosa joints of the city for breakfast. The Central Tiffin Room (CTR) also known as the Sri Sagar Hotel, is a heritage restaurant in the northwest part of Bengaluru, hailed for its Masala Dosas that come in butter (benne in Kannada) and non butter variants. A long time ago, no one other than the Maharaja of Mysore had come to eat at this place. The proprietor himself had served him breakfast in traditional Mysorean attire. This restaurant was also a celebrated meeting place for writers and artists in the 1940s and still sports a vintage wall clock and rosewood furniture with Italian marble table tops. CTR has won several awards including the Times Food Guide “Best Benne Masala Dosa in Bangalore” citation.
CTR invariably reminds one of the Bengaluru of yore symbolized by the quality of food and the tastes of people, who inhabited the city during those times. I had to travel some 10 Kilometers requiring me to change metro trains twice during the process before arriving at CTR only to see long queues of people patiently waiting outside the restaurant, waiting their turn to get in and be seated. Seeing different kinds of people licking their fingers while others watched them eat, waiting for them to finish to get hold of their seats was in a perverse way a testimony to the popularity of the place. It somehow made the entire visit worthwhile.
The Benne Masala Dosa was delicious, thick yet crisp, the size of the portion thoughtful and just right. Other eatables were available too although the dosa occupied the pride of place. Cutlery seemed to be a rarity and when the bearer took too long to bring a spoon, I decided to dig in with my fingers, slurping loudly as I drank the sambhar feeling as if I was in some sort of a gastronomic nirvana. I tried
out their idli, vada and khara bath ending with a nice steaming cup of filter coffee. Just as I waited for my turn, even while tucking in, I could dimly make out the next guy in the queue hovering over my shoulder, waiting to grab my table, awaiting his turn to gorge on CTR’s delicacies. Many popular food joints in Shillong too draw similar crowds just like that of Delhi Mishtan Bhandar.
How do they manage to get that unique taste? Maybe it’s something they mix with their sambhar – maybe their chutneys are made differently. Maybe it’s the butter and the pure ghee which is added liberally only to be dislodged onto your fingers as you eat the benne dosas. I have yet to figure out what exactly makes CTR dosas unique and how the restaurant gets a mention in all travel guides related to Bengaluru. After all a dosa is a dosa and whether it is available at Shillong’s Madras Cafe or even from an anonymous corner of Bengaluru the taste ought to be the same? Perhaps, this is why the former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his actress-wife Anushka Sharma were recently spotted at this very joint, as fans gathered and created a frenzy to catch a glimpse of them.
Visitors from Meghalaya, when you come to Bengaluru, brave the crowds at CTR – go ahead and try out the benne masala dosa. Experience for yourself the iconic breakfast spot with its signature dish, served in a buzzy, informal atmosphere!
(The author is a Bengaluru based journalist and a contributor at The Shillong Times)