Brahmins’ Coffee Bar, V V Puram
This morning, I took some family members on the Lalbagh Walk, and then a friend met up with us and decided to take us to an eatery that is a venerable institution in Bangalore….Here it is….simple and unassuming in the extreme, but beloved of Bangaloreans…
The Brahmins’ Coffee Bar in Shankarapuram or V V Puram (it might be either)….serves simple vegetarian snacks, the traditional ones like idli, vada, khaara baath or chou-chou baath, and kesari baath….and piping hot filter coffee and tea.
There is NO seating at this place; prince or pauper, you stand either at a little table, granite shelves lining the wall, or with your plate in your hand, and eat…with great relish, because the food is simply delicious.
Here’s another close-up of the board (with the friend who kindly took us there):
What should he order first? The idli-vada combination? The rice dishes? The semolina sweet that the kesari baath is? Obviously, for my friend, the suspense is simply nail-biting! The food was served in less than three minutes, each time we ordered…and it’s always crowded.
My friend said that when once he was there, a Merc drove up, and the passenger got down from the back seat. The Merc then went and parked a few feet away, the driver from the front seat got out…meanwhile the passenger had got the food, and both of them stood together and ate it up, and then went on their way, employer and employee once again. For that small amount of time, though, the Brahmins’ Coffee Bar had democratically made them equal as its patrons!
Literally and figuratively, the experience of the Brahmins’ Coffee Bar (note the correct placement of the apostrophe, a lost art these days!) was….simply “outstanding”…one does have to stand out to eat the outstanding food!
A must-visit; the place may not LOOK all that hygienic, but piping hot food is generally OK and will not result in any stomach upsets the next day….long may this venerable institution last!
And while you are looking at the picture, don’t miss the beauty of the Queen’s Flower tree, in full bloom!
it defiantely sounds a intersting place. can you please provide directions as well ?
sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am reading this in the morning sitting
in front of me is a bowl of cold cereal :((
Booo Hooo.
But it sure brings back wonderful memories.
Thanks. We really enjoy these food posts and suddenly they had decreased in number ;-)
We understand your friend’s “plight”. So it
always fun to order as a family when you get
to sample many items and then make the “right”
decisions ;-)
Good post.
Similarly all the food places in bangalore should be veriterian only, govt. should ban all non-veg shops,
This will give ultimate peace of mind to everyone and will help in makine this country a developed country with good cultures.
Hope all of you have started buycotting the Non-Veg Restaurents
Thanks in advance
i propose a blanket ban on all posts on food and drink. especially evocative posts of this kind which are only meant to evoke nostalgia and misery on expatriates, who are force fed fodder aka cereals in bowls like cattle.
:)
Sorry to spoil the bonhomie here but eating vegetarian food makes the country cultured? Just where did that come from???
@Good: You seem to be the same person who commented with the name ‘buycott_it’ in Ravi’s article here.
Dude, could you please care to explain how boycotting non-veg food will make India a developed nation? How many of the developed nations are vegetarian? Also, why are you hiding under pseudo names… are you scared of the non vegetarians?
I agree Tarle. But I do not want to miss the chance to atleast look at the yummy food. So let us encourage them;-).
And please “good” take on these topics somewhere else or have a post for it and we shall all comment. We enjoy logging on to Bangalore Metblogs and seeing something familiar. Whether we are veg or non-veg is nobody’s business! Certainly not the government’s. i certainly would not like to travel to a foreign country and be told to eat ONLY NON-VEG as you put it!
There is a chaat street in VV Puram. Has that been covered earlier. Must try: Corn Bhel & Gulkand Icecream.
This reminds me of a similar eatery in Malleswaram. “Veena Stores” in 11th Cross Malleswaram offers the same fare, and it is exactly the same there. People from all walks of life come there and have to stand on the footpath and eat! Another great vegetarian eatery of Bangalore!
Try the VADA-KHARABATH Combination….
say Kharabath-Vada ondu dodda platunalli…
He will give in a single plate… use the brahmins lingo out there itz fun..;-))
I second tarlesubba here…such nostalgic pictures and writeups should be banned. Its just misery to be all these miles away and having to be sent on such nostalgic trips!
And talk of the chaat street in VVPuram.
Drooooooooool!
Nice post, Deepa! Hey, don’t forget to call me the next time you visit this place. Treat’s on me! :)
Veena Stores in 11th Cross @ M’waram was a regular Sunday morning B’fast haunt as long as I used to live in that side of the city. Need to check this Brahmins Coffee Bar.
Brahmins Coffee Bar is a place we used to frequent when we studied in a college near by. Its been a while since I last went there. Yes it is a definite place to go & eat for anybody who is new to Bangalore.
I have no doubt that this place has terrific food. I will definitely visit it sooner or later (have recently moved to Bangalore).
Was wondering how people on this message board feel about shops/restuarants having names like “Brahmin’s Coffee Bar”. To me it smells of caste pride…
Bangalore has got many such economical coffee bars. Old coffee bars as this is very good. In olden days, since money was a constraint, people were preferring only these kind of traditional eatouts. It may not cross more than 40-50 rupees for a breakfast for two. Now, with the IT in, and with people usually making 5 digit – 6 digit salaries, people are reluctant to visit these kind of coffee bars. They want to sit in A/C in some differently named restaurant such as “Mast Kalandar” – “Punjab House” etc.. Kitchens in these hotels will look like same as Brahmins’ coffee bar – only thing is it is hidden. If the name is Brahmins’ coffee house, no one will turn towards this. This is the attitude of Bangalore Young IT generation and I am feeling very sad about this. Good to know though this blog that lots of people are there who prefer these kind of coffee bars who are not commercial oriented. Others to check in are:
1. SLV near to Brahmin’s Coffee Bar in the same ShankarMatt Road, Kharabath here will vanish away as soon as you put inside the mouth.
2. Vidhyarthi Bhavan, Gandhi Bazar.
3. Janatha Hotel, Malleshwaram.
4. SLV in Banashankari II Stage, near BDA complex.
5. SLV in JP Nagar.
6. Upahara Darshini – DVG Road – Very clean, tasty and economical. Shavige Bath is very tasty here.
Donot waste money in hi-fi named restaurant by paying in thousands of rupees for restaurant bill. Explore tasty food in economical way.
“Kanishka” it is NAME of the restaurant. And please do not bring caste into this please. We really enjoy all the various topics which our authors bring here.
Well….I would do anything to go to good ol’ brahmins coffee bar and order a “double” with vade followed by a kharabath…..this is cruelty, you guys!….especially for us folks sitting here and eating oatmeal…yuck!….i miss our basavanagudi area and all the wonderful places to eat out there….