When you want to take a group of visiting French people for Sunday morning breakfast , people may suggest a lot of hotels like the MTR, one of the Shanti Sagars or Kamat hotels but not often do you hear the name – Hotel Brindavan. In fact many people are not sure of its location when you mention the name while it is located right on M.G.Road very close to the Cauvery handicrafts. You turn into the side road near Webb’s Garage and see the board right in front of you.

That is where we went with our French class, and the visitors this Sunday morning and found the experience thoroughly charming. It was a travel back to the Bangalore of the 70s and 80s and utterly delightful.

M.G.Road at 8 a.m on a Sunday!

If you have been to Bangalore in the 70s and 80s, the image this hotel enjoyed was totally different. A visit to M.G Road or Brigade Road invariably terminated with tiffin or a meal at Brindavan which offered delicious Karnataka meals at very reasonable rates.

Even today it is here along with Hotel Ajanta and Woodlands , that one can find clean, spacious rooms at rates as low as Rs.500 per day . The restaurant and delicious food are an added bonus.

Fans that look like they need a round of cleaning!

Our French visitors, Pascale and Jonathan

The hotel’s lobby and eating room remind you of another time and make you wonder if they have remained the same from the 60s. Marble topped tables designed to serve 6 to 8 people at a time, black boards with the available items listed out, old fans which don’t appear to have been cleaned for ages.

The group in conversation!

Customary group shot at the entrance!

But the list of items available for breakfast is almost endless – you name it they have it- the dosas, uthapams, idli, vada, kara bhath, poori etc. You get authentic South indian decoction coffee and strong tea apart from a variety of fruit juices.

Despite its lack of popularity among the new bangaloreans and the youth, the place seems to have its regular patrons and fans as we could see from the steady stream of customers that were keeping the room full from 7 a.m onward. Having tasted the food and seen the prices at which they come, the reason is not very difficult to see.
Go and check it out once. It is worth the while.