Mangalore

Mangalore, Kudla, Kodial - call it by any name it conjures fond memories of swaying palms, gushing seas, glowing sand, the narrow, winding cul-de-sac’s and the numerous summer holidays spent in my childhood.

 

Visiting Mangalore in my summer holidays was a high point of my life in school. I would wait for the final exams to get over with bated breath as it would mean going back to my birthplace Mangalore. Going to Mangalore from Mumbai in those days meant an arduous 24 hour bus journey sometimes or by air on some lucky occasions.  However Mangalore is now well connected by road and the journey is around 15 hours from Mumbai, an hour's flight from Mumbai with almost every airline flying into the city and off course the wonderful journey on the Konkan railway through the numerous tunnels and waterfalls. The Mangalore Airport is an international airport and the seaport is now a destination for many cruise liners which get tourists from the European countries.

 

Mangalore derives its name from the local Hindu Goddess Mangaladevi. Located on the backwaters of the Netravati and Gurupura rivers, the landscape of Mangalore comprises of rolling hills, coconut palms, freshwater streams, and hard red-clay tiled-roof buildings. The lush greenery is ambrosia to the soul especially after the monsoon season when one is landing at the Bajpe Airport, Mangalore.

 

 

Clicked from the aircraft, minutes before landing at M'lore airport

 

 It is a city which is slowly experiencing the impact of urbanisation i.e. high rises, shoppping malls, cineplexes and fast food chains but still retains the old world charm. As a coastal city, the best time to visit Mangalore is immediately after the monsoons in end August or in December when the weather is cool and bracing. The summers tend to be humid & torrid.

 

The four main languages in Mangalore are Tulu, Konkani, Kannada, and Beary. Tulu being the mother tongue of the 'Bunt' community, Konkani being the mother tongue of the Saraswat & Goud Saraswat Brahmin community, Kannada being the official language of Karnataka and Beary 'Bhasha' being the language of the Beary Muslim community. Tulu and Kannada are widely spoken along with Konkani. However as a tourist, you will face no problems as most locals do understand Hindi and English.

 

View of the Nethravati River from the Mangalore Club

 

Mangalore has been the cradle of banking with many banks like Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, Karnataka Bank, Canara Bank having been originally started here and K. V.Kamath of ICICI Bank fame is also from Mangalore. Some of the other famous personailities with origins in Mangalore being film stars like Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Sunil Shetty, late film star Guru Dutt, Dr Girish Karnad, Dr Devi Shetty, Oscar Fernandes etc to name a few.

 

Let me briefly broach on the cultural aspect. While many classical dance forms and folk art are practised in the city. The Yakshagana, a night-long dance and drama performance is the most popular one, while Pilivesha (tiger dance), a folk dance unique to the city, is performed during Dasara and Krishna Janmashtami. Mangalore is a city of some beautiful temples and churches, some of them being very ancient. The Milagres & St Aloysius Churches, Car Street Venkatraman Temple, Kadri, Gokarnatheswar and Sharavu Mahaganapati Temples are really worth visiting for the sheer experience of some inner peace. The 'Car Festival" or 'Rath Utsova' of the GSB community in Car Street Venkatraman temple is so well attended that one can see a sea of humanity to witness this wonderful festival.

 

I cannot, not mention about the 'Kite Festival' held on the Panambur Beach where kite flying enthusiasts come with such unique kites from within as well as outside India.

 

 

 

 

The Panambur Beach is on the outskirts of the city and is now a a great place for spending your weekend or an outing with family and friends. There are boats, jet skis, eco friendly airconditioned tents etc for those who want some adventure as well. You can get more information on http://www.panamburbeach.com/.

 

There is much more to write about including some other tourist spots and off course the cuisine in Mangalore, which I will cover in the next update....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delicious Dish

Almost 8 years in Riyadh and I had not heard of this restaurant called "Delicious Dishes" serving some fantastic North Indian food. A ' true hole in the wall' Indian restaurant located in the predominantly Asian area of Riyadh, called Hara. This was referred to me by some friends here who also heard of it recently while the restaurant has been there for many years.

 

I stepped in for the first time one Friday morning some months back for breakfast. The restaurant has a breakfast menu serving 'puri aaloo', 'aaloo parathas' and some non-vegetarian dishes as well.  I have always maintained this, one has to figure out the best dishes in each restaurant and then enjoy them, one should never assume that every dish in any restaurant is good. Same goes for this restaurant  as well.

 

The puri aaloo is served with some raita and 'sheera' in Maharashtra also called  'sooji halwa' in Northern India. The aaloo subzi is worth dying for, truly divine. The gravy is tempered with cumin seeds, lightly spiced and garnished with coriander leaves. I can recall eating this quality in parts of Uttar Pradesh like Kanpur. All you need to do is squeeze some lime juice and dip the puris in this heavenly concoction and experience the sheer ambrosia. The other accompaniments like sheera and raita are nothing to write home about. The aaloo parathas are also great but keep that for another session as once you finish eating the puri aaloo, your may not be able to do justice to both dishes.

 

We also tried their luncheon menu and the items that I recommend are the 'Kadai Chicken' amongst the non-veg items, on the weekends they make some fantastic ' kadi pakoda'. The best that I have eaten in recent times. Their 'gulab jamuns' are also highly recommended.

 

Great value for money, superb taste and no frills, a great place to take the food home and enjoy it with the family.. Bon appetit.!!

 

Do write back to me if you want specific directions to the place...

 

 

 

UP Restaurant & Executive Suites Hotel

With a passion for trying out restaurants, sometimes I end up finding some restaurants which offer some lip smacking food in small corners of the cities which I live in or travel to.

 

Upto about a year back, I used to set out on Friday early mornings with my son for company and drive around the city of Riyadh trying to find out either new restaurants or those which I had not identified earlier. Similarly I also do like trying out any restaurant which a friend or an acquaintance may talk or recommend. Sometimes we also discover some great eateries when we go along with friends for dinner.

 

UP Restaurant in the Hara area of Riyadh, is one such 'hole in the wall' restaurant that serves food like simple, home made, North Indian Food. Clean, functional, no nonsense, no frills but a gem that has been satisfying pangs of hunger of bachelors living in Riyadh for decades. Unfortunately there is no family section here and hence you need to take a parcel home if you want the family to eat their fare. It is a favorite haunt for us from our office and we descend there in a group usually.While they serve both Veg and Non-Veg food, I guess their Veg food is more popular amongst us friends here. Their menu changes daily. You will not find some of the vegetables they use in restaurants elsewhere. Some of the dishes that are truly our favorites are Arbi (Colocasia) Masala, Pyaaz Patta (Spring Onion Leaves) Sabzi , Alu Palak, Turai/Lauki Ki Sabzi  etc to name a few. They serve steaming hot rotis, soft and fresh out of the tandoor, we usually dip the roti in steaming hot bowls of butter infused dal fry and the sabzis. They also serve the 'Tahiri' which is a UP style masala rice which is also simple and nice. A meal for 4 hungry souls, with 3 varieties of sabzi/curries, daal fry and rotis costs us less than SAR 50 for all of us together. Sometimes we think that the restaurant is doing social service with this pricing and quality. You will find people from all walks of life eating here including us bankers. For anyone interested in knowing precise directions, do write back to me and I will glad to share the same.

 

Just last week, we were invited for dinner by some friends at the Executive Hotel Suites at Olaya Street in Riyadh which is opposite the iconic landmark, Kingdom Tower in Riyadh. The restaurant is on the mezzanine floor of this pretty, quaint hotel. The ambience is great, service is excellent and impeccably clean. We decided to go for the buffet as the salads looked fresh and we are salad fans!.

 

The salad spread was fantastic - variety of fresh Middle Eastern & Western salads. The Hummous, Fattoush, Tabbouleh, Muhammara, Baba Ghanoush, Muttabal, stuffed vine leaves, fresh golden yellow corn nibblets, baby corn, Caesar's salad, olives etc etc. They had 2 Soups on the buffet table, the Clear Sea Food Soup and Cream of Chicken Soup. I tried the Clear Seafood Soup which had the right amount of salt, fish and shrimps. Clear soups are easy to make but easy to also mess up as the taste needs to be subtle and there must be a ballad of harmony between the ingredients. This one was perfect.!

 

The main course spread was limited but that suits us fine as we tend to go low on the main course as we usually stuff ourselves with the salads. The fish in lemon sauce was great and worth mentioning. There was a seafood meddley dish with calamari which was also nice.  The desserts were decent too. I guess, the cost per person here is just under SAR 100 and hence great value for money. Will go again.!!

 

There are many more to write about and across different cities so watch out for more in the future...