Here nothing changes except the march of time. Bangalore has changed but not Koshy’s. It’s like visiting Peter Cat in Calcutta where the Chelo Kebab and a mug of beer embrace each other like horse and carriage. I am not from Bangalore but each time I visit (and have time to spare), this is where the heart and wallet reside. And if you are planning a trip to India’s Silicon Valley, try to ensure you keep Sunday morning free because breakfast is extra special on that extra special day of the week.
The interiors of Koshy's in Bangalore
The last time I was at the St Mark’s Road address at 8.30am, the wait was 45 minutes but the meal was worth pacing up and down the sidewalk for. Liver on toast arrived, which my eyebrow-in-the-air wife would have usually refused but not this time. Then came mutton cutlet, which is to die for. And the same goes for appam and stew with a side of sausages. By the end of one hour, my stomach was about to leave for heaven but coffee arrived to bring me back to my senses.
Koshy’s has been a sentiment since it began as a bakery in 1940. Prem Koshy’s magic was at play and by 1952, the restaurant came up next to the bakery. Patrons of the establishment informed me that the non-air conditioned section of the restaurant is called Parade Café while the other half is the Jewel Box. The entire establishment, with the bakery, is Koshy’s.
Appam and mutton stew are served for breakfast on Sunday
When we entered, there were enough people with salt-and-pepper hair hiding their eyebrows. They probably have their favourite tables. It’s the perfect place that journalists can call their own as much as the savvy art collector. On a Sunday morning, it’s nothing less than a bazaar but this one you will love. Looking at me chomping down on liver on toast, the waiter tiptoes over to whisper into my ears that it’s the best time to order appam because it’s ‘flying’ fast. “Let’s get two plates,” my wife said, only to regret her decision after sinking her teeth into the last of the appams. Combined with the mutton stew, it became an unforgettable breakfast.
Finish the meal with a special cup of coffee
My love for the place multiplied when I recently read a piece by Ramachandra Guha, In Praise of Parade’s. “I got to know Parade’s much better in the 1980s, when I was working in Bangalore. Our house was off M.G. Road (near the Trinity Circle side), and on my way to the café were both Select and Premier. Across the road from Koshy’s was Variety News, and above Koshy’s itself was the British Library…. Once I entered the café, I would order a coffee, and perhaps a snack, while taking out from my jhola the books and magazines I had just bought, opening and riffling their pages with love and with anticipation. After half-an-hour at Koshy’s I would walk back home.”
Liver on toast has a distinct taste
I can well imagine other authors and historians doing just the same every day at Koshy’s. The menu offers quite an interesting mix, with some of the items having roots in Kerala and then there are those that the owners of the place — over the generations — have introduced after travelling far and wide. Barbequed pork chops sound as good as roast mutton, Kozhi curry and rice can do wonders as much as pork vindaloo and rice. It’s a varied menu that has something for everyone.
Mutton cutlets and sausages are a must for the kids
Yes, Koshy’s plays the hits year after year. But if you go to a Rolling Stones concert, you would like to hear Mick Jagger sing Satisfaction. The same goes for mutton stew with appam or mutton cutlets. I know it sounds like a paean but, truth be told, this is the kind of place that spawns imitators and it gives you a sense of security… that some things will remain the same each time you visit Bangalore.