A quaint eatery by the roadside en route Mysuru

It was the Christmas holiday of 2015 and much to my happiness, it was a Friday. So, calls for a long weekend and what can you expect a travel freak like me to do in such a situation? A quick road trip was planned in no time and this time it was the city of Mysore, also known as Mysuru. Situated in the southwestern state of Karnataka, in India, this city is rich in history, art and culture. History always fascinates me and hence I had Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan famed Srirangapatna in mind, which is just adjacent to Mysore.

My post today isn't about the history of the city or its surroundings. I am here to write about a quaint little eatery, we stumbled upon en route our driving escapade. From Chennai, it took us about 8 hours for us to reach our hotel in Mysuru. By the time we checked in, it was way past afternoon. So, we barely had time to quickly freshen up and get ready to go and see the night view of the grandiosely lit Mysore Palace. After braving the tedious evening traffic of the city, we could make it just in time to the palace to click a few quick shots, before the lights went off.

We didn't have much to do post that and hence, we returned to the hotel for dinner and crashed soon. As it is we were very tired after the whole day of driving but we promised to come back to the palace the next morning to explore it in detail from inside.

Thotada Mane https://www.facebook.com/ThotadaMane/ in Kannada it means, a house in the garden and that is where I pulled in my car on our way to Brindavan Garden from a day trip to Srirangapatnam. After a heavy breakfast the next morning, we had set out to see the Mysore Palace and Philomena Church followed by Srirangapatna, which is completely wrapped in history and the tales of Tipu Sultan's valour kept me fascinated. I had lost count of time and could go on and on visiting such historical monuments, when a thought crossed my mind - probably Brindha, my friend, who agreed to accompany me for this trip, isn't enjoying as much. After all she is more of a temple person and she visibly looks tired. I asked her and she politely enquired if we could walk in to some nice motel or eatery on the highway, where we could use the restroom and grab a cup of tea. I realised I was stretching her a bit too much and hence jumped in the car, set the google maps to Vrindaban Gardens and promised her to stop at some place on the way. Google has its own mind and always navigates through the most off beat routes possible. This time was no exception and soon we were driving through some hamlets and gradually found ourselves surrounded by sugarcane farms on both sides of the road. For a moment we forgot that we badly needed a break. Right then we saw this place comfortably tucked away in the sugarcane farms and the board outside said "pure veg". I knew that was the place for Brindha. So, I confidently pulled to the parking space. However, she seemed a little hesitant in the beginning but we didn't have much choice.

An extremely nice, warm and comfortable place....indeed a house in the garden! Spic and span washrooms, very well maintained, interesting decor - tables and chairs made of tree trunks and wash basins erected outta bamboos and tyres, a cute little see-saw with bicycle handles fixed on it to engage the kids, simply make you wonder if they have something interesting in the kitchen as well.




That is when Samina Bai walks upto us and tells us if we have any local cuisine in mind, we can let her know and she can give it a shot. I had no idea about the local food but my friend sure was craving for some Kannada food. So, pat comes the demand of Akkhi roti (bread made of rice flour) and Ragi (millet flour) roti and Samina readily agrees.

While we were still sipping our tea, and appreciating the surroundings, she brings in the much awaited, piping hot rotis accompanied by some curd, green chilli chutney with a dash of ghee on it and podi. Needless to say the food was simply out of the world and the hospitality extended was making the whole experience worth cherishing.

We couldn't thank the hosts enough before hitting the road again and cruising through the scenic greenery spread all around .