Karavalli, Bangalore India

It has been a long time since I've written about restaurants and that really is not a good thing. I've had so many good eating adventures in the last few years and just neglected to blog about them. This post itself is long overdue. I ate at Karavalli in early June, 2010, and it has taken me until February to write about it. That is a bit FAIL.

I stumbled on Karavalli quite by accident and had it not been for some winning smiles, I may have missed my opportunity altogether. I arrived there with my friend Eric who had come to visit me in Bangalore for the day (from Delhi) the day before I left for the States. I had a day and a half to spare and it was really wonderful to get a chance to see an old friend in a new setting, far away from the staid lives of our former selves. Eric was only in town for a few hours so I wanted to avoid Bangalore's nightmarish traffic and stick close to the area I was staying while getting to eat something delicious that would brace me for the trip back to Ohio, and the 24 hour period of airplane and airport food.

My family is from Mangalore (or rather my mother is!) and I was hoping to try and introduce Eric to some good South Indian food that wasn't just idlis and sambar. Karavalli sells itself as a Mangalorean space. From its website, Karavalli is "inspired by a traditional Mangalorean house, featuring a wooden ceiling, furniture, antique seafarers maps, and a variety of antiques from times of the French and English occupation of India. For alfresco dining, the restaurant offers an open-air courtyard, a verandah and, garden." Make no mistake, Karavalli is also part of that famous group of hotels, The Taj, so there's some serious upscaling of the regional-rural experience at play in their culinary homage to this once sleepy town on the coast of Karnataka.



When we arrived, it was late even by Indian lunch standards: 2:45, a mere 15 minutes shy of their closing time. The restaurant very kindly accommodated us, but asked that we dine outdoors on the patio (Okay, easy enough--see pic above to see why this was not an imposition) and also that we order our food all in one go so that the chef could go on break (also perfectly reasonable!). Unfortunately, I don't recall the names of everything we ate, but I do remember the tastes, a wonderful array of complementary tastes--sweet, sour, hot, salty.



I do remember that we ordered veal which was probably beef, mostly because we were both delighted with the idea of beef in India. There were a range of other local specialties including a perfectly spiced rasam served in tiny little glasses covered in copper, fluffy appam and a wonderful spicy pineapple curry and an allepey fish curry. The rasam that we had is pictured to the left.




Though a far cry from the usual ways in which I've encountered banana leafs--usually at weddings or celebrations, rows of banana leaves arranged on the floor as we sit and eat food. At Karavalli, they maintain the tradition of the banana leaf but it is sanitized to the level that would not offend the foreign palate or sensibility. All of this was served on a banana leaf shaped copper plate on top of which a banana leaf had been placed. It was all very lovely, and the upscale version of food served on a banana leaf was so completely endearing, especially since the food itself was delicious. Banana leaves are such a wonderful template upon which to create culinary masterpieces, both because the striking green makes a visually appealing backdrop but also because the flavors of the banana leaf meld into the food, imparting just the gentlest hint of that raw banana flavor. It is also a wonderfully sustainable alternative--the only kind of plate that I know about that is biodegradable.

In the last few years, I've had a chance to explore India more on my terms. I love what my parents and family have showed me, but there is something limiting about that, and I've enjoyed getting to be host to my friends who have been kind enough to visit me while I've been in India and even more so to hosting M and getting to see India in a new way. I don't discount that I get a better experience and am treated better when I am traveling with white Americans, but when it comes to food, I'm so happy to get good food, I don't always pay enough attention to the classed implications of these racial hierarchies that allow me to enter and enjoy these spaces. I mean, I do, but there is a part of me that enjoys this a little too much.

Unlike in the US, India has a strong tradition of having good restaurants in hotels, at least in the places I've been. Karavalli is no exception and quite possibly one of the most thoughtful and innovative restaurants serving Mangalorean and Malabar coast food that I've had the pleasure to consume.