DESILICIOUS!
LEGENDARY BANGALORE RESTAURANT MAKES ITS CANADIAN DEBUT
MTR 1924 opened its doors in Mississauga in October, promising the brand’s legendary taste and service. Owners Raghav and Navya (right) with hostess Likhita.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (MTR) is a storied name in India. Famous for the restaurants in Bangalore and also for the vast range of their ready-to-eat products and spices.
How many restaurants can lay claim to having invented a dish? MTR can. During World War II, when rice, used in idlis, was in short supply, they experimented with semolina and created the now ubiquitous rava idli.
I recall going to the original location in Lal Bagh, Bangalore, with my parents for a Sunday brunch.
We would get up early and mission it to the place to beat the inevitable long queue.
It was said that they actually turned people away once the allotted 1000 lunch/ dinner coupons were sold.
I’m not sure if that’s an urban legend associated with the legendary restaurant, but I can still see all the others who had gathered there with the same idea. Some, with newspapers in hand, ready for the long wait. One entered through the kitchen where dishwashers (a huge novelty back then) kept the crockery and cutlery sparkling clean – and hot. If a plate came to the table and you were actually able to touch it, it was almost a letdown.
The dhoti-clad servers accepted no tips because they were all partners in the venture.
Now there are branches in other parts of Bangalore and one can enjoy the MTR experience without the massive wait.
The best part? Now one doesn’t even have to travel to Bangalore – MTR 1924 opened its doors in Mississauga in October, promising the same taste and service. The 1924 in the name underscores the year of launch, and there have been, of course, some changes since then.
Mavalli Tiffin Rooms invented the rava idli during World War II, when rice, used in idlis, was in short supply. MTR experimented with semolina and created the now ubiquitous rava idli.
In a new century and in a new country, one doesn’t traipse through the kitchen and the young girl who rattled off the items on the menu – more on that coming right up – was an international student from Bangalore, doing her Master’s in IT.
The interior is also not the functional space of the original which had old B&W photographs on the walls, if I remember right. This is a bright space, choc-a-bloc with Indian handicrafts and colourful prints on the walls. And one is confronted with a fringe of giant brass bells around the counter behind which stands Navya, the owner. “My husband is very interested in interior decoration,” she said with a smile. “He wanted to get it just right, before we opened.”
Her husband Raghav revealed that he wasn’t done, sharing images of intricately carved furniture, screens and pillars that are soon to be installed.
But back to the menu. While MTR staples like idlis, rava idlis, and benne dosas are available every day, the menu changes from day to day. The young hostess asked us to scan the menu to see what was on offer that day, or offered to read it off a tablet she was carrying.
We ordered rava idlis, a plate with the idli-vada combo, and benne dosas. The last, for those not in the know, are a typical Bangalore speciality, with thick but crisp dosas drenched in butter.
Super-fast doesn’t begin to describe the service. We’d barely placed our order and were looking around, prepared to wait at least a few minutes when our idlis were at our table.
The rava idlis came with a tiny container of ghee resting on top and chutney and saagu (a creamy potato curry). Sambhar and chutney accompanied the pillowy soft idlis and I was in benne dosa heaven.
My husband pronounced his Bangalore filter coffee, another MTR speciality, the best he had ever tasted in a restaurant in Canada in all our years here.
Stuffed to the gills, but unable to resist a helping of their famous badaam halwa, we compromised and agreed to share one. Dripping in ghee and extra sweet, it transported me back to the time when it was a much looked forward to treat.
Benne dosa is a Bangalore speciality, with thick but crisp dosas drenched in butter, and served with signature MTR chutney and sambhar.
Raghav stopped by to enquire if everything was as we remembered it and hearing our enthusiastic response, said it had taken a lot of work and research to replicate the taste.
“We tried so many versions of coconuts to get the chutney to taste just right,” he said. “We use the MTR masalas and pastes, but the dals are different and locally available tomatoes taste different. Even the fermentation process is longer, and that can impact the taste.”
They had got it right, we assured him, and promised to be back sooner rather than later to enjoy the thalis.
Where: MTR 1924 is located at 5120 Dixie Road, Mississauga. They can be reached at 289-687-1924.