Tripping on coastal favourites

Karavalli, the enduring South Indian eatery from Bengaluru pops-up in Colaba

In this profusion of new eateries all over the country, there are some restaurants that have managed to maintain their quality and become city institutions. Bengaluru’s Karavalli at The Gateway Hotel which opened its doors in 1990, is one such place. Now Mumbaikars can sample food from the eatery, as Karavalli has an ongoing pop-up at Masala Kraft, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower that concludes on July 16.

Chef Naren Thimmaiah, who helms the kitchen at The Gateway Hotel is here with a team of three chefs, to serve up traditional coastal cooking, with traditional recipes that have been sourced from Mangalorean Bunts, Goans and Kodavas from Coorg (where Thimmaiah is from). On offer, during the pop-up is an a la carte menu that features everything from old Karavalli favourites like the tiger prawn roast to kori roti, kaaju kotmir vade to avial and more. We spoke to Thimmaiah about three of Karavalli’s special dishes — octopus sukka, maavinkai mensukkai and their mutton curry — that manage to be light, flavourful and had us asking for seconds.

Octopus sukka: “There are no dishes on my menu, which are fusion or anything like that. In Mangalore, a coastal town, the fisher folk go fishing. The main reason for them to go out on the water is to catch fish or maybe prawns. But along with that, they also catch octopus or squid or clams, which by default becomes a regular dish back home in their house. They typically have it with boiled red rice, and for them the octopus sukka is the inexpensive byproduct they’ve caught, which is also edible. The masala which they use is a sukka masala, which is coarsely ground coconut spicy masala, which they use for the side dishes.”

Maavinkai mensukkai (mango curry): “This is from the other set of dishes on the Karavalli menu, which we call dishes from the hinterland, not from the coast. The Vitla region where this dish is picked up from, there’s seasonal food stored throughout the year. So raw mangoes, bamboo shoots or hog plums, when they are in season they are stored in salt water, which is brine. Periodically, the produce is taken out and used for curries.”

Karavalli mutton curry: “The mutton curry has tomato, cashew paste and coconut milk. This mutton curry recipe is from Kundapur [in Karnataka]. All South Indian curries have chillies which are an overpowering presence, and they look brownish red, but ours has been on the menu since the restaurant first opened in 1990.”

The Karavalli pop-up is ongoing at Masala Kraft, Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Colaba until July 16.