Bangalore diaries - Early Morning amble through the Gandhi Bazaar

The weekends are fun, but it becomes better once you have a plan on how you will spend it. This weekend turned out to be the one I would treasure in the box of life, especially as I ended up with some great human beings especially foodie kinds. While I have been hearing about the iconic Gandhi Bazaar of Bangalore, the curiosity was set up to the peak while I was going through the amazing food vlogs on Youtube of some legendary eateries in and around the area.

Even though I am trying to follow some low carb healthy diet to get myself to see the best part of living i.e. living healthy, I can not sustain the temptation of being in the middle of an institution known for their sumptuous Dosa’s roasted in pure ghee and tales of its fluffy idlis and perfectly crisp vada; I had to have a cheat day to savour the delicacies The Vidhyarthi Bhavan is known for since 1943, it was a small students’eatery (where it gets its name from), to a historical landmark today known for its crispy golden brown Butter Masala Dose (Butter masala Dosa as most of you might know it as).

Gandhi Bazaar Flower Market

While I have literary seen every food vlog made around the place and watching the vloggers talk about their food, my hunger was just a notch up by merely thinking about the same. Before I even talk about my experience at Vidhyarthi Bhavan, I wish to talk about the beautiful Flower Market of Gandhi bazaar; it’s an eternal bliss to see the same and the glory of early morning walk is just festooned with the glamour and enchanting smell of flowers, it’s an experience that one should not miss; as the weather of Bangalore just blushes the experience with a tint of cold breeze and the view is just nothing less than breathtaking; even though I am not much of  a flower lover but this time, the scenic beauty and the essence that engulfed the aisles full of flowers… it even got to me… enchanting is the word that would describe the vibrant colors and mystic scents that linger in that aisle as you make your way towards food.. and yes that brings us to the food.

The Vidhyarthi Bhawan- Gandhi Bazaar, Bangalore

If you don’t know where it is, just keep walking and as you see people waiting on a wooden bench outside a small entrance where you can smell the aroma of ghee slightly hugging you, that’s it, you have reached Vidhtarthi Bhavan, with a limited rather small seating set up and many in line waiting to tuck into the warm crisp Dosa's, (what is Dosa? Dosa is South Indian Pancake, made with rice and lentil fermented batter, cooked crisp over a flat skillet and served with a potato mixture inside called Palya, accompanied by Coconut chutney/Sambar/both) So to continue with the Dosa, we were lucky to get a seat as we ended up at their door right around 7:45 am, their menu is rather short and sweet with items limited to 6-7; being there the decision on what to order was not difficult as I had to had to taste their Dosa, Idly and Vada, so the order was simple, as I eagerly shifted from one corner to another on the wooden bench in anticipation of great breakfast I was in for, more cause I woke up early after ages just for that, they came with the Idly’s and Vada to start with, swimming in crimson sambar with the smell of which itself you can say it’s Karnataka style sambar full of aromatic spices and seasoned with a bit jaggery for that much-needed sweetness, you will not find a lot of vegetables in the same but the skin of tomatoes did whisper to me it had tomato, while I wanted to wait for entire order I couldn’t resist having a bite of the idly and yes it was good, light fluffy slightly granular idly steamed to perfection, dunked in the crimson spicy liquid glory of that sambar that was the perfect mouthful, the idly due to the perfect ground of the batter had a slight bite to itself rather than being too smooth and chewy, which helped it to soak up the goodness of the spicy sambar with notes of warming spices like cinnamon, clove & pepper and fine tempering of curry leaves and mustard seeds, the sambar helps it just disintegrate in your mouth leaving minimum efforts to chew rather no effrots at all, that is what a good idly tastes like moving on to the Vada, before even taking a bite of it you know you want your Vada to be nice and crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside and it certainly did not disappoint me there, in spite of sitting in the jacuzzi of sambar, it held on to its perfect crispy crunch while soft interior soaked up the goodness of the sambar, a delightful start to the breakfast, only left my tastebuds in a sheer foretaste of the what the next item would be like!

With the Idly and Vada standing up to the status that the place is known for my appetite was craving to see the iconic Butter Masala Dose that place serves, the sizzles of the batter only played rumbles in my tummy as I eagerly waited and waited for my turn to taste the same, and finally when it arrived I just couldn’t wait for chutney to be served alongside, like most of the places in Karnataka, the dosa is usually served with chutney alone and the combination doesn’t make you crave for sambar at all, while I was not impressed with the notes chutney had to sing, for my tastebuds it was too bland and chalky, the only thing I could taste in it was hit of green chilly, but for the meal already served so far I could have over looked the same and I did, as the chutney was poured alongside the hot crip Dosa all that was left was to tuck in, and all I could say I was Disappointed, the Dosa did not live up to the talks of the town and I seriously doubt the reviews I read and vlogs I saw, all I could taste there was desi ghee, delightful for sure as I love ghee, but for the taste of Dosa I went in for I did not find the same, while the palya was hidden between the dosa, was completely bland, even for me who barely eats salts, I felt the dosa was over roasted to an extent of being slightly charred and I could taste the same unless the charred dosa is their speciality then my expectations were not right; while dosa itself was disappointing the chutney took the experience even few notched down, bland chalky coconut chutney was just not good enough to finish the dosa so I asked for some sambar and which definitely helped me finish the same.

After hearing so much about the dosa at Vidhyathi Bhavan, I stood disappointed to have wasted my calories on that, all I could taste there was ghee and charred batter which was actually not what I went there for. Like I heard the resident say, they are definitely losing their touch, but all said and done this is my personal opinion, it still is a great place just did not cater to my expectations.

In total my experience of the place, I would rate 6/10 while if I have to rate my day in the Gandhi Bazaar I would give it a good 9.5/10 it is a great place to visit; Just leave your worldly worries aside and enjoy the rush that streets breed within themselves it’s the story of lives that have bloomed in its aisles that make Gandhi Bazaar such a magical experience. 

Give it a try yourself and let me know :) Signin off.