A Chef Charts the City's Changing Foodscape

BANGALORE : Chef Naren Thimmaiah, executive chef at the Gateway Hotel Residency Road,  has been associated with the iconic Karavalli Restaurant in Bangalore since its inception 24 years ago. This multiple award-winning restaurant with its very unique ethos and focus on authentic regional cuisine has won the chef many accolades.

Hailing from a traditional Coorgi family, this chef believes in the lasting power of  recipes handed down through mothers and grandmothers and replicating them perfectly even in a restaurant set up. It has been his aim to offer the guests a taste of home and comfort food even while they are travelling. It is in keeping with this idea which combines fresh ingredients, seasonal produce and traditional recipes that he creates dishes which are both healthy as well as delicious like the Maddur Vade (deep-fried patties of rice flour, semolina, maida, sliced onion, curry leaves, grated coconut and asafoetida)

Chef Thimmaiah has been well aware of Bangalore's changing foodscape over the last two and half decades and in a special menu celebrating 25 years of the hotel (which will be available till Nov 10), he has crafted a menu which will pay tribute to iconic dishes from the city, recreated in his own kitchens.

This spread will include everything from a simple yet special Lassi from a popular roadside eatery to the succulent Midnight Chicken Kebabs from a well-loved joint, from the familiar Commercial street-style Gulab Jamuns and sinful Death by Chocolate to the unforgettable lamb burgers with sweet mayo.

Bangaloreans will immediately be able to identify these age-old city favourites from well-known eating joints around the city. This apart, the chef will also reintroduce hit dishes from his own menu over the ages and recall dishes that are representative of different cuisines and true to their indigenous roots in different parts of the country depending on availability of produce. These include the typically Amritsari Pindi Chole, the Awadhi Kakori kababs and the Coorgi Akki Roti Soppina Saaru (rice flour roti with a broth made of lentils and edible greens).