It is late evening and Chef Naren Thimmaya, as iconic as Karavalli, the restaurant he is now an intrinsic part of, watches a guest take a picture of the roughly textured white walls of the facade. He smiles with pride because he knows Karavalli in Bangalore is not a name but a milestone, not a restaurant but an experience not just because it has been widely celebrated for its culinary legacy of over two decades and counting but also because the authenticity of its layered, coastal flavours also extends to its architecture. In the age of short-lived culinary and design trends, Karavalli stands for tradition, honesty and timelessness.
The food painstakingly researched and sourced from the coastal kitchens and replicated note for note at Karavalli was served for many years in three zones. An enclosed air-conditioned dining room with woody accents on the walls, traditional furniture, softly lit lamps along with a towering grand-father clock.
A thatched, informal zone and the beautifully overgrown garden overlooking a water-fall and a lotus pond.
As time went by, however it was felt that the design needed to be more cohesive, more representative of the dining experience which tries to bring back the homely flavours of slow cooking, of family tested recipes handed down from one generation to another. So the design template was redrawn around the idea of a traditional Mangalorean home with a living room, a courtyard and a garden. The living room was coaxed out of the old dining room and the thick, enclosing walls were punctuated with a series of windows. The furniture was redesigned for comfort and upholstered in vibrant colours and the old light fixtures were replaced by custom designed jewel like pieces. But some notes were retained like the old wood floor, the stately grandfather clock, traditional art work and the antique window frames.
The courtyard was recreated where the thatched area used to be and a Mangalore tiled, raised roof now shelters this zone. The flooring is rough granite. Here too the furniture was redesigned, and the famous appam counter was reintroduced. Ambient lighting fills the space with a warm glow and French windows bring the outdoors in. A sprawling tree of life mural unifies every design note here.
The rather endearingly scattered garden is now rearranged along walking paths. Patches of pebbles have made way for grass. The lotus pond and waterfall have been spruced up around a timbre deck. Authentic kerosene lamps scatter light along the pathways. A terracotta fronted grill counter has now been introduced in the garden. A raised pavilion creates a space within this space. To complete the illusion of a private garden, rough pink laterite perimeter walls enclose this zone. According to designer Nic Proud who oversaw the transformation, “The challenge at Karavalli was to bring what is an established iconic restaurant back to its original vernacular roots. The introduction of a gatehouse pavilion constructed from local timber was critical to establish the new identity and a sense of arrival. A terracotta brick feature wall with bronze mirror backing creates interesting reflections and shadow depth. The big tamarind trees will remain as the best decorative feature, creating an encompassing canopy, colour and texture.”
Even the washroom has been restyled with brass washbasins and rustic tile finishes. The idea in the end was to use local materials and the contrast between shadow and light, volume and space, colour and neutrality to bring back memories of fading coastal architecture. And so at Karavalli, time stands still even as it passes.
(Reema Moudgil is the author of Perfect Eight, editor of unboxedwriters.com and an RJ)