BENGALURU: Don’t be surprised if you’re given a suitcase upon entering Kannadigas Golden Food (K.G.F). After all, this restaurant in Sahakara Nagar, has been conceptualised on the lines of the blockbuster film of the same name. The menu, designed to look like a treasure map, comes inside a suitcase with a code that has to be unlocked. “Our menu offers multiple cuisines from across the world. This is inspired by how gold is smuggled from across the globe in the movie,” says Srinivas Muralidhar, co-founder of the newly-opened space.
Themed restaurants aren’t new to Bengaluru, with nearly two dozen such spaces – based on themes ranging from Hollywood movies to Shakespeare – dotting the city. But up until now, the city lacked a themed restaurant based on a Kannada movie.
Two Bengalureans have sought to change that. In fact, when you first enter K.G.F, you are more likely to be reminded of Narachi, a limestone mine used as a facade to conduct illegal gold mining operations in the 2018 film and its 2022 sequel. With its imposing and dark presence, the fictional mine remains an ominous character within the movie. Muralidhar and Yuvaraj, close friends and fans of K.G.F, have tried to evoke the essense of Narachi with their restaurant.
Muralidhar, a first-time restaurateur, quit his job at the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to open the restaurant. “I worked as a junior assistant for nearly six years. Even though it was a stable job, I found it creatively lacking,” he shares. After quitting his job, Muralidhar felt that a restaurant would be the right business to get into given the boom in the hospitality industry following the lockdown. But with little know-how about the business, he turned to his friend, Yuvraj, who already runs two other restaurants in the city.
Together, they started brainstorming ideas for their new venture, eventually landing on K.G.F. “We decided to base it on K.G.F because there aren’t any other mining-themed restaurants in the city, or for that matter in the country,” Yuvraj says, adding that K.G.F’s unprecedented success and popularity on a national scale meant that it was an easy decision to base their restaurant on
the movie.
Designed by Muralidhar and Yuvraj themselves, the restaurant is packed with features inspired by both the movie series and the Kolar Gold Fields. From the jet-black façade that wouldn’t look out of place at an amusement park to the imposing mural of a railway line at the entrance, every detail at the restaurant has been carefully thought out. “The entire restaurant is divided into several zones, each evoking a different aspect of a gold mine,” concludes Yuvara(A meal for two costs 500)