BENGALURU: The United Kingdom’s decision to scrap Covid curbs has elicited mixed responses. But the F&B industry which has borne the brunt of the pandemic is heaving a sigh of relief. Incidentally, the launch of Bengaluru’s own Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR, in London comes at a time when Covid norms have been done away with.
Though the restaurant is still in its soft launch stage, the interest in south Indian tiffin items has the owners excited. In fact, franchise head, Karthik Srinivasaiah, says it’s been difficult to keep the footfall at bay. While Indians living in London have been thronging the place for some filter kappi, bisi bisi rava idli (their signature dish) and some masala dosae, the restaurant also saw former British Deputy High Commissioner for Karnataka and Kerala Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford dining in. Taking to Twitter, he shared, “Great handover with Anna [Shotbolt, head of an environment and infrastructure department of the British Embassy in Beijing, London] including on how to eat Masala Dosa the proper way! Super taste of the real #Karnataka in #London at #MTRLondon.”
“The right way to eat a dosae is to dig into it, get to the masala and eat around it,” laughs Hemamalini Maiya, managing partner of MTR Restaurants, who is heading to the UK next week. MTR has eight restaurants in Bengaluru, one in Mysuru and Udupi as well. Internationally, the Singapore and Dubai brand opened in 2015, two years later, Malaysia opened its branch, and now, London is the latest addition.
“Each franchise we have is run by good friends. Our first international one was in Singapore. The Malaysian one is run by our landlords in Bengaluru. London, too, is run by a friend’s friend who has now become a close friend of ours,” says Maiya, adding, “However, the problem with having restaurants abroad is that the internal team needs external feedback.”
There are challenges in starting a franchise, especially in ensuring that the chefs are trained the right way. “Two chefs, Sivakumar and Dhanapal, trained with us in Bengaluru for four months before we launched in London. They had to do a lot of unlearning but they were also very quick in picking up and eventually learnt why our dosae is different from others,” she says.
While a majority of the ingredients are sourced from the respective countries, the main masala is always sent from Bengaluru. “We have to ensure that our signature taste remains,” she says, pointing out that getting the right kind of ghee in these countries is hard. “But knowing our brand name, many have been stopping. It’s always wonderful to see an amalgamation of a crowd,” she says. So are there more branches in the offing? “You never know! There are some talks going on about opening in the US but we’re taking it slow. We need the right kind of chefs and they have to be trained. In India, we aren’t too keen on expanding, yet we don’t really want to completely sideline the idea either,” says Maiya.
Quintessential Bengaluru joint MTR, which launched in London recently, has seen several flocking the place for some bisi bele bath, dosae and rava idli. Former British Dy High Commissioner for Karnataka, Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford too paid a visit