The Manglorean Food Fest at BonSouth reflects the chef's fascination with flavours, textures and cooking methods from kitchens he grew up in
The Manglorean Food Fest at BonSouth reflects the chef's fascination with flavours, textures and cooking methods from kitchens he grew up in
Like insatiable voyeurs, most food writers flit from one restaurant to another and from one food fest to the next. But there comes a rare day when our subject extracts its revenge, and turns the tables on us, refusing to let us be. It happened to me at bonSouth. 
Chef Venkatesh Bhat's restaurant, on 80ft Road Koramangala, is celebrating a Mangalorean food festival.u00a0
Long after the plates were cleared and the burps valiantly smothered, I recollected with a funny kind of dreaminess the crunch of the rava-coated anjaal (seer fish) fry and the velvety creaminess of the Meen Gatti Gassi (where succulent seer fish cubes are cooked with coconut, tamarind, ajwain and red chillies). The chillies are byadige, a variety prized for both bite and colour, and the fish is the catch of the day now that the three-month, pre-monsoon ban on deep-sea fishing is over.
It takes guts to showcase Karnataka food in the heartland of the state, but Venkatesh, with his curly mop of hair that a chef's hat tries hard to discipline, an infectious smile that masks a "Gordon Ramsay-type of temper", and a passion for all food South Indian isn't cowed by challenges.u00a0
Knotty is nice
Sample this: He's spent months mastering a knot in Tamil film star Shivaji Ganesan's kitchen! The dish, for which the knot is essential, was made by the grand old ladies in Shivaji's family. Called 'shunti', it calls for slow-cooking lamb shoulder for 6 hours; shredding it by hand into thin strings; mixing the strings with a mu00e9lange of spices and lentils and shaping it into roundels; tying each roundel with the string of banana stem in a complicated knot, and deep frying the roundels in batches. "When the string is tugged, the knot unravels and the roundel unspools elegantly on the plate," he says.
Not so complicated but equally mesmerising at the Mangalorean food fest is the Meen Uppu Kari (cubes of seer cooked to semi dry perfection with onion, tomatoes, cumin, fenugreek, peppercorns and coconut). Eat this with soft and golden Uppu Puli Dosa for maximum impact.u00a0
Veggies like basale (local spinach), breadfruit and jackfruit and the famous Ananas Menaskai (pineapple in a hot and sweet gravy) give you a taste of what it is like to eat in the home of an Udupi Brahmin, while the Kori Gassi and Pundi Gatti (that defy translation) are what the Bunts usually feast on. Though I hankered for the Hayagriva Maddi (would you believe me if I said I tasted it recently at a Reddy wedding that had caterers from Mangalore?), it was the ghee-dripping Badam Halwa that I got to taste. The only distractions from the steaming food come from the fishpond just outside our window and from the voyeuristic TV cameras that some fresh-faced journos stuck right into our plates, eager to get food shots! Guess that's the price bonSouth pays for its popularity.
At: BonSouth, 80ft Road, Koramangalau00a0
Wallet factor: u00a0Rs 1,000 for two (without alcohol)
On for dinner only till July 12
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