Kanua

Aaah finally I get to revisit my blog after months or should I say years. Well, its not that I didn’t try places or eat during this period but yes, there were some reasons. Firstly I knew I had to watch my pocket and then my growing waistline…this automatically meant slowing down on hopping to every new joint in town.

Secondly (somehow this seems more important) I was preparing to be a mommy. The first few months were tough considering I could not even stand the smell of food and as the days went by…I could not travel much. So that pretty much sums up my bag of excuses.

I feel guilty for those few places I visited and never wrote about but I knew I had to start somewhere all over again. So here goes!

With pregnancy, along with the doc’s list you have to listen to mum, aunt, grandma, cousin, neighbor and everybody else who seems to be interested in what and where you eat.

I was in two minds deciding between a Kerala joint and a Mangy place. The seafood won over the pepper beef fry and we headed to Kanua for dinner on Saturday night.

It was an occasion where hubby and me managed to sneak out some time for a quiet dinner….candle, romance, open seating et al. Much needed at this time when the romance quotient is rather low. I confess, we did only baby talk at the table.

Coming back…We called in for directions and found the restaurant with ease though it was tucked away in a quiet bylane off Sarjapur Road. Having explored this locality after long, I must say there are quite a few places to try.

Parking is right on the street, no hassles there! Now the tough part, you have to climb two floors to reach the restaurant. For someone like me struggling to walk, this was quite an effort. But as we reached the place, the interiors were welcoming.  The ambience is warm, romantic and reminds you of old homes in Mangalore. A lot of detailing has got into making this place special. The display of utensils, old doors, tools and a tiled roof transport you straight to a bygone era.

The warm interiors

The vegetable corner

Part of the interiors

A large collection of old bottles

The main seating area

A look at the menu and you know that they have charged you for the interiors as well. The menu is not very vast but has everything to give you a perfect Mangalorean culinary experience. Mangalorean food again has delicacies from the Hindu and Catholic communities and Kanua focusses on the former. This was a welcome change for us as we have almost taken Catholic cuisine for granted at home.

Pondering over Chicken and seafood, we picked Chicken ghee roast for starters. A great one here! I didn’t want to risk the portion of fish and opted for this one.  Rich, full of spices and ghee...this one was great. But with 6 pieces for 415 bucks, it was almost like a rip off considering other Mangalorean joints serve the same stuff (very similar in taste) for less than half the price.

Chicken Ghee Roast

Poddhale Podhis

I never pick veggies but this time I did. We chose the Poddhale Podhis. These were roundels of snake gourd stuffed with very mildly spiced mashed potato and deep fried. Quite a surprising dish and the taste was unique and simple. This dish came with a tamarind and onion dip which was good if not great.

Yetti Randhei

Shevai

For main course, I decided to dive into the sea food. Yetti Randhei (prawn curry). This was the highlight of the evening. A thick coconut based gravy, perfectly spiced and extremely tasty. To accompany it we asked for Shevai (vermicelli) and boiled rice. Little did the waiter warn us that the gravy is sufficient only for one. Again for Rs 495, the gravy was too little and the quantity of prawns just ok. We had to pick another gravy.

Motte Saar

Vinod loves eggs so for the first time ever, we ordered for egg curry (Motte Saar) in a restaurant. The gravy again was coconut based with red masala. The gravy was not as special and was more like the one we made at home, may be a little thicker. Again at 295 bucks, definitely not VFM.

The restaurant also has a bar menu but we chose to ignore it. Vinod tried the fresh Lime Soda which was perfect to say the least.

Fresh Lime Soda

We didn’t pick desserts as I am off sugar for a while. The food was very good but I felt it was way over priced. This also could be because I am Mangalorean and cant imagine paying too much for home food.

But yes, for someone who has never tasted coastal cuisine, this could be worth it. I would pay that extra bit for the ambience and the memories it brought.

Note: The pics are not clear, thanks to the dim lighting.

Pay by : Cash and cards

Average meal for two : Rs 2000

Mel’s overall rating : 3.5 out of 5

Location: 6/2, Kaikondrahalli, Near Wipro Headquaters, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore.

Ph:  080 65374471