The Permit Room 'Sappad' With A Twist

Idli Sambhar with beer and Kosambari in cocktail—this gastropub turns the notion of what pub grub looks like on its head.

- Akhila Ranganna

Welcome to everything on the southern-half of the subcontinent that you can experience on a plate, along with a drink,” states the website of The Permit Room (TPR). Not even a year old, TPR redefines the traditional notion of what pub grub should be like with its version of Tamilian food, known locally as Sappad. Here, Idli Sambhar is served with beer, Kosambari (moong-dal based salad) is mixed in the cocktail, and curd-rice complements the single malt.

“We wanted to break the perception that South Indian food can’t be cool, and show that it belongs in a pub environment,” says Sibi Venkataraju, one of the four cofounders. Success in the food and beverage space is not alien to Venkataraju and his four friends who set up Toit, one of Bengaluru’s earliest, and now most-popular, microbreweries in 2010.