Top of the food chain

Bengaluru is more than pubs and IT bars. It now aces the franchise dosa game, has great Thai, and serves killer pastries. Is this the most exciting city to eat in?

- VIR SANGHVI

Which Indian city has the least exciting food scene? Surprisingly, the answer is Delhi. Not a lot that is any good happens or opens in the city. And while a lot happens in Gurugram, most of it is far behind say, Mumbai, in terms of quality or innovation. This is sad, because only a decade ago, I was able to confidently claim that the food in Delhi was better than the food in Mumbai. No longer.

But these things change all the time. For many years, I rated Bengaluru as the food capital of India because the restaurants even hotel restaurants were inventive and high quality.

Then, Bengaluru lost itself in pubs. That malaise was transformed into - an obsession with bars. That's changed now, I think.

The tech capital of India has managed to integrate new ideas while serving traditional foods. The best example of this is the Rameshwaram Café. Launched a few years ago by people from tech/ engineering backgrounds, it is the biggest phenomenon on the Bengaluru scene.

I went to one of its original branches a couple of years ago, and it was so crowded that I got my dosas, sat in my car and ate them there. Since then, the mini-chain has expanded using a franchise model. When I went to the Rajajinagar branch, I was startled to see that it was even more jampacked (they serve 10,000 people a day on weekends). There were many standing areas with high tables and a sense that you could escape the crowd.