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DiscoverBangalore is pleased to bring a review on one of the popular Restaurants serving food mainly from our neighbouring state Tamilnadu ... Pongal Cafe.

....Dhivya Subramanian reviews


Pongal Café
In Jeeevan Bhima Nagar

Like every other South Indian I am a big sucker for filter coffee and dosa. At one point I used to think my day couldn’t start without either, but after having lived away from home for long, both have become a delicacy of sorts.

Bangalore as we all know serves food from every corner of the country and all the International delicacies. There are restaurants offering the best in Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Portugese,Continental, Mughalai and almost from all the regions of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarath, Tamilnadu, Rajasthani, Kashmiri types of foods. While one can find a South Indian restaurant that serves Udipi food in almost every corner of the street, there are very few that serve authentic Tamilian food where the sambar is not sweet! Pongal Café is one such place.

If you’re looking for a quite restaurant with a lovely ambiance and a menu card that runs into pages, this surely is not the place for you. Pongal Café is a tiny restaurant on Jeevan Bhima Nagar road, teeming with people at any given time of the day. It is all of a huge room that can seat about 30 people and one should be willing to share a table with anyone. Serving a variety of Dosas and idlies with piping hot onion sambar and wonderful coconut chutney, this place is a treat for all Tamilians and for those who want to taste authentic Tamilian food.

 

The Adai Avial, Podi Onion Uttappam and Idlies are definitely their bests. For those with slightly more adventurous taste buds there are Chilli Mushroom Dosas, Pizza Uttappams and Spring Dosas. The most expensive item on the menu is the meals at Rs. 29.

The place is a huge hit amongst Techies who hail from Tamil Nadu. Most of the conversation revolves around developments in the IT space, new and exciting projects, old projects going live or simply another one of their offshore trysts.

Finding a place in the restaurant could be a hassle, one has to grab a chair as soon as its occupant gets up for there 10 odd people eyeing for the same space. The food is definitely worth the wait. A hearty meal for two could cost anywhere between Rs. 60 to Rs. 100. My friend and I had two rounds of Pongal’s best dosas and finished off dinner with great filter coffee.

The ambiance was that of a college canteen and I did bump into people from my college in Coimbatore. With Rajni music substituting for ambiance music, this place is a true tribute to Tamilian food. To me, the biggest value was their quick service and great food.

‘Pongal’ in Tamil Nadu is both a harvest festival and a popular dish made of dal and rice. Infact the festival derived its name from the dish. On this day Tamilians prepare this auspicious dish in earthen pots and commence the beginning of the festivities when the pot boils over. I still can’t figure out why the restaurant is called Pongal café except probably that it distinctly identifies its Tamil origin. A more fitting interpretation could be that like the Pongal pot the Pongal Café is ever boiling over with its unlimited fleet of loyal customers. The Pongal Café definitely cannot be categorized as a look alike of another Shanthi Sagar.

Pongal Café in a bite

Cost: very affordable

Cleanliness: average
Quality: excellent
Service: excellent
Ambiance: average
Bottomline: Great Tamilian food, cheery ambiance and service that’s as close to home as it can get.

Prabhudoss Samuel, a regular at the Pongal Cafe says with a thumbs up for Quality, Service and Ambiance, " i am a regular at Pongal Cafe and i must say that the food there is indeed excellent. It's a boon for tamilian folk who like to end the day with "tiffin" as we call it. they have an impressive menu of dosa's. i dont know anything about the meals they serve in the afternoons because i've never been there at that time. but Pongal definitely is a nice place for dinner. it's a bit of a struggle to find an empty spot to settle down and eat but the wait is worth it. i've never see the place empty, it's always crowded. if you like authentic south Indian tiffin and sambar that\'s not sweet this is definitely the place for you. it's very conveniently located too. for good food and value for money Pongal definitely is the place."

If you have visited Pongal Cafe recently and would like to comment on its quality of food or anything about the restaurant, please rate this restaurant here

 

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