Maruthi tiffin center Sringeri

 Riding in a 2 lane road is a thrill. Woke up at 5:30 AM & freshened up, did some daily rituals & I was set to travel to Sringeri. I had already hired a Royal Enfield Previous evening. As the watch showed 6 AM, I kick started the bike & went to fuel station to refuel some amount petrol which works as the energy. Throttling towards Hebri, I turned on the spotify in my cell phone to listen to some melodious songs which will distract the sleep & keeps me entertained. After a roller coaster ride in the Agumbe ghats, I finally reached Sringeri around 9:30 AM. 

After taking darshanam of Sharadambe, & other dieties in the premises. It was time to gulp down some breakfast & I was recommended Sri Maruthi tiffin center, which is popularly known as Holla's hotel which is hardly few yards from the main entrance of the Sringeri Sharada peetha. I was recommended by my guru to have my breakfast in this resturant.

It was around 10:45 AM, no hopes regarding what I would even get in this place. I was welcomed by Sri Anand Holla with a broad smile & guided me to wash my legs as well as hands before settling down to have the breakfast. I felt this is a house rather than any restaurant. Here, breakfast is served on plantain leaf & you can either choose to sit on the floor or you will be provided a chair & table.

I opted for the first option, it made me feel as if I am having breakfast in my house. Plantain leaf was given & we have to do some cleaning work by sprinkling some water & wiping it thoroughly so that there is no dirt. Initially I had 2 idly along with a vadé served with chutney and sambar (not mandatory in my case). If idly starts absorbing chutney  or sambar quickly, then the idly batter has some right amount of ingredients in proper ratio. Idly was extremely fluffy & was too fragile that I felt bad when the idly got deformed due to the overgrown nails of my index finger of right hand. By now, most of you guys would have figured out why idly is too famous in this place. On the other hand, vade was extremely crunchy yet soft inside. The ingredients that were hidden in the vade were coconut, pepper, chopped green chillies & a hint of ginger. The first bite of vade sans chutney was delicious & it made me feel that ah! should we really need chutney as an accompaniment in the kutchery called Breakfast. My assumption became wrong once the second bite was on its way to my stomach. The chutney had traces of some chillies, ginger along with the hero called grated coconut & some hint of tamrind which didn't spoil the taste of chutney & it was tempered with mustards, cumin & curry leaves which was bathed in the coconut oil. Now, a game for you guys. How many Idly as well was vade was consumed by me?

The next hero of this place is Poori along with saagu (mixed vegetable curry), Sri Anand Holla won't stock the poori which was fried in the morning. He makes sure that the poori is freshly fried according to the customers need & served piping hot. Initially, I ordered 2 pooris which I thought it's more than enough but the steamy poori which took form from the wheat flour mixed with water & made it into a dough. Which was then rolled into a shape which one could get confused whether the chef is preparing Chapathi or Roti, but our chef makes sure that it takes a holy dip in the oil to get a form called poori which will be served with saagu & savoured by thousands of connoisseur like me.

Saagu was served after the poori was served & the poori was too hot to even break a small piece. I had to wait for few moments before I could have my bite. Saagu had some mix vegetables like potato, beans, carrot, tomato & some capsicum. Note, Onion & garlic is not at all used in this place too. Saagu was a bit spicy, which made me to request Sri Holla to prepare 2 more pooris so that I could savour some more saagu & he readily agreed. Finally I was done with 4 pooris & there's a system in this place. You have take the leaf in which you had savoured the breakfast & throw it in the garbage bin of that place. 

Time to have some malnaadu kaapi & I had a delicious kaapi with absolutely no sugar but had more quantity decoction. While having coffee, I got some moments of conversation with Shri Anand Holla & he asked my whereabouts casually & how I came to know about his place. We had a wonderful conversation about food & music. It was time to pay & the total amount didn't cross Rs200/-.

Now let me share the price of the tiffin items available :

Idly, vade, poori - Rs10/- per piece

Coffee, Tea, Milk & Kashaya - Rs15/-

Time to give the report card :

Taste-9

Ambience - 10, homely feels

Service - 9.5, serves with a broad smile makes you feel that elderly family member of yours is serving you

value for money- 10/10 for this Rs10/- hotel