Native Mysurians still have confusion which is the original Mylari hotel!
Oho! Did I just reveal the name of the institution? What a human I am! Anyway let's time travel to May 2022.
After a long drive from Chennai to Mysore which is about 8.5 to 9 hours we checked in to the holiday home's family suite which was pre-booked. The holiday home is maintained by CPWD or central public works department & the preference for allotment of rooms are for Central government officials & their immediate family. So, being a brat of Central government officer I will be having few more months to enjoy these perks!
Next day, I was waiting for the watch to display 9 AM so that I can meet my friends who are musicians based out in Mysuru & they are also percussionists. We had been mutually sharing some food reels during the lockdown due to the pandemic & we had decided to taste the saagu masalé dosé here in Mylari hotel.
Welcome my dearest friends Nandan and Shamith. Nandan was the one who told about the glorious history of this institution even though I was aware of this institution through my foodie guruji Mr.Kripal Amanna, who gave the visual treat of the greatness of this small restaurant.
Now, there is a small change in the place. We decided not to visit the Vinayaka Mylari which is in Nazarbad, Mysore. But, we decided to meet in this particular Mylari which is located in the area called Agrahara. Anyway I was waiting to play the test match in the form of gulping down these saagu masalé dosé.
We placed our order for a serving of 2 idlis along with chutney and saagu. Many resturants don't serve saagu with idli, this restaurant is an exception & you don't get Sambhar. We got our first serving of idlis along with chutney and saagu. The idly was topped with a dallop of butter which is the taste enhancer for that piping hot idly which was scrapped out of the moulds, which was steamed for few minutes in the steamer. The idly was extremely fragile & fluffy that it has to carefully handled. Rough handling of idly leads to deformation 🤣.
The butter was royally spread on the 2 idlis and the very first bite of idli along with chutney. Ah! You can just visualise the reaction of Mr. Kripal Ji's reaction when he tastes good food. That was my reaction. The idly being too soft, it started melting in my mouth & the chutney which has coconut as the main ingredient & green chillies as the spicing agent. There were traces of garlic too. Time to dunk a piece of idly in that saagu. Saagu was a very simple yet spicy & delicious accompanist for idly. Saagu had primarily onion, potato, garlic & some other veggies. Saagu was a spicy dish which was balanced when we had it with idly.
Time to order some OG saagu masalé dosé ft.Mylari style! Initially I was reluctant to have 2 dosés, i was convinced by these amigos of mine that "you won't even realise that you had 2 masalé dosés". True to their words these masalé dosés were smaller in size filled with saagu in the inner part of the dose. Gently roasted with extra amount of oil & later topped with butter!
When I got my first set of saagu masalé dosé, I was pretty curious about the exciting aroma of the dosé. I came to know that they refrain using the LPG & other fuels for cooking these OG saagu masalé dosé. But, they are still dependent on the firewood or soude olé. What more can you expect from the dosé which was gently roasted on the tava which was placed on the stove which is still using the firewood!
Now you guys will be getting the answer regarding why I christened this blog as OG saagu masalé dosé in Mysuru! The dose being not too extra crispy like the one which you get in many of the darshinis or restaurant, still you could feel that homely yet heavenly taste! Let me just bring the Mysurian Mr. Raghu Dixit sir in the scene. Dear Raghu sir, I have a doubt.. Did you compose the song "TelaDuta.. I am falling in love" while having this Dosé?
Yes.. you guys will definitely start singing the song as soon as you have your first bite.
On the other we were gossiping here & there still my mind was here enjoying the masale. I was ready for the second round of another 2 masalé dosés & sing "TelaDuta.... I am falling in love".
Once we had the 4 saagu masale dosés, it was time to flush out the excess fat in the tongue by drinking a glass of straang kaapi sans sugar! One thing about this restaurant is, it's not too pricy. Secondly, don't dare to visit during weekends because you might end up waiting for a longer time.
Honestly I am remembering the prices but I can definitely share the report card for this restaurant.
Taste - 9.5
Ambience - 10
Service - very quick 10
Value for money - 9
As you all see the report card is according to my experience in this restaurant. I request you all to visit this restaurant and savour some saagu masale dosé & those fluffy idlis along with that spicy saagu!
Take care & happy eating.
