Delhipost
talk|21 mar 2013|talkmag.in
Malleswaram dosa for Rahul Gandhi
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BASTI DINESH SHENOY
A little eatery is turning netas of the national capital into connoisseurs of Kannada cuisine
hen you are in Delhi, check out this little eatery. Rahul Gandhi, reluctant 'PM in waiting', goes there every now and then to tuck into his favourite ragi dosa. It is here that Arun Jaitely, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, savours piping hot rava idli and paddu. Other regular guests are the families of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit, BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli, Rahul Gandhi's prinicipal advisor Kanishka Singh, and corporate leader and author Gurcharan Das. Carnatic Cafe, located on the ground floor of a mall in the posh New Friends Colony Market, is becoming a hangout for the rich and the famous. It is perhaps the only Mysore cuisine restaurant in north India, and is owned and managed by an unassuming 31-year-old man from Bangalore called Pavan Jambagi. Contrary to what most people think, Pavan has no Udupi restaurant background. Pavan's father Dr Prakash is a popular physician in Malleswaram.
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DP Satish Senior editor with CNN-IBN. He is passionate about everything
After studying at Sainik School in Bijapur, Pavan chose to take up business management, and did a BBM from C h r i s t University, Pavan Jambagi Bangalore. Later he went to Mumbai University to pursue his MA in anthropology, and worked with brand guru Santosh Desai in that city for four years before switching to the restaurant business. Carnatic CafĂŠ serves the Old Mysore cuisine Pavan loves. "This is the stuff Kannadigas of Mysore and Bangalore eat at home," as he explains. After marrying Shilpi Bhargava, a Hindi-speaking girl from Uttar Pradesh, he moved to Delhi in 2008. Here he saw an opportunity in the ever-growing food business. Shilpi holds a senior position at Dunkin Donuts and helps him on weekends. Pavan started Carnatic Cafe in April 2012. Footfalls increased after
a month. He serves a meal with kootu, gojju, chitranna, palya, anna, saaru, majjige and mosaranna. The snack menu offers at least a dozen varieties of dosa. Pavan has introduced the Malleswaram 18th Cross dosa, named after the street where he was born and brought up. I would also recommend the crisp mandakki dosa. His ragi dosa is a hit. Among his other Mysore specialities are akki rotti, uppittu, kesari bath, Maddur vada, mosaru kodubale, ambode and curd vada. Time Out Delhi describes his filter coffee as the best available in all of North India. Pictures from different parts of Karnataka adorn the walls of Carnatic Cafe. All his employees, except two, are from Karnataka. He puts even experienced workers through some training before they start working here. Pavan is an expert cook; he inherited his culinary skills from his mother Prema. "She taught me the secrets of grinding the masalas," he says, when I ask how he stands out in Delhi's restaurant business. "Mysore cuisine
is rich in coconut, mustard, jaggery and hing, and if you know how to blend them, you can get many dishes right." Pavan grew up observing Madhwa Brahmin rituals at Bangalore's ancient Uttaradi Mutt. He then volunteered as a cook at the mutt to learn new techniques. For experience, he worked for many years as a cook for a group of Raghavendra Swami devotees who go to Mantralaya by foot every year. He travelled along with them. He now wants to organise Carnatic and bhavageete concerts in Delhi. "I want discerning people to savour our traditional food while they enjoy our music," he says. Pavan has no plans of expanding his business now. "For me, success in business is secondary. My primary goal is making this restaurant a landmark. This should become the first and last stop for lovers of Old Mysore food," he says. Carnatic Cafe is at: Ground Floor, India Mall, New Friends Colony Community Centre, Near Hotel Suryaa, New Delhi. Phone: 011 4100 8630