The most iconic restaurant in the southern Indian city of Bangalore is the 92-year-old MTR, or the Mavalli Tiffin Room. It's also the place that many say serves the "world's best dosa", writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey.
To find the origin of this popular dish we take off to MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Rooms), on Lalbagh Road, which is associated with the dish for years.
In all these years, MTR’s aim has been to serve “good food consistently” to customers and for which customers return.
A warm smell hovers in the air — it’s filled with spices that taint the boiling vegetables and grains as they stew to perfection. It is these flavours that make ‘Mavalli Tiffin Room’ the quintessential South Indian diner and an old Bengaluru relic.
Bengaluru dosa and idly specialist restaurant MTR has opened in Dubai. We sent our own dosa specialist to investigate.
They might not be best friends, but they are great business partners and always look out for each other
“Thick, crusty dosas, tangy bisibele bhath and freshly ground ‘filter’ coffee are nearly impossible to find at one place in the city,” says the 39-year-old Vikram Maiya, who craved authentic Karnataka cuisine whenever he visited Dubai.
When Audrey Cunliffe missed MTR’s signature dosa in Singapore, she decided to get the iconic brand to the land of the mer-lion. The author tastes the dainties and says it is almost as good as the big daddy in Lal Bagh.
Carrying on the legacy of this heritage restaurant, formerly the Brahmin's Coffee House, the third generation of Maiyas - progeny of late Harishchandra Maiya - are establishing their second overseas outlet after Singapore in Dubai in a month's time. They are looking at touching 20 outlets overseas including Europe in the next 4 years.