Karavalli: A Gentle Legend

On a star-lit evening, Chef Naren Thimmaya, as iconic as Karavalli, the show-piece restaurant of Bangalore’s Gateway Hotel,  watches a guest take  pictures of  the ambience. He smiles without knowing he is smiling.  He is now an intrinsic part of the  restaurant that has been widely celebrated for its culinary legacy of over two decades for its authenticity and its layered, coastal flavours. In the age of  short-lived culinary trends, Karavalli stands for timelessness.  Thimmaya is somewhat of a gentle legend himself. Always self-effacing and easy going though 22 years in Karavalli, his second home have brought him national and international accolades too.

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 “My first job and I am still here,” he smiles and patiently tries to unravel the secret recipe of Karavalli”s enduring success, “We have never believed in flash-in-the-pan concepts. Karavalli is about the essence of culture, the eternal relevance of  regional, particularly coastal cuisine, understanding the subtle differences between one way of cooking and another. We know it is a commercial establishment  but here we try to revive the warmth of home kitchens and the nostalgia of authentic cooking and comfort food. So many recipes can easily be lost and we are just replenishing tradition here. We are not just about coastal food but communities like the Konkans and the Havyaka Brahmins whose food we researched extensively.”

Over the years, the menu at Karavalli has evolved and now offers many variations ranging from a typical plantain leaf classic meal to tiffin meals to seasonal picks, to ala-carte favourites with just the dinner menu having more than 80 dishes. And now there is a sea-food grill that serves seafood classics like Chemeen Roast, Red Snapper Tawa Fry,  Indian Salmon Recheado, Meen Eleittad and Scampi Kaidina. The latest addition are the wood-fired curries cooked in earthen vessels and vegetarians like me can savour the earthiness of  Kadala Gassi (brown chickpeas cooked with coconut spice roast from South Canara) and Maavinakai Mensukkai (preserved mango curry from the Havyaka community).

For the vegetarians, there are  also starters like coconut and cumin flavoured steamed rice dumplings with mustard and curry powder, coriander tossed masala cashews and fried raw banana tossed in tangy Kerala masala.  And no meal is complete without accompaniments like the Malabar parantha, the melt-in-the-mouth appams, iddiappmas and more. And never leave Karavalli without a mouthful of their signature tamarind ice-cream and the sinful Bebinca.

Traditional tableware and an ambience that recreates a traditional Mangalorean home with a living room, a courtyard and a garden complete a dining experience like no other. It is a bit late now and the ‘living room’ is abuzz with diners. After a recent renovation, its thick walls were punctuated with a series of windows. The furniture has been redesigned for comfort and upholstered in vibrant colours and the old light fixtures have been replaced by custom designed jewel like pieces. But some notes have been retained like the old wood floor, the stately grand-father clock, traditional art work and the antique window frames.  The courtyard was recreated where the thatched area used to be and a  Mangalore tiled, raised roof now shelters this zone.

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Mood lighting fills up the space with a warm glow and French windows bring the outdoors in. A sprawling tree of life mural unifies every design note here. The rather endearingly scattered garden is now rearranged along walking paths. Patches of pebbles have made way for grass. The lotus pond and water fall have been spruced up. around a timbre deck.Authentic kerosene lamps scatter light along the pathways. Memories of fading coastal architecture come flooding back and at Karavalli, time stands still even as it passes.

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And what is the food philosophy of the man who is now known as the soul of  one of the most celebrated Indian restaurants in the world? Thimmaya smiles and says simply, “Honesty.”

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