For the taste of Tanjore

Making food that tastes like home and serving food that makes you feel you're back home - the toughest part of making good food is to keep it simple yet taste both authentic and fantastic. Hotel Annapoorani in Ulsoor proves it can be done and you go away convinced - 'This is it!'
There are no pizzas, grilled sandwiches , salads or chaats here. Even the brown gobi manchurian it serves is not what they would like you to have.What rules the tables here is the traditional Tanjore and South Indian cuisines - be it the steamy hot pongal served with vattal kozhambu, the ada-avial combo, rice sevai or even the Karnataka roti lunch packed with the three ruling rotis of the state - jolada roti, akki roti and ragi roti, served with traditional gravies.
The lunch menu on weekdays comes in two packages - one the traditional menu of chapatti, gravy and dry curry, the other the Karnataka roti lunch and a cup of curd rice, a favourite of many.
Weekend lunches are nothing less than a wedding feast. Ricebased , you get to taste right from the mixed rice to mor kozhambu and vada-payasam - all served on green plantain leaf. "Ever since we started Annapoorani, there has not been a single dull weekend,'' says Karthik Mouli, MD, Moulis Catering, which also runs the hotel.
The kitchen fires were lit in 2004. The hotel has a single serving hall with a capacity to serve 60 at a time. Seated inside, relishing food and the traditional Carnatic music, you also get to savour some neighbourhood talk across the table among regulars - quite an ambience that makes for an extended dining room for many.
Many like Saroj and Jayanti Raghavendran don't hesitate travelling from Kammanahalli and Domlur . According to Karthik, many customers also take a keen initiative in continuous improvement. While chaat stalls had been avoided to maintain authenticity, a few like setting up sweet stalls are being considered . Very soon, they will be extending their footprint to Malleswaram, Jayanagar and Whitefield. Five regular cus tomers are even helping identify suitable locations, such is their involvement with the restaurant.
The success so far seems phenomenal considering that it all started with just six lunch dabbas to a software company in 1987. Karthick owes much of this success to his parents, the late Chandramouli and Thulasi Mouli. "What started as a small business mortgaging my mother's jewels for Rs 5,000 is now a small industry with a hotel, catering service, event management firm and even services for total marriage management - from printing wedding cards to honeymoon packages. Many workers have been with us since the early days," he says.
Much of the success has also been without the use of soda, too much ghee, ajino moto and even cold storage - even if it means cooking a cuisine predominantly dominated by coconut, milk and curd. Everything here is hand rolled and homemade . Almost 2,000 square feet of the central kitchen area (for both the catering service and the hotel) are occupied for the various rotis or Indian breads. It's strict menu and timing even at a time of high competition . But given its premium on excellence, that doesn't deter loyal customers.
TRADITIONAL FARE
Hotel Annapoorani, Sai Baba Mandir Road, Ulsoor Contact: 42036008 Open from 11.30 am to 3.30 pm (lunch only); from 7 pm to 10.30 pm for dinner and a la carte (assorted dishes).
Top Sellers
Murunga keera ada Akki roti Idi aapam with vegetable stew Selection of dosas Weekend lunches
TASTY BITES
We visited the place recently and my elderly mother is already insisting on eating here again.
Jayanti Raghavendran
This is the first time I am eating here. I must say, I really liked the taste. Not so spicy and very traditional.
Saroj