Legendary Mysore Mylari Dosa Hotel to open in Bengaluru
9-decade-old eatery to expand legacy menu to include North Indian, Chinese fare
Crispy at the centre, soft at the edges, drizzled with ghee and a dollop of butter to top it all: the legendary Mysore Mylari Dosa is finally making its way to Bengaluru.
The 88-year-old Mysuru-based Old Original Vinayaka Mylari Hotel is opening a huge outlet, spread over multiple floors, in Bengaluru later this week. For the uninitiated, Mylari Hotel is one of the favourite eateries among Mysoreans and also a tick-in-the-box item for most tourists, especially foreigners, and even celebrities.
The shop’s current owner, Sachin MC, says he is the fourth-generation family member. ‘’Yes, finally, we are opening our branch in Bengaluru. The trial run is going on, and we will open on January 24,’’ Sachin told The Federal. The tiny eatery was started by Sachin’s great-grandmother, Gowramma, in 1938. A devotee of Lord Mylari (an incarnation of Shiva), Gowramma named the ‘special dosa’ after her favourite god. There was born the Mylari Dosa journey.
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Each dosa is round and folded in half, finished with a generous smear of butter and served alongside sticky white chutney. Add a bit of sagu, it is just heavenly!
In Mysuru, until recently, the eatery operated out of a small, old building where it served its famously soft, melt-in-the-mouth dosas. It has since moved to a new building adjacent to the original site, equipped with modern facilities.
Plans to open outlets in other cities
Despite its cramped space and lack of parking, Mylari Dosa has attained cult status. Spotting the outlet on the busy Nazarbad Road is no easy task, especially amid a cluster of lookalike shops claiming a slice of the Mylari legacy. The mix-up is so severe that even Google Maps gets lost. Adding to the maze, multiple claimants, some from the distant family, assert they are the original. For instance, ‘Mahadeswara Mylari.’
Four generations, one taste. A frame displayed at the Bengaluru Mylari outlet in Bengaluru.
As Bengaluru’s food and hospitality sector booms, the IT city has emerged as an obvious destination for legacy restaurants. Two years ago, Calicut’s iconic Paragon opened its first outlet in Bengaluru, a development first reported by The Federal.
With the feedback and reception we get in Mysuru, we have always wanted to take the next step and spread our wings. In that way, Bengaluru is the obvious choice. We also have plans to open more outlets across the city and later move to other parts of the country,’’ says a nervy Sachin, sitting at the sprawling Mysore Palace-themed restaurant on Indiranagar’s 80 Feet Road.
Bigger city, bigger ambitions.
The Mysuru outlet keeps it simple, with just four items on the menu — dosa, idli, coffee and kashi halwa. In Bengaluru, the offering expands to include diverse thalis, North Indian fare and even Chinese dishes.
The trick is in the batter, and wherever we go, there is no tweaking the basics. In Bengaluru, the batter will be prepared at a central kitchen accessible only to select family members and staff
Deepuraj, operations manager, chips in, “The idea is to cater to every kind of customer. The ground floor, however, will be dedicated exclusively to Mylari dosas. We also have a fine-dining space with a distinct menu.”
Some like dosa's texture, some chutney and some the sagu!
CM Siddaramaiah, a big fan of Mylari dosa
From seating just 20 at the original location, the expanded outlet now accommodates 55, with the Bengaluru branch seating 150-plus people.
Even Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah seems to be a big fan of the dosa. In 2014, after a surprise visit to the eatery, he reminisced with a nostalgic tone, ''I enjoyed breakfast at Hotel Mylari. I can recall my college days in Mysuru. It has been a long time since I had breakfast here. Enjoying such breakfast in hotels is a rare privilege.’’
When Karnataka CM Siddaramiah visited Old Original Vinayaka Mylari Hotel. Photo: Twitter/X/Siddaramiah
From politicians — “almost all leaders in Karnataka have visited us,” they claim — to actors, industrialists and even global chefs, Mylari Dosa has drawn an eclectic following, far beyond local Mysoreans.
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Unlike the thin, crisp dosas popular elsewhere, Mylari dosa is thicker and made from a different batter recipe, a tip the family keeps closely guarded. So what makes it click, and what goes into its making? (Ssssh!)
Sachin adds nonchalantly, ‘’The trick is in the batter, and wherever we go, there is no tweaking the basics. In Bengaluru, the batter will be prepared at a central kitchen accessible only to select family members and staff. Here, the cooks are hand-picked from Mysuru. The entire process is monitored and guided by my mother (Usha Rani).’’
Mother knows best, after all.
