Flavours of the South

From Koramangala to Malleswaram, from a standalone restaurant to just another fine-diner inside a mall is quite a shift. But thankfully, Bon South, the well-known eatery specialising in the cuisines of the South Indian states, has chosen not to do anything drastic with its food.

A niche fronted by a corridor helps cuts off the noise and bustle of the food court at Mantri Square, on the same floor as Bon South. Done in white with large pictures on the walls and deep brown furniture, the ambience itself is soothing.

Bon South belongs to the same company as South Indies, launched by chefs Venkatesh Bhat and Vijay Abhimanyu. But where South Indies is all vegetarian, Bon South also serves non-vegetarian dishes. In keeping with the location and clientele, the restaurant has introduced a prix fixe concept for lunch but I preferred to pick and choose from the menu, zeroing in on my favourites.

I was fascinated by some of the new touches like the elaneer martini (made with tender coconut) and rasam cocktail (a seriously potent mix of spicy rasam and alcohol). As for food, there was kane rava fry (ladyfish encased in a semolina coating and fried, from Mangalore), kodi vepudu (a tangy chicken fry from Andhra), chemeen porichathu (fried prawns from Kerala), chapala pulusu (a fiery fish curry from Andhra), button idlis, mushroom curry, kori gassi (chicken curry in coconut base, from Mangalore) and a piquant brinjal curry from Kerala.

To go with these, I had a multi-grain roti which was so soft it crumbled. I also had appams and neer dosa. For desserts, the menu had payasams from the four South Indian states, but the badam halwa scored over all else.

Bon South, Mantri Square, Sampige Road, Malleswaram, Bangalore (080-22667377)
Meal for two: Rs 1,000+ (without alcohol)
(Anita Rao-Kavi is a Bangalore-based freelance writer)