Giri Manja's

Part 2 of http://cutesmilealways.blogspot.in/2015/08/want-to-try-authentic-mangalorean.html 

Another recommendation goes to Hotel Giri Manja's which is near Car Street. Similar to Hotel Narayana, this was my recent find providing authentic seafood cuisine. The place is not a fine dine types but the food goes on to taste better than what you get from the five stars.

Restaurant Name:

Giri Manja's

Address:

Behind Indian Overseas Bank,

Near Badrai College,

Mukhyaprana Temple Rd,

Bunder,

Mangaluru,

Karnataka 575001

Timings: 11:00 – 3:00 (lunch only) - Sunday Holiday

Average Waiting Time: 10 to 20 Minutes

Cost for 2: 500 (depends on what kind of fish you opt)

Specialty: Sea food

They provide authentic GSB type food along with the season specific fish cuisine. I have tried most of the fish fries here and my all time favorite is the crab roast. The restaurant is a little dificult to find even for a Mangalorean but every Auto driver will know this place and you can always rely on Google Map and this restaurant is listed on Google Map.

What to order:

Like Narayana, this hotel comes which a template of meals (GSB style) which includes Boiled or White rice, fish gravy (mostly sardine curry), pickle, vegetable sabjis or curry. And the fish fries which you have ordered. Pricing and variety of fishes depends on the season. don't forget to try their cocum juice.

These are the 2 restaurants I suggest you not skip while you are on a Mangalore trip. You can refer the following website for best Mangalorean restaurants: http://www.the3hungrymen.com/  

McDonalds Drive Thru @ Kasturba Road

These stones tell you many stories…

After an exhausting evening at Avenue Road, on our way back we stopped at McDonalds at Kasturba Road for a quick bite. Being 10.30 at night we thought McDonalds would be a convenient option. As usual, we grabbed our meals and headed upstairs. The best thing here is the usage of pebbles as part of the restaurant interiors. Whoever gets in here, have something or the other to pen in these pebbles. Their feelings, emotions, friendship, love, fun, illustrations, graphics and so on. You get to read many stories from these pebbles.

Imagination has always been a favorite hobby or pastime for me. It is somewhat interesting observing these pebbles and imagining the stories from the engraved illustrations or names. Some scribble about their emotions to their partners, the depth of friendship with their names engraved in blue, red ballpoint pens or even using a permanent marker. Creative thinkers would scribble or illustrate creative graphics on them. Its like, when you pick each pebble from the box, you get to imagine a story behind that. 
 

At times, I get back to my college days where we used to have such fun when with friends. A couple of year back, I had come to the same McDonalds and my friend had done a portrait on the pebble. I remembered that and I was trying to find that particular pebble. After few minutes search, I found that pebble and I started laughing looking at the pebble. My friend had drawn a girl’s portrait and someone had added a mustache on that. That was funny! Things will not remain the same when you next find them. This is what I thought at that moment.
 

I love to visit this place always, cherishing my memories and creating stories from someone else’s memories.

Here is the link to the pictures taken at the McDonalds drive thru… https://plus.google.com/photos/107767421120953479303/albums/5680325651489142209

P.S: All the images here are copyright protected to Prashant Bhandare. Anyone who wants to publish or use these images for any purpose, please contact the concerned for permission.

When I left Bangalore...

By the time I left Bangalore this time, I hated everything…I hated each and everything in Bangalore. I just wanted to reach back to Mangalore and never return back. In the last three weeks before I left Bangalore all I could hear around me from my loved ones was ‘EAT’, ‘EAT’, ‘EAT’. But ‘EAT’ what??? was my plight. For nearly one month I was not able to eat anything. I was just eating forcibly to keep myself alive.

In these two and half years, ‘Food’ is what made me hate Bangalore so much. This took me to the hospital too. Okay now, here as well, I could hear only one thing ‘EAT’… Sisters come with options we’ll prepare that…we’ll prepare this… Fine, I thought, I’ll eat something and I agreed for Oats porridge. Then, Doctor comes for rounds, asks the sisters what I had for lunch?
Their conversation goes this way:
Dr: What did she have?
Sr: Oats Sir.
Dr: Oats?!?!?!?!
Sr: Oats Porridge sir…(with an accent)
Once he left, sisters were repeating this dialogue so many times. It was fun for them..at first I was also laughing, but then…..

Staying 4 days in hospital I was fed up and lost all my patience on the day of discharge. I was expecting a discharge in the morning which didn’t happen. I just wanted to be back home. I just didn’t want to eat anything there. Sisters came with options again.. Rice ganji, Rava ganji, Oats Porridge, Soup etc etc.. I was fed up with all this. Only option which they didn’t have there was ‘Fruit Juice’. Finally, duty doctor came to pacify me. He was like, what you like to eat, we’ll do that for you. My response was, ‘NOTHING IS NICE HERE’… He was kind of excited with my response. He declared, ‘She doesn’t like to eat anything from this Hospital’, gave a smile and left the room. He didn’t leave me there. He asked the sisters to continue the Dextrose drips and followed by a bottle of multi-vitamin. Quite painful.. but it was better than eating something there at that moment.

Now, I’m home. There’s no ‘EAT’ mantra here ‘coz there’s no aversion in eating here. :) Saddest part is, whenever I’m back home, there was only non-veg food for me. And now, only veggie ghaas phoos. :( That too mom is worried what to cook everyday. I hardly eat hand counts of vegetables. But I eat whatever she cooks.

There are lot of people who come to Bangalore and they like the food there. But not for me. Then, my work which I love is pulling me back there. I’ve to be back for my work. I’ve to eat that food. I have to live there. This time I’ll be back with a change though. I’ll be back with a different view about Bangalore and the food what I’m going to have once I’m back there. :) Its not the best, but it’s not that worst too.