Kanua???

Well, what does Kanua mean?? I frankly had no idea, till I went to this restaurant.

This one is a concept restaurant situated in Kaikondrahalli, Sarjapur Road. It is the perfect place you want to go, with your parents, spouse, friends or alone... :)

I was taken there first by my friend Mr. "D " and have gone there umpteen number of times afterwards. I have really fallen in love with the place.

After the mad traffic into Sarjapur road, taking the first right after Fabmall and driving through a dirt track you come to this place on the right side of the road, a three storied building near an industrial warehouse. If you go there after sunset, this place has a eerie look to it. The restaurant is located on the second floor and you have to climb through a wooden staircase.

The first thing you notice when you start to climb the stairs is a board which says something like " Dear Patrons, children below 12 years will not be allowed after 6pm Thursday onwards...." (I must say I have seen a lot of kids coming to this place though, along with their parents).

The walls are only half height and if you get to sit at the side (which is most of them, except for the huge tables in the centre), you’ll have a cool breeze to keep you company. The lighting is muted and there are candles on every table. The music is soft and not too loud. Pleasant and soothing! I never had that kind of feeling before in a restaurant, the eating area is without walls and the décor is definitely what I remember from my childhood in my village. The doors open into two, there is woodwork everywhere and the tables and chairs too are from age old days (I mean only look-wise).

The menu card will definitely amuse you; it is like an old book with stamps in every page. Do not mistake them for stamps as they are the specials!! The menu describes to you what the various highly confusing and tongue-twisting names are so that you are not lost. Also the waiting staffs are very cordial and very helpful.

Alcohol is not served in this place, though regulars like us take a small bottle with us and give it to be served. Also it does not have aerated drinks there. There are quite a few beverages that will blow you off. There is sugarcane juice, lemon with mint iced tea so on and so forth, but trust me they all taste pleasantly different.

There is a wide range of starters in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. I would recommendpodhies, try both the flavors, podhale podhies, made of snake gourd and normal podhies made of sweet potato and/or yam. Then there is Soorna Kachri (sliced yam fries, with tangy tamarind chutney dip). If you are a non-vegetarian, try the fish and the chicken all of them are too good. Sasve chicken and ghee roast deserve a special mention.

For main course I recommend Zalke Randhei (excellent seer fish in semi thick gravy) and Soorna Paachi. With the gravy you can select from rice, panpole or tava roti. Kanua serves two varieties of rice - the standard Basmati type and boiled. I personally love the neer-dosas there. It is simply mind blowing.

Almost all the portions are large and many a times I have ended up parceling the curries back home. The parcel is done in plastic containers, but the carry bag is not plastic, it is made of old newspapers. J

The best part is that there are no artificial colors or chemicals used in any of the preparations. All the things that I have eaten there (which by now is the entire menu card), I have enjoyed and it is good on the palette too. Now coming to the wallet part, it is not a place where only filthy rich can go. Compared to the other sea-food places in MG or Koramangala, this one is pretty decent. An above average meal with five to six starters and main course for three with four to five coolers should cost around Rs.2000/-.

If you drop in the evening and stay on till 9pm you might even bump into Mr. Rajesh, who actually is the owner and he’ll enthrall you with his stories as to what he does and how he came upon the idea of Kanua. A very nice and charming person!!

He mentioned that he has started another restaurant “EGG FACTORY” at White House, St. Marks road. That again is a concept place and has lots of dishes with eggs, right from breakfast to dinner. I forgot to mention that at Kanua you do not get breakfast and it is closed on Mondays.

Now what exactly is Kanua, I believe it means par-boiled brown rice, kind of a lost flavor of rice from south canara….