Culinary Yatras

Culinary Yatras About food during my travels..

The Navalur Haleem Eat-Off – 2026 EditionFor many years now, I have run an annual Haleem Eat-Off — sampling haleem from ...
13/03/2026

The Navalur Haleem Eat-Off – 2026 Edition

For many years now, I have run an annual Haleem Eat-Off — sampling haleem from different outlets around Navalur to see who gets it right that year. In the early days, this used to be a proper field expedition. A few colleagues and I would drive around to different places and taste them fresh at the restaurants. But over the last five or six years, practicality has taken over. The Eat-Off is now mostly conducted through food delivery.

This year, the experiment lasted just two sessions, and given the caloric consequences of haleem consumption.

Last week’s tasting involved two contestants:
* Barbeque Nation
* ITC Master Chef
I always include the ITC Master Chef haleem in the lineup. The reason is simple: I know it will be mild. With my very limited tolerance for chilli heat, I need at least one bowl that I can reliably eat without distress.

Barbeque Nation was actually better than my expectations. Nothing extraordinary, but certainly not disappointing either. A no fuss option for haleem cravings
The ITC haleem, however, seemed a little different this year. It has always been very mild and heavy on ghee, with a thin, porridge-like consistency. But, one change this year is clearly for the better: the saffron is no longer overpowering. Best in mind, though, that the dish is not only mild in chilli heat, but also mild in flavour overall. Even visually, it shows up in the very pale colour of the haleem.

Today’s second round featured three contestants:
* ’s
* Master Chef
*
For me, Paradise represents Hyderabadi food cooked in Andhra-style. With my minimal tolerance for spice, I have never liked anything that they make (even in their Hyderabad original outlet). But I thought Vishnu may tolerate it so why not have it as the third option.

The Paradise haleem was not as fiery as I expected. However, it leaned heavily on garam masala, to the point where the taste of the meat was just a background note. It tastes like a very 'masaledar' curry with a haleem texture.

The absolute surprise of the day — and the clear winner of this year’s Eat-Off — was Abid’s Haleem. It was simply the best haleem I have tasted in a while.
Perfect balance of meatiness and spices, something that works for me - intense flavours without excessive heat. And yes, proper haleem texture with very good packaging.

I had honestly never heard of Abid’s before ordering. A quick check suggested it is a Hyderabadi / Middle Eastern food joint, apparently with an original outlet in Chetpet (though I’m not completely sure about that). Once I saw hints that it specialised in Hyderabadi cuisine, I decided it was worth trying their haleem.
And thankfully I did.

Final Result – Navalur Haleem Eat-Off 2026
🥇 Winner: ’s

[With one caveat: the legendary Pista House Haleem is not available to us via delivery this year — unless I order the packaged version directly from Hyderabad.]

THE LOW CEILING FOR JAPANESE FOOD IN INDIA Located in Bandra West, Izumi is widely regarded as one of Mumbai’s most s...
28/01/2026

THE LOW CEILING FOR JAPANESE FOOD IN INDIA



Located in Bandra West, Izumi is widely regarded as one of Mumbai’s most serious Japanese restaurants, known for its focus on ingredient integrity rather than fusion nautanki. Aamir Khan, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, etc supposedly visit, but since Sachin Tendulkar also is a regular, I stopped my search (I was considering Mizu and Kuura ku as well).

First on pricing – we were two but ate at least for three, so consider this a 2.5K per person kind of place (without drinks). We also ordered more expensive stuff on the menu like chutoro nigiri.

The only disappointing part of the food was the shoyu ramen. Since my son had ordered the shio, I could taste that broth, which was fine. But shoyu was extremely salty – it almost felt like they made shio and then added soy sauce on top. Perfectly boiled egg with jammy yolk, nori, etc. The noodles are thinner than usual, but I had read about it in the review, so was expecting it (and maybe it is one of the varieties in Japan that I hadn't tasted earlier). Couple of months back, I had the same tonkatsu ramen at the NY outlet of , which claims to have invented the tonkatsu ramen. So, I did have a benchmark in mind. (On a side note, how do you de-shell a boiled egg when the only instrument you have are chopsticks, because Ichiran gives the egg in its shell. Mio do you know?

But the low ceiling of Japanese food isn't because of things that we get wrong, but because of how limited we are in things that we get right. If I consider the constraints that this restaurant would be operating in – weekly sourcing of tuna and other imported fish, probably – they don't do that badly. But their chutoro is of a level you would get in an ordinary Tokyo restaurant or a mid-level one in NY. Possible reason is that there would be 100 restaurants buying such stuff, and hence there would be daily supply from Tsukiji and other global fish markets to NY. So, accounting for constraints, 5/5; else, 4/5 which is the ceiling for a Japanese restaurant in India.

COASTAL CURRIES - THE CANARA CHRONICLES (Sampling the best of Mangalore, Udupi and Karwar)If you travel along the East C...
03/01/2026

COASTAL CURRIES - THE CANARA CHRONICLES

(Sampling the best of Mangalore, Udupi and Karwar)

If you travel along the East Coast—through Tamil Nadu, Andhra, or Odisha—the food culture doesn't change drastically when you move from the coastal towns to the interior districts. The transition is indistinguishable.

The West Coast is a different story. Here, the Western Ghats act like a massive wall, separating the coastline from the rest of the state. The moment you descend the Ghats, everything shifts. The food, language, architecture, and mythology of the coast (from Malabar to Canara to Konkan) are completely distinct from the Karnataka interiors just an hour away.

We just spent a week driving and eating from South Canara (Mangalore & Udupi) up to North Canara (Karwar).

Here is the honour list.

The Undisputed : , Mangalore
They are so good that they are the best even for dishes they aren't the flag bearers of. We had planned to eat the ghee roast at Shetty Lunch Home (the place credited with inventing it) later that night. We tried to decline the Prawn Ghee Roast here, but the waiter insisted we try it.
We are so glad we relented! It was rich with ghee, not so spicy, and perfectly roasted masalas. It ended up being much better than the "original" we had later.

Ale Piyao (Ginger-Onion fish Curry) at Machali was the best curry of the trip. We also had a variety of their fish fries:
Anjal Tawa Fry (King Fish / Seer Fish): The gold standard (in quality and price) of tawa fry slices
Disco Fish Masala Fry (Bull's Eye): A fleshy, tasty fish that is a local favorite.
Kane Rava Fry (Lady Fish): The local standard for the rava (semolina) fry.

: Fish Hotel
Maybe our expectations were so high, that we felt it did not live up to the hype. Quality of fish is great at Thimappa, service is good as well, but the quality of cooking is inconsistent. The first tawa fry had properly roasted masala, but when the crowd had become huge, and we had an additional tawa fry order, it felt that fish had barely spent any time on the tawa. Same dish, same meal, 15 mins apart!

I knew they expanded from a small home to a larger space, and now suddenly they have expanded to a space that will put wedding halls to shame. I am not sure that pace of expansion and that scale is manageable easily.

The : Lunch Home
We went here for dinner, excited for the history. Unfortunately, the experience didn't hold up. The room felt a bit like a dingy drinking den of yore, and the service was indifferent. When the large plate of Chicken Ghee Roast arrived, the sauce wasn't bad, but the chicken was sadly undercooked. Forget pulling it apart with a Neer Dosa; even biting through it was a struggle.

As we drove north toward Karwar, the language shifts to Konkani and the food changes character. I had to redo my fish, name in English, best suited fry type, level of bony-ness table with Google Gemini. The Anjal (King Fish) of Mangalore becomes Iswan or Viswon here. The sourcing also seems to change, with some new local varieties appearing on the menu.

The : Lunch Home, Karwar
This place served one of the most sumptuous fish thalis of the entire trip. We stuck to staples like Iswan (King Fish) fry, but we also tried some unique North Canara specialties:
Saundale Fry (Butterfish / False Trevally): A new discovery for us. The meat was soft and buttery, living up to its English name.
Teesrya Vada (Clams/Mussels Cutlet): A fantastic snacking dish with the perfect crunch.
Squid Butter Garlic: Served with Neer Dosa, this was excellent.

The Mixed Bag: Hotel , Karwar
This is a well-known spot in Karwar, but our experience was split.
For Seafood Lovers: It was good. The fish thali was tasty, the fish was incredibly fresh, and the Prawns Butter Garlic hit the spot.
For Vegetarians: A letdown as I had shared the veg options from the show Highway On My Plate (Rocky and Mayur), which highlighted unique Konkani vegetarian options here. Sadly, we didn't find those. They were served standard North Indian fare—the "Cashew Curry" was just cashews in a generic restaurant 'masala' gravy.

Surprise Pick: At Devbagh Beach Resort, we learned a great tip: fresh Bangda (Mackerel) should look plump. If it looks lean or bony, it’s likely frozen. Their Mackerel curry, by the way, was a surprising runner-up to the Ale Piyao at Machali.

Another pleasant surprise was the kori roti at The Mills in Manipal. Their rest of the food was ordinary, but kori roti was really good.

The Final Verdict: Other than times when resort food was the only option, we lived on fish thalis, and don't regret it a bit. It was tough to pack more in - so much so that highly recommended Giri Manja didn't find a place.

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