Taaza Thindi, 1004, 26th Main Rd, Jayanagar 4T Block, tel: +91 80409 12277

Anju’s Cafe

Nestled in Bangalore’s theatre capital, Ranga Shankara, Anju’s Cafe is open, airy and inviting. Among its multicultural menu akki rotti stands out. The rice flour bread is topped with minced onions, green chillies, finely chopped dill and coriander. It is delectably brittle and comes with chutneys, both dry and wet.

36/2, 8th Cross, 23rd Main, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore, 560078, tel: +91 98450 36605

Vaathsalya Millet Cafe

This is a cosy little nook decorated in warm, earthy tones, where the conscientious come for their health-food fix. Ragi malt, millet meals, millet upma (a preparation similar to grits), khichdi (a one-pot meal with millet, vegetables and lentils) and baragu payasa (a milk-based dessert with proso millet) are just some of the dishes they serve here.

Finger millet, or ragi, is much more than a grain in Karnataka. For ages, women here have indulged ceremoniously in a ragi preparation ritual: singing while soaking, washing and drying out ragi kernels on open terraces under the summer sun, before grinding them into a fine powder. Ragi an integral part of the cultural fabric of the state. It is typically popped and ground, to be used in the making of healthy porridges and malts; ragi flour is kneaded and toasted into flat bread or ragi rotti; or cooked to a pasty consistency and turned into a salty, sticky ball – ragi mudde, commonly known as the food of peasants and farmers, being easily affordable and nutritious.

277, 15th Cross, Outer Ring Road, KR Layout, JP Nagar Phase 5, JP Nagar, Bangalore 560078, tel: +91 94490 64494

Most of the breakfast dishes listed above are native to the Bangalore-Mysore-Malnad areas of Karnataka. Ingredients include green chillies, coconut, asafetida, cardamom, curry leaves, coriander leaves and a trio of seasonings – mustard, cumin and turmeric – that are found on top of most savoury dishes.

In the coastal areas there are many other vegetarian treats, like pathrode (rice flour, coconut and spices, rolled and steamed in colocasia leaves) and pattholi (made with rice flour, coconut and jaggery, stuffed into turmeric leaves and steamed). These can be eaten as snacks or fillers, at any given time of the day.

Mangalore Stores

There are scores of Mangalore Stores around Bangalore selling puffed rice laddoos (jaggery-sweetened balls), to jackfruit fryums (popularly known as papads, which are deep-fried). It’s also a great place to stock up on pathrode, steamed rice noodles, condiments and crunchy snacks.

Kamat Swaad

In North Karnataka, the average midday meal is a feast. You’ll immediately notice the escalation of the spice and heat and the distinctive flavours and textures.

Kamat Swaad in JP Nagar is one of many Kamat hotels around the city that serves a delightful North Karnataka meal. There are at least three types of chutney on the table, which you can eat with hot white rice and a generous serving of ghee. Or, you can just dip into them with soft jowar bread, a staple in North Karnataka.

A regular North Karnataka meal has jowar bread or jolada rotti, brinjal (eggplant) curry in a peanut and garlic gravy, lentil goulash or usli, mixed greens curry, chutneys, a salad made from crisp fenugreek leaves and pearl onion stems, papad, chilli bajji (a light green chilli dipped in chickpea-flour batter and deep-fried), rice, rasam (a tomato and tamarind soup), sambar (a lentil-based curry), and yogurt. The only way to finisha meal this large is togo light on breakfast.

Kamat Swaad also serves some coastal favourites, like Mangalore buns – deep-fried banana and flour bread.

Since jowar (sorghum) is gluten-free, the dough is not nearly as pliable as that of wheat-based breads. Jowar bread is difficult to make, the kneading of the dough is just as crucial as transferring the little balls of dough to the hot skillet in one piece without any tears or jagged edges.

Shop 759, 8th Main Road, opposite Shaneshwara Temple, 3rd Phase, JP Nagar, Bangalore 560078, tel: +91 99452 43543

Avarekai Mela

Avarekai, or hyacinth bean, is a seasonal crop in Karnataka, and is typically harvested in January. Bangalore hosts a festival dedicated to this versatile bean every year, with stalls serving more than 40 avarekai-based sweet and savoury dishes from rice bread (akki rotti) to sizzling sweet jalebis – deep-fried floury pretzels dipped in sugar syrup. The place gets crowded as the day goes on, and the best time to get there is before noon.

You can also buy fresh avarekai at the festival, shelled as well as hulled.