A soft corner for sweets

Incredible Variety

For those with a passion for sweets, ‘Sri Venkateshwara Sweetmeat Stall’, which has been in the City since  1950s, is a household name.

Situated in Gandhi Bazaar, the eatery recently branched out to Jayanagar 4th Block. The owner, V C Hariprasad, says that the shop was first started by his grandfather in the 1930s in his hometown and later on, when the family moved to the City, they established it here. Since then, the family has maintained the quality and the taste of traditional Karnataka sweets.

The clientele, which includes actors, sportsmen and even politicians, has a soft corner for this sweet meat shop. In fact, Hariprasad remembers late actor Dr Rajkumar buying sweets from here. One you enter the place, you will be spoilt for choice. There are over 135 sweets that you will never know which one to pick.

Hariprasad says that one cannot leave the place without trying the Mysore Pak. “We are known for our Mysore Pak. Unlike most sweet shops, we don’t use any milk softeners. We make the entire sweet out of ghee without any preservatives. The sweet will last for a good two months,” he adds.

Apart from that, most of the dry fruit sweets, damroot, badusha, kulfi and badam milk are a must try. The place also offers an array of mixtures which are manufactured by them.

Having only a sweet stall won’t work these days. That’s why Hariprasad also started a chaat corner, where he provides authentic ‘Delhi chaats’. “I never want to compromise on the taste or quality. That’s why we got chaatwallahs from the north to make them here,” he says.

The rasagulla chaat is the most popular one. This dish is mainly a dahi chaat but the only difference is the base. The base is made out of small rasagullas, without the sugar syrup. So the chaat is not too sweet when you bite into it. The place also offers five kinds of parathas.

“Apart from the potato, cauliflower and radish parathas, we also offer the typical Bihari paratha made out of sattu,” adds Hariprasad. For details, call 22445501.