The South-side story

Shopping is not everyone’s cup of tea but eating surely is. So the next time you pass Gopalan Signature Mall on Old Madras Road, go straight to the second floor and treat yourself to a meal at Mr Idli.

While they have a recipe bank of 160 varieties of idlis and 200 types of
dosas up their sleeve, they only keep a handpicked 40 to offer to the
customers. “We intend to change the menu every three-four months so that people don’t get bored and keep coming back to try out other items,” says Mir Dilbar Raza, the owner.

There is a very smart rotation system in the existing menu when it comes to the special idli of the day and one can try a Malabar idli on a Wednesday and return on Friday to give the Tumkur idli a taste.

The same logic is applied to the rice dishes with options varying from the traditional bisi bele bhath to the spicy tamarind rice, each of which costs Rs 75 for a full plate.
“Our dosas are the most fast selling item and we have classified them into four types — regular, special, extra-ordinary and kids, depending on how experimental one wants to be. Another popular item is our version of gobi and chicken 65 – the idli manchurian, which is a part of our Chinese remix snacks range” shares Dilbar.

From a Mumbai open masala dosa and Mysore plain roast to the more adventurous mushroom Szechwan or even the chocolate dosa for kids, every customer is sure to find some flavour that appeals to their taste buds. 

Go with an empty stomach because the meal can be quite heavy on the stomach, be it for the extra ghee in your dosa or the spinach, mint and coriander stuffing of the hara bhara dosa. Though it opened only in April this year, the restaurant boasts of anything between 200-500 customers a day on a weekday and goes up to even 3,000 walk-in customers on a good weekend.

“In my college days, there were no malls. But what I realised when I’d see food courts in the malls of today are that everyone wants a quick, affordable and filling meal. We are providing that experience and giving the customer more variety than they can handle,” adds Dilbar with a smile.

Don’t forget to end a meal with a cup of filter coffee served in the traditional tumbler and dabarah.

Just remember to add as much sugar as you want because they serve it sugarless on popular demand.