The touch of home

The sizzling paddus or aapes, hot dosas and obattus, being made right in front of your eyes, tickle your taste buds and invites you to this place.

Arya Vysya Refreshments is located on one of Bangalore’s old streets, in V V Puram. The eatery was established in 1942.

As one waits for the dish to be made, an old picture of the shop, taken when it was first started, tells you that not much has changed since then. The place is famous for its akki roti, ragi dosa, kayi and bele holige, also known as obattu, kajjaya, kadbu and kodbale.

A very special aspect about this small joint is that till today it has not fallen prey to modern sweetmeats and snacks. It strictly sticks to eatables made in a Kannadiga home.

Dosas are cooked with ghee alone to give it a homely touch. The dosa, which is quite popular, is the rice-stuffed dosa. This dosa comprises a filling of rice and a special masala.

All the dosas made here are layered with chutney pudi unlike other places where chutney is used as an inner layer for the dosa. This place has all the sweets made during the South Indian festivals.

During avarekalu season, almost all the dishes prepared here are made with avarekalu. Snacks like Nippat and Kodbale are also made with avarekalu.

Mani, who owns the place, says that they do not add rave while making idli, only pounded rice.

Mani says, “My father Murugan started this place 68 years back and since then,
we have been serving tasty and healthy food. All our old customers come to us
as they have faith in our cooking. We don’t make any other type of food except those  consumed by the localites. People come from different corners of this city to have our food.”

For all those who are very particular about eating pure vegetarian food, this place is ideal as no non-vegetarian items are made here. Even eggs are not used.

Sujatha, a homemaker says, “I have been coming here for almost six years. I like the rice-stuffed dosa. It’s very nice and I have not eaten something like this anywhere else. During festivals, we buy sweets in bulk from this place as they are just like home-made sweets.”