Tuck into some delicious meal

Crispy eats

The popularity of the eatery can be judged by the large customer base it enjoys. The 32-year-old eatery has an array of delicious South Indian breakfast items and meals to choose from. However, for Ramachandra Upadhya, the owner of the hotel, this popularity has not mattered even for a single minute.

In 1967, he started an eatery called Meenakshi Bhavan in Shivajinagar but as he had no prior experience of running a hotel, the business incurred a loss.  Then he started Poornima Restaurant.

“When I chose this location for hotel business, many people laughed at my decision. During those times, it was an isolated place without much population except for the burial ground. But my hard work didn’t go in vain. The Udupi style culinary skills and reputation for using ingredients of the highest quality soon brought me customers. And the hotel became so popular that sometimes we had to run the hotel with the half-closed door to control the crowd,” says Ramachandra.

Tirupati style dry Pongal with lesser quantity of black pepper is the signature dish of this eatery.

Evening snacks, especially the Bonda Soup, has its own takers. There are three varieties of meals available during lunch time – mini meals, mane meals and maduve meals – as Ramachandra likes to call. Along with serving delicious food, the eatery also cares for its customer’s health.

“The regular use of asafoetida, garlic, ginger and curry leaves ensure good health as they are medicinal herbs. So, everyday we use them liberally. We also provide healthy ragi rotti and akki rotti. I always tell my workers to serve the food with a pinch of ‘love’, so that the customers can feel they are eating at home,” says Ramachandra.

The hotel opens at 6.30 in the morning and operates till 9 in the night. Rava idli, rava dosa, urad vada, and rice items are the fast moving items in the hotel.

“We often come here to taste the crispy rava dosas. Savouring hot Pongal with aromatic coconut chutney is a different experience.

On special occasions, they make a special item called Jackpot Masala and for the 50th Independence Day celebrations, they made a three-coloured dosa called Independence Dosa which was a big hit,” says Raghu, one of the regular customers.