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Halli Mane is the kind of place you might not discover unless you have true-blue Kannadiga friends. The name literally means ‘village house’, and it serves authentic Karnataka cuisine in a simple, authentic ambience. Although it’s not a small place—it seats about 200—you often have to queue for half an hour to get in.
Traditional Karnataka cuisine uses a lot of ragi, and the dishes are often flavoured with cardamom, cinnamon and clove. These are themes you’ll discover at Halli Mane. Try their famous ragi mudde, a rustic ragi dumpling, with sambar and sopina saru, a delicious green vegetable curry flavoured with cinnamon and coconut. Or try the hot, crisp akki rotis, with chutney and gojju. Another favourite is kadubu, a kind of spicy idli served with a spread of chutneys. Round off your meal with obattu, a rich dal-jaggery-cardamom dessert, not unlike pooran poli, or kajjaya, an almost extinct doughnut-like sweet made with jaggery and cardamom. And don’t miss the thampu pani, an unusual but refreshing drink of ragi, green gram, poppy seeds and jaggery. The big mystery, though, is how they ever intend to make a profit at these prices.
