(By Jayaprakash)
History – 5/5 Taste – 5/5, Service – 3/5, Ambience –
3/5, Value for money – 4/5
Great History: I wanted to find out the origins of Mylari dosa and what is the history behind it. I am always intrigued by history of food, any great food is always associated with great history and goes through test of time before gaining legendary status. Mylari dosa is one such dish. For any Dosa fan, Mylari dosa is kind of legend. There has always been the question as to which is the original Mylari. I did bit of my research and following is the summary of my findings. To clarify, there are actually two Mylari hotels in Mysore. One goes by Hotel Mylari and other is called Original Vinayaka Mylari. Both claim to be the original Mylari dosa points and that there are no branches.
Mylari hotel is supposed have 80 years of history. It seems the world famous Mysore Masala dosa has its origins from this
place. Hotel Original Vinayaka Mylari’s owner Mr. Chandrashekar says this hotel
was started by his grandmother and he is continuing its legacy.
Hotel Mylari, Old Original Mylari’s owner Mr. N Rajashekar
says, his father N Mylareshwara Swamy started Mylari hotel about 80 years ago
and he was original inventor of Mylari dosa recipe. It seems both are brothers.
The dosa recipe has been family guarded secret for over 80 years now. The place
is also known to be frequented by celebrities & politicians. My research is
based on the literature survey of articles, media report and videos published
so far, enclosed in the references section. I have not personally interviewed the current
owners. Would like to do so in future. If any readers have more details about
history, please feel free to comment on my blog with reference. I would be
happy to make revisions. This non-descript place has had its fair share of
media attention, it has got mention in BBC, NDTV, India mirror, Deccan herald
etc. It is highly rated in zomato and TripAdvisor. Original Vinayaka Mylari has higher rating compared
to Hotel Mylari.
Taste: They serve
only Masala dosa, Idli and filter coffee. There is no menu card. I had been to
Hotel Mylari earlier and this time I wanted to try the Vinayaka mylari. I had
my mum and dad with me. All of us ordered Masala dosa in our first round,
Masala dosa served here is very different from the Masala dosa that we are so
used to with red chutney, aloo palya. Here Masala dosa is served folded with
vegetable sagu inside, with a daloop of butter on the top, alongside coconut
chutney. The dosa is crisp on outside and soft on inside, it just melts in your
mouth. You just cannot stop at one, we ordered another round of dosa for myself
& dad and Idli for my mum. Idli is fine as well, but dosa is the king.
Finally we finished our breakfast with filter coffee. I could see that they
cook on wood fire, I guess this could one another reason for the authentic
taste. Wood fire with its smoky flavour is always known to enhance flavour of
food in its own unique ways.
Service: Food service
is quick, there would be one guy asking around for order and pat comes the
dosas. This place does not have a proper rest room, we were asked to go
upstairs behind the hotel which is actually house attached to the restaurant.
Hand wash is a small basin inside the kitchen. The place does not score very high
on hygiene and cleanliness.
Ambience: Not much of ambience, it is small place which can
seat about 20 people at any time.
Value for money: Each dosa cost about Rs. 40,
our final bill was about Rs. 300 which is real value for money for decent
breakfast.
Final verdict: This is much visit place
for any Dosa lovers. I highly recommend for any dosa lover and even for not
dosa lover to get converted into one from here. However owners could do bit
more to improve the hygiene and cleanliness. Coming to who is original Mylari,
I have tried both the places. In terms of food taste, they both are same.
Considering both belong to same family, you can try either and claim to have
had mylari dosa. It is norm to tell people that we had mylari dosa at Mysore.
Happy dosa eating, while I find another restaurant with great history to blog
about.
References:
Videos:
