Keep it simple. Keep it regional. And you’ve got yourself a sumptuous meal that brings regional kitchens together. That was the formula for Vankulpati Vinay, an architect who opened Dakshin Biryani and Tiffin on CMH Road in Indiranagar, as an answer to soul food made they way ajjis and ammas used to make it.
Delicious, authentic and mouth wateringly home-cooked. The swanky, clean lines and easy comfort gives the olden day mess a new sprightly touch to it. And when you get soul food from all corners of South India, it’s just the place for a quick grub and go.
What Vinay has done wonderfully well, is create an indigenous space where Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu platefuls can literally walk side by side on to your table, be it the padu combo that comes with idlis, khara bhath, vadas and paddus and can feed a whole family, or the meal with biryani, a nice chicken or mutton gravy and small katoris of four different gravies that ambles in aromatic. Apt, it hits that special spot reserved for South Indian.
Open at 8 am and going on till midnight, there is something available for the commuter, ready, piping hot and aromatic. Walk out of the Indiranagar metro, at any time, and if hunger pangs are of the essence, then Dakshin Tiffin and Biryani gives you oota, or you can order it to go!
Vinay, who started this place to give a truly South Indian spread to the busy bee peeps of the city, has taken lessons from his mother’s Dharwad connect, the family Andhra connect and namma ooru.
“The recipes used at Dakshin are all home recipes. Our menu has a blend of South, with a typical Kannada breakfast, Andhra style meals, the biryani has Dindigul Tamil touch.
Being an architect, I feel very strongly about the environment, so the thalis are on plantain leaves, and even the parcels are eco-friendly,” says the guy who loves food, and living away from home brought him closer to cooking.
When he was in Australia, Vinay shared a room with a Taj chef, and that ache for regional cuisine and love for food only meant that it was just a matter of time for him to look towards something foodie as an enterprise too.
DB&T also supplies meals to offices, and the small, clean, comfortable and cheery space is already a favourite with many commuters, and even foreigners.
The clean lines, spacious interiors make it a quick walk in, giving the olden day mess a spruced up flavour, with the same home cooked food, be it dosas with mutton curry, or a nice bite of fried chicken or mutton.
There are paniarams, nice hot steaming uppitu, some delicious home style chutney, sada dosa, chow chow bath, bisi bele bath and mutton curry, liver pepper fry etc.
A nice quaint balcony and great prices (a meal for two is Rs 450 or less) have made this the go-to for a quick meal… add an olden day recipe into the mix, and you’ve got yourself some oota for regional thought.
