Food of priests and monks is making its way to the dining table

Have a Weakness for Temple Food? Head to these Eateries

SPIRITUALITY ON A PLATTER
Even five-star hotels serve different international temple cuisines

The food of priests and monks is finding its way to the dining tables of Bengaluru's restaurants.

Temple Meals, a new restaurant in Malleswaram, was inspired by the meals served in the temples of Dakshina Kannada like Dharmasthala and Kukke Subrahmanya. The meals-only restaurant is vegetarian and serves food -minus onion and garlic -on plantain leaves. Its vegetables too are sourced from farmers around Udupi.

“People find it impossible to cook traditional temple-style food due to lack of time. We easily sell 300 meals a day . Ministers and celebrities are queuing up too,“ says its proprietor Ganesh Kumar Padukone. Given its instant popularity, Padukone plans to open another branch in Vijayanagar.

Those who discouraged Aditya Fatehpuria when he opened Sattvam -a satvik restaurant in Sadashiva Nagar -are swallowing their words. Riding on the large migrant population of Marwaris and Gujaratis and the city's Brahmin community , the restaurant -opened in 2013 -has seen a 15-20% year on year growth.

Even five-star hotels are acknowledging the taste for spiritual food. ITC Gardenia, which served an Indian thali on Saturdays, now dishes out different international temple cuisines.

Yogen Datta, executive chef, says, “People want change and devotional meals qualify as experiential dining. Since the theme has found acceptance, we will now look for culinary experiences from other culturally-driven countries like China, Taiwan and Vietnam.“

Content writer and foodie Sheetal C recently went to Japanese eatery Edo for a Buddhist meal. The Shojin Ryori was an 18-dish meal on a single platter, eaten in a certain sequence. For Sheetal, it instantly became “one of her top ten culinary experiences till date“.

Another variety of temple food is the kind served by Higher Taste, located in the premises of the Iskcon temple. The restaurant has `satv-ised' international cuisine.For instance, even Chinese, Italian and Continental food is prepared without onion, garlic and caffeine.What's more, the food once prepared, is not tasted by the chef but offered as `bhoga' to the temple's presiding deity before it is served to guests.