Ever since the Bangalore – Mysore Expressway has been opened, we have been up and down the road quite a bit. And Mysore has become that relaxing weekend getaway for us with our toddler. In 3 hours we are comfortably settled in a hotel, refresh and off we go to a lake for a walk and land up in cafes for a feast. Mysore still has the old Bangalore charm, with canopy of trees, old style buildings, lakes and parks. People walking about with absolute no rush is truly a sight for the sore eyes.
And though we still have a list of places to visit, here are some tried and tested cafes. Will update this one as we experience more of the gluttony.
Vinayaka Mylari Dosa
Vinayaka Mylari Dosa is like the Vidyarthi Bhavan or CTR dose of Bengaluru. You have to go there, have a dosa and tell people that you have been there. Or else people would call it a sin, to have been to Mysore but not to Mylari. And I believe that is how Vinayaka Mylari Dosa has also been banking on its popularity. I am not really a fan of their dosa. It starts like Davangere Benne dosa, nice soft yet crispy. But then it has a centre filled with soggy sagu. I couldn’t make out if it was all only onion or had something like bottle gourd in it. Anyways. It was bland and made the dosa experience disappointing. Their white coconut chutney was the best though.
It is overall an experience to hunt for their tiny old restaurant than treating your taste buds.
The Old House
For the modern day food and contemporary setting. What I loved about this place was not just the food but their hospitality. As I walked in on a tired evening with my toddler dropping over my shoulder, they did not hesitate for a moment to give us a seat. And from then on everything they did to accommodate us and our toddler was just exceptional.
The food was super good too. They are one of the very few cafes in Mysore that open for the breakfast and remain open till late night for dinner. The Old house Mysore menu is mostly handmade pizzas, sandwiches, pasta and drinks. The mocktails were interesting. But as recommended by everyone in the google review, we went on to order the handmade pizzas and we gobbled them up even before I could get a picture.
Though The Old House had quite a section for pastries. people were all over their gelato! Even while we were having lunch at SAPA, the table next to us was a group of youngsters who got up and announced, “next up, gelato at the Old House”.
Annavilasam Mysore
I think Annavilasam Mysore is spoken about so less. None of the blogs or reels call out for Annavilasam, We were driving up and down this road looking for The Sorrento, saw this beautiful house and decided to turn up here for lunch. And am so glad we did it. The Annavilasam is another beautiful old vintage house converted into a restaurant. The rooms, courtyard, charming windows, coloured glasses, everything preserved and added to it are traditional vessels as decor.
Annavilasam has two branches, one is pure veg and this one in a vintage home is non veg. Try their non veg meals, Kori roti chicken, seer fish fry, prawn ghee roast and biriyani. There is absolutely nothing vegetarian that I tried here.
Their pure veg branch is located a bit on the outer Mysore. This was good too. We dined for dinner, Had some tandoori roti, mushroom gravy, paneer tikka and it all tasted just right. Nothing heavy on cream or butter to mask. Would like to try their dosas sometime.
Hotel Hanumanthu Palav
Hotel Hanumanthu original is what you should search for. This is not a toddler friendly place. I went here many years ago and it is super difficult to look up in google maps now. There are at least a dozen of Hanumanthu palav now. The original small one is inside a market, difficult for cars to navigate, a taxi can drop you max. You have to get token on one side, and there is another room we sit for the palav. Pulao may not be the right way to call it 🙂 Palav it is.
Ordered mutton pulav and some liver masala by the side. All my senses were hit with flavours. I love non veg pulavs anyday than biriyani. They have the clear meat flavour on the rice along with mild spice hit. and if that spice is not enough, the masala from the liver is always enough to spice it up. Uff, this one is truly an experience. The copious amount of mutton palav served on the donne leaf that adds on to the flavour, all of it is still lingering in my thoughts!
SAPA Sourdough & Pastry
We have tried getting here a spot couple of times and the rush always turns us away. This time we were promptly there at 12pm, and still had a waiting time of 1 hour. It was totally worth it. Just hang around for a seat, all the hype about this place is completely true. Mysore has plenty of vintage places converted to cafes I guess. So this is one such too. But the food, uff
The first thing you have to buy here is a good sourdough sandwich. As their cafe name suggests they make a good sourdough bread. One of a kind that is not extremely chewy. I think this is the first time I liked a sourdough. We got some pasta, burger, drinks and desert. Their fries are out of the world. Got me thinking are they adding something to the oil or is it a different variety of potatoes! What is itttt? Gobbled up so much of those fries. Their fried chicken burger was delicious with a sauce that had a serious kick in it. And yes, they are known for their pastries. We tried their choux pastry, it was all lite and filled with dreamy creamy. Anyways, can’t wait for the next Mysore trip to hit Sapa again. Too many stuff in their menu that am yet to try.
The Sorrento
This is also a pizza pasta place but there are some twists in their menu. This is also a house turned cafe. Geez, Mysuru housessss. Coming back to their menu. Their appetisers are indeed different. We had their sweet potato with hummus which was a good combination that I thought it would be. They have some fresh salad options and Spanish twists in their main course. I liked this place just for their variety. We also had some thin crust pizzas which was good. This place also gets crowded like the rest. So book your place if you need some good food.
Poojari’s Fish Land
This one we frequent while on the Mysuru Bengaluru expressway. Just about when you get out of Mysore, the first stop seems to be the Poojari’s fish land. Last time around we were surprised to see it inside Mysore. Not many are a fan of it cos lot of fish fries happen here and the smell of alcohol along with fish is not everyone’s cup of alcohol/tea. The city branch felt different. We ordered our usual here, fish pulimanchi and neer dosa. We keep folding the neer dosa like a handkerchief and stuff our mouth with pulimanchi fish. Their anjal fry is our favourite too. The good part is, the food keeps coming in so quick that this is not your regular cafe to sit and relax. This one is for the hungry soul to eat and move on.
Where to have Mysore Pak in Mysore?
Million dollar question isn’t it. And I found it in one of the most unexpected places recently. I have stopped at million times at the Mahalakshmi outlets to just get some hot hot hot ones. I love them. Most of the time they have the most ghee dripping Mysore pak ever. The other that everyone frequents is the Guru Sweets. It is said that they were one of the firsts to make Mysore pak, so people do flock Guru sweets. Recent to the addition is “World of Mysore Pak”. It is on the way to Chamundi hills and the amount of tourists flocking here is truly insane. They also seem to have a variety of chocolates, so the crowd seems to be justified. Well I got to taste Mysore Pak at the Payana car museum! They make it fresh, you get to see them and have one right when it comes out all hot hot.
But what is Mysore doing to Mysore pak? Special Mysore pak, original Mysore pak, mango Mysore pak, jackfruit Mysore pak, horlicks Mysore pak, boost Mysore pak, chocolate Mysore pak, milk Mysore pak, like leave it alone!! Poor thing has lost its originality completely with all the confusion. This is where I feel Mahalakshmi sweets is better. Not too much confusion and you get the hot hot Mysore pak. Love it.
Places I have had food but not written in detail goes here. Ibis – the verandah. We have stayed at Ibis Styles Mysore quite a few times and had food there as well. Not a great fan of their breakfast but their appetisers, biriyani, phulka and food are good in general. Other place is the restaurant at Royal Orchid Metropole. It is truly a fine dinging experience there. A cosy dinner here is something special.
Mysore also has all the restaurants that Bangalore has like Fisherman’s wharf, Empire, Barbecue nation, Gufha, hence not been here.
I stil have a list of coffee places in Mysore that I do want to visit. Waiting for my next trip to make that happen. Do Drop your suggestions on Places to Eat in Mysore in the comment section.
