The 5 decades old Coffee House was a favourite hangout of many. I myself am not a regular, but have enjoyed coffee and snacks here many times. A friend swears by the place and looks at me like I am a fool when I choose other places around MG Road over ICH.
The word about closing the shop was doing rounds for more than a year now. I had gone to MG Road with a hobby group to photograph the area in May-07, when the manager of ICH had mentioned that they will be moving from here and setting up a new shop in Avenue Road. They stayed on for some time, but now the time to move has arrived and the shutters are going to be downed on the last day of this month.
The good old hangout of Bangaloreans that ICH was, it is a much talked event.
* Narendra Pani writes about India Coffee House for Outlook
* Anvar Alikhan at ToI never really seemed to like the food at India Coffee House but is still thinking that a part of India’s history is about to die.
* Madhuri Kalyan at Deccan Herald collects people’s opinion on the closure.
* Deepa Mohan at Citizen Matters thinks Bangalore will be poorer.
* Gopal at Which Main? What Cross? has pictures taken this morning.
Update: It is not competition or lack of business that is making them shut shop, but some issues related to the property they were operating from.
Bangalore City blooms every winter, with colorful flowers adorning the trees just at the time they shed their leaves. Jacaranda, Tabebuia, Gulmohar, African Tulip and Copper Red trees paint the town in bright colors. But some names I do not know, and have often spent long times searching for them on the internet. I stumbled on a page in Karthik’s Journal today, listing details of Bangalore’s flowering trees along with images.
For those who would want to know more information about these trees, I have tried to put together some information and pictures for 26 species that are often seen.
For those who do not know, Karthik is one of the best known naturalists in Bangalore. He once worked with World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and is currently with Jungle Lodges and Resorts. See his bio on his website.
My taste buds have been very active these days.
I got down from a bus this evening and walked to my house a kilometer away, giving some business to all small eateries on the way. My first pit-stop was to buy a Rs.2 pack of roasted groundnuts from a cart-vendor who usually stood next to a bus-stop. Before I was done with the pack, I arrived at the juice-center I regularly haunt, and asked for a pineapple juice. Next, I paused briefly at a bakery, thinking of buying a Butterscotch Cornetto, but decided to skip it at the last moment. I then visited a nearby tender coconut vendor instead. After coconut, I was keen to stop for a helping of deep fried small vade, but they were not ready yet. My next temptation was sugar canes(not the juice, but cane itself), which have been in my mind for a long time, but gave it a miss too, thinking of the struggle involved in eating it. But I would have loved to be eating all of them – the vade, sugarcane and cornetto.
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I find it hard to give a miss to anything edible that I see these days. Groundnuts have been an old temptation, but pineapple juice is a new craving that started after I had a glass of it at Koshy‘s a few months ago. But my hunger is not limited to street food – I have been restaurant hopping a lot lately.
I went big on eating out only recently, starting by devouring Raviolis at Fiorano a few months ago. More Italian food happened with Little Italy‘s excellent pasta preparations. And then Barbecue Nation‘s grills were appetizing. There was simpler food on the menu too – Shanti Sagar‘s oota, rich with veggies and neer dosa from Emgees have never failed me.
Ice Creams are another temptation I can’t keep off. The ice cream binge started six months ago in Delhi when I ate Butterscotch Pralines at CP’s Saravana Bhavan twice a day for three continuous days. After that, it was fig and honey in Corner House which had me addicted. Discovering Gelatissimo is the highlight of my ice cream raids: their Irish Coffee and Sizzling Brownie Sundae are not easy to resist. But Cream and Fudge failed to make a mark, though there were some expectations before I went there.
No matter what I eat, the good old masala dosa and uddina vade will always remain the favourites. I always end up yearning for these after a few days of exotica, and go for them like I had never seen them before. It has already been a while since I have had a masala dosa. The unusually expensive new menu at South Indies and the waiter’s question – “what gravy would you like to order with dosa” – put me off from ordering one recently. After a go at a large variety of sizzlers at 5 Elements yesterday, I am now looking forward to a good dosa at one of the good old places.