Bisi Bengaluru: Salt Mango Tree Mess-merised by Mallu flavours

It’s not often that one enters a bustling restaurant and finds the taste buds on overdrive, almost making you gulp. Blame the umpteen dishes on the menu each of them favourites! Yes, the eyes are bigger than the stomach for some, especially when it comes to authentic Kerala cuisine aka mess style, in a stylish restaurant avatar. Slurp! The swanky, spacious, colourful yet subtle minimalist chic canteen restaurant Salt Mango Tree in Indiranagar that opened seven months ago is usually full up, offering you the best of Kerala fare, at a reasonable price. The blackboard has the day’s specials, again, you’d probably want to order all… and the meals, delish.

But first we googled Salt Mango Tree, as we were sure it was some indigenous mango sapling. Didn’t find much other than some Malayalam movie! The restaurant is the brain child of Bengaluru-based Bipin Venugopal, a Keralite from Kannur’s Thalassery. Venugopal’s love for Kerala cuisine, and the nuances of Mallu humour that only a Mallu can get gave him a reason to start this swanked up Kerala mess, and also led to the name.

Still wondering what the name is all about… we asked, “It’s inspired from a movie Doore Doore Oru Koodu Koottam where actor Mohanlal acts as a teacher to children. An untrained English professor who tries his best, when asked, ‘What is upumavu (upma)? Totally confused, he takes the literal route – since uppu is salt, mavu is mango, he answers very proudly, Salt Mango Tree!” laughs Bipin Venugopal of the origins of the peculiar name that fit wonderfully. As a brand, it’s three years old with a restaurant in Whitefield. Bipin, who has 17 years of experience in hospitality, with Leela Kempinski, Hyatt, Hilton and ITC, etc – in top managerial roles wanted to bring back his beloved cuisine to foodies. “Kerala cuisine has essentially been offered in a very traditional set up, like a Kerala mess. We wanted to bring it to the world, where foodies can enjoy it in a contemporary environment, with a bit of sophistication and style. Also, it is a cuisine that is relatively unexplored, or people think it has too much coconut. I wanted to change this mindset,” explains Bipin Venugopal of White Canvas Hospitality.

That should give you an inkling about the food, as Chef Ajit from God’s Own Country helms the kitchen. Salt Mango Tree brings the delectable spice levels and nutritional aspects of the state, with Mohanlal inspiring it, of course!

“We have tried to source the best Kerala seafood, mussels, squid, small anchovies, sole fish, montha fish, black pomfret, etc and also the different curries, for instance from North Thalassery, the fish curry has a more tomato base, while Allepy has a more coconut base. You won’t see so much variety elsewhere. We also have a Pacha Muluku, green chilli paste with coconut gravy fish curry preparation,” he adds.

The Kondattams or sides and pickles change according to the season, and we had the crunched fried green chilli, bitter gourd, the most delicious Puliyinji, a tamarind and ginger jaggery chutney, mouth watering.

But first, a cardamom and lime water drink, and a hot jeera water, as a palate cleanser. Eyes darting towards the happy people around, all engrossed in their soul food, we then ordered a refreshing glass of thirst quenching and hunger awakening butter milk, cold, delicious with hints of coriander, pudina and spices.

The Erachi fry and vegetarian meals came dished out on a banana leaf, brown fat rice (with ghee), delicious tangy sambhar, that had a wholesome taste, eggplant theeyal which was pungent, and spiced perfectly, the famed avail, not too tangy or yogurt-ey with a flurry of seasonal vegetables. Simple and perfect with the rice. There was vegetable or thoran of the day, regular home-cooked fare that we loved, not too coconutty. There was coconut chutney, pickle and lots more. Fresh papads sealed the deal, as we salivated happily at the spread and then dove in. A good meal. The only dampener was that it was at best tepid, or cold, wish it had been piping hot.

Each table has the delicious kondattams. Must have, The erachi fry, small mussels crispy fried, were crunchy, a spicy marinate. The Kallumakaai fry or squid was a bit pasty, could have been fresher.

Since Kerala food is our favourite, it was after a great deal of tossing and turning over which curry to try that we settled on the Chemmeen Manga Curry. Hot, delicious in its sour mango goodness, it went perfectly with the rice… as we bit into succulent prawns. We ordered a Kerala parota as we love the textured feel of the rounds of dough, crispy fried. Good.

The payasam with the meals could have been more thicker, maybe simmered a bit more. We would have loved to try the fish fry and the karimeen, but we will be back, as the food is tasty, the service is quick and the essence is authentic. We saw a slew of seafood dishes, quite uncommon in the city and priced economically. The general simplicity and ease of this Kerala cuisine restaurant has endeared itself to many. Home cooked fare, oodles of dishes to order, simple, spiced and yummy, since we are not that fortunate to have an ammama at home, dishing out Kerala cuisine, this quite makes the cut.

Address: 971, 5th Cross, 12th Main, HAL II Stage, Indiranagar
Contact numbers: +91 9686365602, +91 9886037106
Meal for two: Rs 1000 onwards
Must haves: The vegetarian and non vegetarian meals, Chemmeen manga curry, erachi fry, butter milk. The have a vast menu and have appams and stew for dinner.
Chef’s suggestions: Famous for  dishes like beef coconut fry, pachamulaku fish or chicken curry, Aleppy fish curry, chemeen mango curry, Thalassery chicken biriyani, cheerayil konju, chemeen theeyal and Kreme Kerala.