Top three South Indian meals I had in Bengaluru (2025)

Bangalore will never not be a special city to me. This website that you happen to be reading this lovely little piece on was birthed in the city where I went to law school and started my little fashion blog as a hobby. Life does a full circle because here I am writing listicles about the best meals I had in Bangalore as someone who doesn't even live in India!

Sure people who have lived in the city all their lives (case in point: my partner), will tell you how the landscape of the city courtesy urbanisation and gentrification makes it unrecognisable in many an areas. But on the other hand, the ever evolving palette of the Bangalore residents guarantees that the local food and beverage scene remains thriving. Sure Bangalore is all caught up on trendy restaurants, gastronomical experiments, international chains bringing world cuisine to its residents but personally to me, going back to Bangalore means one thing alone: exploring the delights of authentic South Indian (from different regions) cuisines. It definitely has a lot to do with the fact that I do not live in India and going back will always serve as an opportunity to reconnect with my roots (in forms of food and otherwise), but also explore so many other Indian cuisines that I am definitely a lot more excited to try now that I don't have regular access to it! 

South Indian food much like North Indian is not a monolith. There is so much more to it than what we see represented in mass media and while I might not be qualified to launch into detailed explanations of everything that encompasses it, I definitely feel like I have to share the three best south Indian meals I had in my week back to Bangalore in 2025!

As per usual, of course there are great south Indian meals at every corner in Bangalore of all kinds. These are three of my best meals that I had the pleasure of enjoying in a week back in the year of 2025. Add them to your existent list or share with someone with an itinerary like mine. Also as always, happy to hear more suggestions with more diversity of South Indian regional meals too. Let's go.

• You would think I would save the best for last but my favourite restaurant in Bangalore is hands down its best kept secret: Bengaluru Oota Company. First things first, this family style dining experience works strictly on a reservation only basis. Make sure to at least make your reservation a day in advance (subject to availability of course) for them to curate a special menu for you. The food is an ode to Karnataka's local cuisine and is all things local and family style. Think goli baje, a lovely fish fry, kori gassi, neer dosa, prawn rava fry...the works. The ingredients hero local produce and sustainably support local vendors. The space is cozy and tasteful and I highly recommend booking their tasting room for a family style meal! Service? 10/10, great attention to detail. For vegetarian options, I recommend mentioning your requirements while making the booking.

• Dakshin at ITC Windsor, while an intentional choice for a big family lunch was also a convenient one since we were staying at the hotel. Having dined at Dakshin in Delhi, I do feel I had certain expectations that I went in with. After all, a restaurant that is supposed to highlight and celebrate the food from all the southern states of India should ideally be as good if not more in Bangalore than Delhi? I think that is sound logic. Well much to our pleasure, it was all that and more. Dakshin has been a family favourite with my partner's family for years so it made sense that we explore the delicacies from across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Kerala all at one place. Starting off strong with the Vazhai Shunti or what I lovingly call the baby dosas and banana pancakes and some rasam, we proceeded to order a mix of the cuisines: think avial, meen moilee, beans paripu usli and some other things with appams and veechu paratha. Everything was brilliant but the meen moilee especially did a little number on me. Service? 10/10 warm and hospitable staff that also assisted us with my grand mom-in-law who requires a wheel chair. Tonnes of vegetarian options.

• Mahesh Lunch Home is an ubiquitous Mumbai chain of restaurants specialising in Mangalorean food that has now successfully made its way to Bangalore. You best believe I had a meal here and some of the dishes definitely knocked my socks off. Think relaxed, easy vibes where food is truly the hero. The one in Bangalore has a lovely terrace and some craft beer too so that is an added bonus truly. My favourite part of how the food at Mahesh is made is their little thali of flavours for their protein. You can sample all the curry options they have for their protein and decide what to have each cooked in. We did some fish, crab, some Mangalore prawns and a few other things to share with a side of appams. The gravy selection is truly something! They also do Mangalorean thalis if a little bit of everything is your vibe. However, you do not get to pick the curry for your fish for instance, in the thali so I personally enjoyed ordering it off the thali better. Service? 10/10. Vegetarian options galore (both north indian and south indian). 

Would you be adding any of these restaurants to your list? Have you visited any of these and what was your experience like? Tell me, I am all ears. 

Till the next time, 

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