Breakfast at Kamat's

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"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." - John Gunther

Ramnagara, some 80 kilometres south of Bangalore, on the Bangalore-Mysore road, is home to two things: (1) the fictional "Ramgarh" of Sholay, and (2) Kamat's, a popular south Indian restaurant.

As we drove through this small town, the rocky terrain did look familiar but I wasn't able to piece together the "Sholay" connection on my own. Harpreet (a long-time Bangalore resident, friend, and tour guide) filled us in on Ramnagara's claim to fame. We didn't have the time to go looking for the village props or Gabbar's den, but I was told that it's all there for Bollywood fans to see.

Instead, we drove into Kamat's, a highway diner tucked inside a coconut grove. It's run by the same folks who run a chain of popular restaurants across southern India. It was 9:00am and the restaurant was packed with the breakfast club. South Indian breakfast is quite simply the best: It's scrumptious, it's served with lightning speed, it's reasonably light, and it's definitely inexpensive. For under thirty rupees one can feast on idlis, vadas, upma, and dosas. We did just that and topped it up with a steaming cup of robust chicory-blend coffee.

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