Our curated list of Onam sadyas in Bengaluru

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Bengaluru is teeming with restaurants serving Onam sadyas, the traditional banana leaf spread for the Malayali harvest festival. While earlier it was available in a few Kerala restaurants, now gastropubs and five stars hotels have all joined in the celebration. We are spoilt for choice. The Hindu Metroplus team picks out five curated Onam sadyas that you can enjoy this August.

Helmed by Avinash Kapoli and chef Sombir Choudhary, Kalpaney is a modern Indian vegetarian restaurant . With two branches in Indiranagar and JP Nagar, Kalpaney’s decor and menu are both rooted in Indian culture as well as, global in its appeal.

For Onam this year, the restaurant has a traditional sadya served on a banana leaf. The 27-dish meal has offerings such as mezhukkupuratti, cabbage thoran, kaalan, olan, avial, koottu curry, and erissery. End the meal with their palada payasam and the, jaggery-flavoured parippu pradhaman.

₹979 plus taxes. For lunch and dinner, on August 26. For more details call 9380667830

A 20-year-old institution, Anju’s Cafe is located inside Ranga Shankara theatre and is much loved for its sabudana vadas and akki rotis. However, every Onam owner Anju Sudharshan opens up the space for her special sadya. “We started making our sadya 20 years ago, only for family and friends. But many people wanted to join in, so we opened it to the public.” The dishes are cooked in a centralised kitchen with help from her family, and it is a homely affair. The spread includes traditional dishes such as avial, kaalan, erisserry and paalada payasam. “It is like walking into my house,” she says warmly.

Located in Indiranagar, this restaurant is named after a funny scene by actor Mohanlal in the 1986’s Malayalam film Dhoore Dhoore Oru Koodu Koottam! , where he mistranslates the dish ‘upma’ as salt mango tree. Rooted in Kerala culture, the restaurant has been the number one place to head to for Onam sadyas in Bengaluru for many years now. The spread has festive dishes such as avial, payasams, thoran and chips, all served with red rice. You can even order their payasams for takeaway. August 22 to August 30, 11.30 AM to 4.30 PM. At Indiranagar. Call 96863 65602 for reservations

Banana chips are an important part of any Onam sadya | Photo Credit: iStock Images

Chef Regi Mathew is the chef behind the beloved Kerala restaurant, Kappa Chakka Kandhari in Chennai and Bengaluru, as well as Chatti in New York City . KCK opened in 2018, and the team travelled across Kerala eating at 265 homes and 65 toddy shops for research. For Onam this year, the chef has a traditional spread with dishes such as kootu kari, kalan, sambar, and olan. Their ada pradhaman and palada payasam are a crowd favourite, and are available for takeaways.

₹1,980. On August 25 and 26. At Koramangala, 6th Block. For more details, call 063646 71010

Chef Sinu Swaminathan runs Aakraantham, a Kerala-specialty cloud kitchen. This year she is teaming up with the restaurant Daak 64, a micro-regional Indian restaurant at Jinvara, a community space in north Bengaluru.