Shree Venkateshwara Uttar Karnataka Hotel

This is Shree Venkateshwara Uttar Karnataka Hotel on Ambedkar Road. We are at number 31 in Basavanagudi. It’s right by the junction near Gandhi Bazaar. If you know this area, you know how busy it gets with the flower sellers and people shopping. We focus on the food from back home in North Karnataka. It’s not a fancy hotel like the ones in the city center. We have old tiles on the floor and high ceilings. The steam from the kitchen usually fills the room by noon. My brother handles the kitchen and I stay at the front near the door. We get a lot of older folks who have been living in Basavanagudi for decades. They like the taste because it reminds them of their villages. Sometimes we run out of jowar rotis because they take a long time to make by hand. The Pali Hill area is just a short walk away. We have to keep the place very clean because the health inspectors around here are quite strict. It’s a lot of scrubbing at night after the shutters go down. We don't have any soft music or dim lights. It’s just bright tubes and the sound of plates clattering. People come to eat and then they leave to go about their day. We like it that way. It’s just a local hotel doing its thing for the community here.