I have four other Bangalore restaurant reviews and of all them I decided to pen down the most recent. Why? because it is a restaurant that specializes in food from Orissa. Dalma (named after a dal and vegetable staple dish from the region) is on the 100ft road in Koramangala. Its a little before the Sony World signal and a very short haul from Fiorano. Had been planning to go there for a while now and finally decided to do so on the day Sudhakar's cousin Reshma came over to spend the day.

Since the sign outside says East-Indian cuisine, we weren't really sure what to expect. We were hoping for food from Assam, Sikkim and Orissa and not Bengal and thankfully that's what it turned out to be - Food from Orissa. Now the flyer of the restaurant says Orissan Cuisine, while I have always thought it to be Oriyan... anyone care to clarify?

Anyways, there are two sections of the restaurant... a small glass partitioned one for families and another for the more boisterous crowd. Both of them are air-conditioned. The music is Oriyan/Orissan and the decor an attempt at the East Indian culture. The menu is pretty extensive and the prices were unbelievable. You will have to scroll down if you want to know why?

We decided to skip starters since they had descriptions which were more of the chaat and fried aloo variations. Sudhakar decided to have the Chicken thali which was Sada Arnna (plain rice) with chicken kasha (chicken gravy), dalma ( a heavenly channa and tur dal mix along with vegetables like pumpkin and some variety of gourd) and a green salad. The portions are really good as you can see and the meal felt like something that was cooked at home. Nothing extravagant, but very filling and very nice.

I had the Sagauti Khechudi. This was a mutton pulao of sorts. It had a range of interesting ingredients, from customary bay leaf, ginger, garlic, onions and tomatoes to dried fruits like cashews and raisins. Not on the spicy side, but neither was it sweet. Again the portion was good and the number meat pieces sufficient. I had to asked for a raita on the side. They make their raita with the tomatoes, onions and cucumbers cut into chunks, rather than fine as we normally see.

Reshma decided to have Sada Arnna, Dalma and Chingudi Kasha. This was a dry prawn dish. Wouldn't really say the number of prawns were plenty. But for one person, they were good enough. The base was a fried onions and tomato one and there was a generous sprinkling of cinnamon as well. Made for a sumptuous meal, all put together. Oh yes! and the prawns came with the tails still on.

For junior we ordered a lemon rice. Made in ghee, with slices of lemon all over, this version of lemon rice seemed to have the juice squeezed on as a dressing. The lemon rices we see down south have the lemon juice cooked with onions and garlic. Here it was just squeezed on.. Don't really know what made it taste good though. The ghee perhaps?

Lemon rice

We were all full, but wanted to try at least one dessert. The waiter suggested Kheeri. This was a kheer, made of rice, milk, jaggery, cinnamon and had a huge bay leaf in it! The bowl, if it was meant for one was extremely generous. It was quite a bit of struggle for the three of us to finish it. The kheer was thick enough to coat the spoon real well and heavenly.

The ambience is a simple one. More like an air-conditioned dhaba. Wouldn't say extremely clean. But it does the job for a good family meal. The staff are courteous and the service quick enough. They haven't started delivery just as yet. The loo is unisex and could do with some sprucing up. And oh yes! the bill for all of this - Rs 423 :)

This review also features on the Sify Food Site

Parking: Parking lot... but a really really small one and you have to be really really lucky to be one of the three cars or 10 bikes that can fit in.